Tell Your Delegate: A Tiny Minority Doesn’t Get to Decide My Rights

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An Action Alert from our friends at Fairness West Virginia:

West Virginia made headlines in 2016 for passing more LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances than any other state. But a bill making its way through the state Legislature is designed to stop our march toward fairness and equality in its tracks.

Right now, our opponents are taking advantage of an obscure quirk in Fairmont’s city charter that allows a small minority of voters to recall ordinances. HB 4158 would make Fairmont’s problem all of West Virginia’s problem. In fact, it would make it WORSE in some places.

Contact your delegates now and tell them a tiny minority doesn’t get to decide your rights. Leave them this message: “HB 4158 is designed to stop progress on municipal LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws. It would allow a tiny fraction of the electorate to recall laws passed by our duly elected local leaders. Please oppose HB 4158.”

This bill allows JUST 30 PERCENT OF VOTERS WHO CAST BALLOTS IN THE LAST MUNICIPAL ELECTION to recall an ordinance and place it on a ballot. Not 30 percent of all voters, but 30 percent of those who voted in the last election. And municipal elections are known for low turnout. For example, just 5,192 people cast ballots in Charleston’s 2015 election. To recall an ordinance in Charleston under this bill, you would need just 1,773 signatures in a city of 50,000 people.

Call your representatives today. Tell them the founders of this country did not intend for laws to be made by referendum, and they certainly did not intend for a tiny minority to overturn the will of duly elected leaders.

Let’s be clear. This bill empowers the fringe to upend protections for real people.

Please take action today! This bill is moving fast.