Arkansas's GOP attorney general asked the state Supreme Court Wednesday to review a lower court ruling allowing Fayetteville's LGBT nondiscrimination ordinance to stand despite a state law that prohibits such protections. Andrew DeMillo reports:
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is appealing a ruling by Washington County Circuit Judge Doug Martin this month backing Fayetteville's anti-discrimination ordinance. Martin ruled that the ordinance, which was ratified by voters last year, doesn't run afoul of a state measure barring cities and counties from prohibiting discrimination on a basis not contained in state law.
Arkansas' civil rights law doesn't include sexual orientation or gender identity. But Martin noted that other state laws, including an anti-bullying measure, include protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
"I disagreed with the lower court's decision," Rutledge said in a statement. "Given my duty to fully defend state law, I am seeking to appeal the ruling to the Arkansas Supreme Court."
The Arkansas law is similar to the recently enacted North Carolina statute, which bans localities from passing nondiscrimination protections for groups of people who aren't already covered by state law.