(Mountain Xpress) Commissioner Holly Jones sent out a scathing email newsletter Aug. 20, criticizing the majority of her colleagues on the Board of Commissioners for voting against amending the Buncombe County personnel ordinance Aug. 7 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Board Chair David Gantt was the sole member of the board to support her proposed amendment. Vice Chair Bill Stanley and Commissioners Carol Peterson and K. Ray Bailey voted against it. At the time, Jones was the only commissioner who explained much of her thinking behind the vote, saying she saw it as an important civil rights issue.
In subsequent interviews with the Asheville Citizen-Times, Stanley and Peterson both alluded to concerns over the amendment’s potential legal ramifications, although they were short on specifics. Peterson cited possible conflicts with Amendment One, which North Carolina voters approved in May to ban gay marriage.
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