News from Patrick Flynn

Unless your cave’s cable and internet connections failed, and the paper delivery driver got lost, you know the Assembly passed my latest version of the equal rights ordinance by a 7-4 vote.  I know, I’m late telling you this, but I had a business trip in the middle of the week.

Now the attention shifts to Mayor Sullivan and whether he will veto the ordinance or allow it to become law.  After Tuesday’s vote I asked that he grant me a few minutes to discuss the matter, which he seemed to agree to, but yesterday he called and said he’d prefer to take the weekend and think about the matter on his own.  If he does think carefully about this I believe, despite enormous pressure, he will approve the equal rights ordinance because it’s good for business.

I’ve been trying to explain this – the importance of this ordinance to business development would have been the focus of my conversation with the mayor – but haven’t done so as well as I’d like.  Bob Poe did a nice job and an even better example came in a letter to the mayor that he’ll receive today (I just hope he reads it).  Here ’tis:

Dear Mayor Sullivan:

I write to support Ordinance 2009-64(S-2) that the Anchorage Assembly enacted on August 11, 2009. The ordinance is good for Anchorage, good for business, and good for tourism.   Please do not veto this Ordinance.

I am a conservative independent.  I am not gay.  I voted for you.  I was raised as and remain an Anglican/Episcopalian-Roman Catholic.  In my opinion this ordinance is good for business and good for Anchorage.  People have made this into a moral or a religious issue.   I understand that people have deeply felt religious views that we should respect.  I have my own religious views.  However, in my opinion religious or moral views do not make sound policy.

Anchorage depends on tourism.  We need to promote Anchorage as being a people-friendly destination.  Gay people are people.  Objectively verifiable studies reflect that gay people tend to be well-educated with more disposable income.  I enclose a May 2008 summary published by UCLA’s The Williams Institute that concludes “the buying power of gay and lesbian consumers is expected to total $835.3 billion by three years from now.  This represents cumulative growth of 26.5% during the forecast period.”   Gay-friendly locations are people-friendly locations that attract tourism.  I enclose an article published in The Seattle Times a few weeks ago discussing how Iowa has benefitted from gay-friendly policies.   Conversely, communities that have adopted anti-gay measures (or that have repealed gay-friendly ordinances) have been concerned about the adverse impact such actions have had on tourism.  I enclose a 2002 article from a Miami paper addressing this issue.  The best support comes from the free market.  Businesses with an eye on the bottom line adopt policies reflecting market realities.  Successful businesses are now adopting gay-friendly marketing strategies.  I enclose an article from Fortune (abstracted on CNN Money) addressing this point. [1]

I am not a gay advocate.  I am, however, an Anchorage advocate.  Image is important.  Anchorage is the City of Flowers and the City of Lights.  Those are positive, life-affirming images that make people feel good about themselves and their community.  Anchorage is also a city that (hopefully one day) will be submitting another Winter Olympics bid.

Apart from the preceding concerns, the ordinance is also good for business in a more particular sense.  I am a lawyer.  A large part of my practice involves representing and counseling employers.  Diversity works.  It just does.  Diverse, people-friendly workforces are simply more productive, efficient, and successful. Similar ordinances have been enacted in several other communities.  The world has not come to an end.  To the contrary, those communities have generally witnessed economic growth.

Finally, in the interest of full disclosure, Patrick Flynn, the ordinance’s primary sponsor, is married to a shareholder in my firm. I know Patrick.  I disagree with Patrick on probably 95% of all political, social, and economic issues.  However, I admire and respect him.  I was frankly inspired by his courage in sponsoring this ordinance.  I would like someone on my side of the fence (that someone hopefully being you) to exhibit the same courage and foresight as Patrick did.

I urge you to please carefully consider the message you send to others about our community when you review the ordinance. Thank you for considering my views, Mayor Sullivan.

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[1] I am not a gay advocate.  I do not have a sheaf of papers promoting gay rights issues.  All of the attached sources were pulled from the Internet in a few minutes yesterday morning using Google and simple search terms.

Not to be outdone, Cook Inlet Region Incorporated also sent a letter in the same spirit, noting that their corporate policies provide for:

“…equal employment to all persons regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, gender, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital and/or parental status.”

As others have said better than I, businesses look for corporate environments that value and respect all their employees.  Anchorage does this well and with approval of this new equal rights ordinance we can do it better.  With that, I’ll leave the mayor to his quiet contemplation and hope he comes to what I feel is the right answer.  Stay tuned!

Regards,

Patrick

Admin note: the city updated its web site this week.  While I think I like it better many addresses have changed.  Tha means a lot of MOA links in previous posts are no longer working.  Not sure when, or if, I’ll get them all fixed.