Alaska lawmakers introduced a statewide LGBTQ nondiscrimination bill just days after Fairbanks vetoed a measure that would have added lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to the city’s civil rights ordinance. - NBCOUT
following hours of public comment. Hundreds of locals wrote emails and gave testimony weighing in, with the majority voicing support. But four days later, Matherly said the topic requires “further examination” in an open letter addressed to Fairbanks residents.
“Passing an ordinance to protect all Fairbanksans from discrimination shows that we come together to hold each other up and not push others down because of our differences,” he wrote in the letter, which was shared with NBC News.“It is past time to add these protections to our statutes and remove barriers for thousands of Alaskans who contribute to our state,” he wrote. “Hardworking Alaskans should not be discriminated against due to who they love ... or how they express their gender identity.
While HB 184 did not receive a vote on the Alaska House floor, Josephson said supporters of LGBTQ rights “have to celebrate even the baby steps.”Fairbanks Mayor Jim Matherly addresses a conference in Anchorage, Alaska, on Oct. 18, 2018.Progress on an LGBTQ nondiscrimination bill is likely to be incremental in 2019 as well. While Josephson claimed the first committee referral on HB 82 has been “very favorable,” newly elected Republican Gov.
But if HB 82 is allowed to advance, its supporters say Alaskans would come out in support of it. In an interview with, Hopkins noted Alaska “had the first laws banning racial discrimination in the country.” The Alaska Civil Rights Act was signed into law in February 1945, almost two decades before Congress passed a national version of the legislation.
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