Anchorage's new law adding discrimination protections for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people is now officially on the books, with Anchorage Assembly Chair Dick Traini signing the legislation Friday morning in a brief ceremony at City Hall.
The Assembly passed the law in a 9-2 vote just before midnight Tuesday. Normally, the chair signs legislation with little fanfare, Traini said. But he said he wanted to have a ceremony to give the law's supporters closure.
Traini signed the law with Assembly member Elvi Gray-Jackson at his side. About two dozen onlookers cheered as he handed out the pens he used to sign the measure.
"It's been a long road," Traini told the room after the signing. "And this will help a lot of people in Anchorage who have been discriminated against. So hopefully we've sealed that. And we'll just move on."
Opponents, though, have said they may try to rescind the law through a ballot measure or may seek to replace Assembly members who voted for it.
Meanwhile, the Alaska Democratic Party is calling on the Alaska Legislature to take action to provide statewide protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Alaskans.
In a prepared statement issued Friday, the party noted that 21 states and the District of Columbia have already enacted similar statewide legislation.
Democratic Party spokesman Jake Hamburg said Friday that the party was encouraged that both conservative and liberal members of the Anchorage Assembly voted in favor of the anti-discrimination ordinance. He said that could have applications at the statewide level.
"A lot of people didn't think it was possible to get (the anti-discrimination ordinance) passed in Anchorage. It took three times, but it worked, and now we have it," he said. "I think the tides are turning and people are pretty ready for equality."
It's not that the Alaska Legislature hasn't tried before. For the last three years, legislators from both parties have introduced bills offering similar protections. None have moved beyond the committee stage.
Sen. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage, said she was encouraged when a rights bill she introduced in 2013 received a hearing in the Senate Health and Social Services committee, chaired by Republican Sen. Bert Stedman of Sitka.
But the bill never advanced. Neither did another one she introduced in 2015.
"I think it's inevitable that it will happen sometime, but I don't think it will with current leadership," Gardner said in a phone interview Friday.
Rep. Andy Josephson, who introduced an identical bill to Gardner's in the House in 2015, said he didn't think the bill would make it past leadership, especially when other issues like the natural gas pipeline and revenue shortfalls would be at the forefront. But he added that he would continue to push for a nondiscrimination bill.