The Bangor City Council should be commended for putting a gay rights ordinance on its agenda. Given the exceedingly ugly and divisive campaigns opponents of these basic protections have mounted in recent statewide referendums on this issue, the council is, in fact, conducting itself not just commendably, but also courageously.

The proposed ordinance, initiated by council members Joe Baldacci and Judy Vardamis and now being drafted by the city’s legal staff, will be modeled after the ordinances in place in 10 Maine communities. It would prohibit discrimination in clearly defined areas of housing, employment, credit and public accommodations. It merely adds sexual orientation to the protection state human rights legislation already provides against discrimination based upon race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It is not about special rights, just plain rights.

The course the ordinance will take toward enactment seems, on the surface, relatively easy, especially given the support Bangor voters have shown for gay rights in all three statewide votes. The council’s Strategic Issues Committee will hold a public hearing Sept. 17; the full council will take it up with a hearing and possibly a vote the following week. The peril lies in the suspicion, un-0founded allegations and fear mongering that seem to follow this issue wherever it goes and, on those three statewide occasions, have successfully appealed to worst instincts of a majority of voters.

If past statewide campaigns, including the one just last November, are any indication of what can be expected at the hearings, opponents will attempt to convince the council that gay rights legislation on such fundamental and specific matters as getting an apartment, a job, a loan or a meal is merely a smoke screen, a foot in the door, for some ill-defined, shadowy and scary-sounding so-called gay agenda. From unsubstantiated anecdotes of vindictive lawsuits to bogus horror stories about school curricula being overrun with “gay lifestyle” lesson plans, the council can expect an ugly earful. Worse, unless opponents have acquired a shred of decency since last fall, there will be a deliberate attempt to make a connection that absolutely does not exist between homosexuality and pedophilia.

Michael Heath, leader of the Christian Civic League of Maine and the architect of past opposition campaigns, says his organization will oppose the Bangor ordinance. He and his organization have every right to do so. It will be interesting, however, to see how they fare when, without benefit of sly and insinuating media campaigns, they have to stand before the council and make the case for discrimination.

Perhaps, since the 10 Maine communities already with this type of ordinance, including Orono, will provide no evidence to support their anecdotes and horror stories,

Mr. Heath and well-organized followers can use their allotted floor time to explain why, with so many other truly important needs unmet – such as hunger, homelessness, child abuse and domestic violence – they are so obsessed with something that is quite simply none of their business.