RICHMOND — For the third consecutive meeting, advocates of an ordinance that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations have addressed the Richmond City Commission.

On Tuesday, four individuals spoke, but unlike the two previous meetings when the speakers were only listened to politely, Mayor Jim Barnes and two commissioners offered some responses.

First to speak was Lynn Thomas, who had addressed the commission previously on the issue. The fairness ordinance was first proposed 10 years ago, she said, and each time new commissioners took office, advocates have been forced to start over.

She asked the commissioners, four of whom are up for re-election this year, not to think about what would affect their election prospects but “what is the right thing to do.”

She asked for the fairness ordinance to be discussed at a commission work session and then put to a vote in a regular session.

Next to speak was Ron Taylor, who was the volunteer operations director for the city’s human rights commission until illness forced him to step down.

While he worked in the HRC’s corner office on City Hall’s first floor, Taylor said he felt that progress was being made but that it had “abruptly stopped.”

He asked the mayor and city commissioners to come before the rights commission and “tell us what we have to do, what we need to emphasize to convince you” to adopt the fairness ordinance. “We have no idea,” he said.

“We come to you and propose fairness ordinances, and all you do is say ‘no,’” he said. “But, you’ve never come to us and said, ‘If only you guys did this, we would have reason to listen to you.”

As Taylor turned to leave the speaker’s podium, City Commissioner Richard Thomas said, “Wait just a minute. I’ve attended every human  rights commission meeting since I was elected.”

At a special meeting with members of the rights commission and the newly elected city commission in January 2011, Thomas said he had clearly explained that concerns about enforcement had led him to oppose adoption of the fairness ordinance and his view had not changed.

The mayor, who also had attended the 2011 discussion and is not up for election this year, then entered the conversation.

“We gave a pretty distinct declaration (then) of why we were not going forward with changing the human rights ordinance,” Barnes said.

The commissioners believe current local, state and federal laws are “more than adequate to protect all our citizens," Barnes said.

During the commissioners' regular comment period and the meeting’s end, Thomas said he hoped he had not sounded hostile in his exchange with Taylor. And, he also then said he concurred with Barnes’ comment to Taylor.

Leda Tilton then spoke, recalling her experiences as a civil rights demonstrator while a student at Memphis State University.

“Was I black? No. Did I have black relatives? No, but I would have been proud to have them.”

She was a demonstrator because “it was the right thing to do,” she said.

The arguments she hears today against the fairness ordinance echo those she heard against the federal Civil Rights Bill of 1964, Tilton said.

“Settle down, little lady. This is not the right time.”

“People aren’t ready for this. We have to wait.”

Her favorite objection is: “The Bible says.”

“Folks, this is 2012, and where are we,” Tilton said. “For some people, we’re back in the 1960s.”

“I wish you would consider this and your vaunted religion and stand on the side of love.”

Mike Edwards, who identified himself as a retired Marine Corps officer and 10-year resident of Richmond, noted that the U.S. military last year dropped its “don’t ask; don’t tell” policy and said “the change has been very successful.”

“I want equal rights and equal protection,” he said. “Otherwise, I want a tax rate reduction.”

Christina Ruffel, who said she had moved to Richmond just one month earlier from Gainesville, Fla., said she had wanted to stay and lay down roots.

However, when she learned that prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation was controversial in Richmond, she “got terrified.”

Ruffel said she had previously worked for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which has “a very active LGBT movement” where a sign in every campus window says, “You are welcome here.”

She asked the commissioners to consider the perspective of newcomers to Richmond in evaluating their stand on the fairness ordinance.

Robert Blythe, the city commission’s only black member, offered some observations during the end-of-meeting comment period.

The LGBT discrimination could not be “equated 100 percent” to racial discrimination, he said, although it is a civil rights issue.

About a month earlier, Blythe said he was slow to make decisions and wanted to hear differing perspectives on the fairness ordinance and has been happy to have “a bunch of conversations with folks who have concerns on both sides of the issue.”

However, Blythe said he did not want to feel that he was “being bullied” into making a decision and asked for the same kind of respect he was showing those who had spoken with him as he makes up his mind.

He called Police Chief Larry Brock to the podium and asked if discrimination claims could be reported to the police.

Brock said that would depend on whether the offense was of a criminal nature. The department’s crime reports have a section in which an officer may list whether an offense was “bias motivated,” he said.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.