Texarkana Arkansas voters have repealed the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance known as M-130 designed to match policies of large business to make the city more attractive to new industries. One citizen that took to twitter posted, “Texarkana Arkansas gets the Baptists and Texarkana Texas gets the business.”
Final votes… 881 to keep the nondiscrimination ordinance and 3,404 for repeal.
The group created and promoted by people from out of town and in some cases out of state “Repeal 130” took to their Facebook Page to claim victory. This is the group that led the public to believe that it was about bathrooms as a scare tactic to garner signatures on petitions to get the vote for the repeal.
We won!
The final count was 3404 to 881.
We are almost speechless with gratitude and excitement about the outcome of this election.
We are glad that the people of Texarkana Arkansas got to vote on this ordinance. The Board of Directors planned for months to pass it as an emergency, instead of letting the people know what they wanted to do. Not only are we excited about the outcome, but we are glad WE THE PEOPLE got to vote, instead of simply being told what to do.
We are glad to see people get involved in the political process, regardless of which side of the issue they chose. The Board of Directors works FOR US – they are not our bosses. People in all levels of government seem to forget that pretty quickly, but I bet our city officials will remember it for as long as they are in office.
And finally, and most important, we are glad to see the new level of unity among our churches in Texarkana Arkansas. The old lines of division along racial or political viewpoints are being erased. We are finding that we have more in common than separates us, and we’re going to work to see that unity grow.
All of us on the Repeal 130 Committee are profoundly grateful for all the people who helped us, and we are so thankful for the many new friends we have made – and the things we have learned – during this process.
God bless America, and God bless Texarkana!