Special-Protections Measure Fails in Alaska

April 9, 2012

Family advocates won a huge victory in Alaska on April 3, when Anchorage residents resoundingly shot down a measure known as Proposition 5, which would have expanded the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance to include "sexual orientation and transgender identity," WORLD News Service reports. Though backers of Prop 5 -- which included Colorado gay-activist billionaire Tim Gill and both Alaska U.S. senators, Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich -- vastly outspent pro-family advocates, the measure failed by a 16-point margin, 58 percent to 42 percent. "It represents a triumph of common sense over cash," said Jim Minnery, president of the Alaska Family Policy Council. "People are now able to have a firm understanding that they don’t have to check their faith at their place of worship to go out into the public market place." Mayor Dan Sullivan vetoed a similar measure when the city council passed it about three years ago, citing a lack of quantifiable evidence to show it was needed. He was re-elected Tuesday with about 59 percent of the vote.