LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is asking the state’s highest court to hold oral arguments in the lawsuit challenging a city ordinance that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender orientation.
Rutledge’s office Sept. 15 asked for the arguments in the case she and opponents of Fayetteville’s anti-discrimination ordinance have before the high court. A Washington County circuit judge earlier this year upheld the ordinance and said it didn’t violate a state law aimed at preventing local protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
In a separate brief, Rutledge asked the court to strike the ordinance and uphold the state law preventing cities and counties from barring discrimination on a basis not contained in state law. Arkansas civil rights law doesn’t include sexual orientation or gender identity.
