What does comprehensive civil rights mean? How activists plan to educate Macon
DeMarcus Beckham recently started looking for a house to buy in Macon, and when he went on the real estate website Zillow, he saw a section that shows whether a city has protections for LGBTQ people.
“Seeing it on the screen saying that no, there are no protections, it hurt. It truly hurt,” Beckham said. “I identify as a Black, Queer male and as you’ve seen recently, both of my communities that I’m a part of are under attack.”
Beckham is the southern Georgia field organizer for Georgia Equality, one of the largest LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in the state, and a member of the Comprehensive Civil Rights board in Macon.
On Nov. 17, the Macon-Bibb County Commission passed the Comprehensive Civil Rights Ordinance, but former Mayor Robert Reichert vetoed the legislation the following week.
“So last year, we had a failed attempt of passing the CCR or non-discrimination ordinance here in our city, and it was due to the fact of the lack of education around it,” Beckham said. “ So this time we wanted to make sure we did it right, and we wanted to offereducation.”
The group organized an event called “Understanding Comprehensive Civil Rights,” which is a two-day, virtual event Thursday and Friday featuring four panel discussions with experts on the issues surrounding comprehensive civil rights.
Although there is not currently a CCR Ordinance going before the commission, Beckham said organizers wanted to educate the public about the issue for when the legislation comes up again.
What happened with the CCR Ordinance?
The anti-discrimination ordinance presented to the commission in November would have prohibited discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on race, religion, color, sex, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity or military status.
“Those individuals who have been discriminated against because of race, religion, national origin, age or sex, are only protected by federal law. No state laws in Georgia protect them, and so because of this, many municipalities in Georgia have begun enacting these local protective ordinances; we think the residents of Bibb County deserve those same protections,” said Claire Cox, one of the organizers of the CCR event.
The county passed a similar ordinance in 2017 for employees of the county, but when the county-wide ordinance came before the commission, Reichert said he received hundreds of emails in opposition to the ordinance while he only received 47 in favor of the ordinance.
“When this ordinance was considered at the end of 2020, there was a lot of misinformation given and a lot of questions raised because people weren’t sure about what it would mean; they assumed the worst, and so we feel it’s really important to get the facts,” Cox said.
About the event
When they were trying to determine who would host the panels, Cox said they worked to find groups that were not involved in the former process for the CCR Ordinance, including Mercer Law School, the Georgia NAACP and Macon Magazine.
The panels are made up of attorneys, legislators, business leaders and faith leaders who have experience and knowledge of the subjects at hand, Cox said.
“It is going to be an amazing opportunity to hear from experts in the field on what comprehensive civil rights can look like in our town,” said Scott Mitchell, an organizer for the event.
Here are the four sessions:
Civil Rights Law: Legal questions surrounding a Non-discrimination Ordinance - 10:00 a.m. Thursday
What does a local Comprehensive Civil Rights Ordinance mean for People of Color? - 6:30 p.m. Thursday
How does a Non-discrimination Ordinance affect my business? - 10 a.m. Friday
Beyond Loving Your Neighbor: A Faith Perspective on Civil Rights - 1 p.m. Friday
The moderators for each panel have prepared initial questions that arose during the debate for the CCR Ordinance in November, but attendees will have a chance to ask questions in the virtual forum as well.
When people register for the free event at www.ccrmacon.com, they will have access to all of the panels and can choose which ones to attend.
“We’ve had a good deal of people sign up. We’ve had great participation so far,” Mitchell said. “We’re getting the word out. And people from all walks of life are signing up because they’re interested in this topic. And I love that.
‘A strong foundation’
In his work with Georgia Equality, Beckham said he see cases of discrimination every day, and a CCR ordinance in Macon could give people protection from discrimination at a local level, he said.
“This bill is just not for one community. It’s for all of our communities. This legislation will affect people who are women, who are people of color, who are people of different religious faith,” Beckham said. “There’s no such thing as compromise when you talk about something being comprehensive.”
The “Understanding Comprehensive Civil Rights” event is not an opportunity to pick apart the CCR Ordinance because when it comes to civil rights, everyone deserves equal protection, Beckham said.
“A community is built on a strong foundation… It’s your choice of how you want it to be built. It can be built on hate and anger, or it can be built on equity, diversity and inclusion,” he said. “Macon-Bibb is a place that I love, and I see a lot of great things coming out of the city, and I want to live here in this city. I want to live freely in this city.”