Pressure grows to rescind 1996 county resolution

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As the Greenville County Council meets in a special called meeting this afternoon to reconsider a “sunset clause” that would require the council’s nonbinding resolutions to expire after four years, a growing number of organizations are voicing support for the change.

A central issue is a 1996 resolution in which the council maintained that LGBT life style is incompatible with Greenville’s community standards.

Greenville Chamber CEO and President Carlos Phillips on Tuesday issued a statement in favor of rescinding that 1996 resolution. He was joined Wednesday by the United Way of Greenville County, Greenville Partnership for Philanthropy, Community Foundation of Greenville, Hollingsworth Funds, Elbert W. Rogers Foundation and the Jolley Foundation.

The sunset clause resolution on March 3 failed to garner the seventh vote needed to pass, allowing the 1996 resolution to stand. Councilman Ennis Fant was absent from that meeting.

The special meeting today follows Council Lynn Ballard’s request (pdf) to reconsider the decision and mounting community pressure.

“United Way of Greenville County, Greenville Partnership for Philanthropy, Community Foundation of Greenville, Hollingsworth Funds, Elbert W. Rogers Foundation and the Jolley Foundation join the call for Greenville County Council to immediately take the necessary measures to rescind the 1996 resolution at the center of the current debate,” said the group statement, which was released through the United Way. “We know the people of Greenville County to be welcoming, caring and generous in their support of our neighbors. The anti-LGBTQ resolution adopted 24 years ago is a stain on our great community as it fails to reflect the diverse, forward-thinking, open-hearted place that we call home.”