The ordinance failed on Monday night after a short discussion on the topic between councilman Dale Grimm and City Manager Randy Bridge.
Grimm began the discussion by asking for a definition and the difference between the words ‘gender' and ‘sex'.
“Gender is a pretty common term that’s been used for a long time. I don’t really know how to explain gender to you other than male, female, binary or however you want to identify yourself,” Bridge said.
Grimm then asked for the definition of 'sexual orientation’ and said, “What if that orientation is towards children?”
“That’s not a sexual orientation. That’s a mental illness,” Bridge said. “Sexual orientation is who you chose to fall in love with.”
Grimm disagreed. Bridge said he found Grimm’s comment to be “insulting.”
“That is one of the most ignorant things I have ever heard,” Bridge said. “I don’t understand how anyone with common sense can equate sexual orientation to wanting to have sex with a minor.”
Grimm has previously come under fire for equating homosexuality and pedophilia.
Last month, a Springfield LGBTQ rights group passed a resolution condemning a comment he allegedly made under a Facebook post, which has since been deleted by the post’s author. In the original post, the author called for her friends to sign a petition to shut down a pedophilia organization.
“Did no one else see this coming? First we had to accept homosexuals as normal. Then it was people who like to pretend that they are the opposite sex - accept them as normal. Pedophiles are just trying to get into the act so they can have “rights,” the post from Grimm’s personal Facebook page said.
After the vote, councilwoman Peggy Eggleston, who voted in favor of the ordinance, expressed outrage for not passing the ordinance.
“I cannot believe that this thing has failed,” Eggleston said.
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