Keep an eye on El Paso

While we celebrate the advancement of civil rights in San Antonio, we must keep in mind that these fights are never truly over. The El Paso City Council voted to extend health insurance to domestic partnerships in 2009, but that was overturned at the ballot box last November. Undaunted, Council passed another ordinance in June, with Mayor John Cook (who proposed the ordinance) casting a tiebreaker vote in favor. One of the leading opponents of the domestic partner benefits threatened to initiate a recall effort against those who supported the new ordinance, and last week he and his cohorts turned in their petitions, with (apparently) enough legal signatures to recall Mayor Cook and the two returning Council members who voted with him. There are still legal matters to be decided before a May recall election can go forward, but it’s clear that this matter is far from settled. I for one will not be surprised if there is a similar effort to turn the clock back in San Antonio as well. We’ve come a long way, but there is no finish line. Wherever we are, there’s still a long way to go.

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