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PARKERSBURG -- A Parkersburg City Councilman said this week he is not planning to bring a nondiscrimination ordinance back before the legislative body, contrary to a fellow councilman's social media post.
During Tuesday's City Council meeting, Councilman Jeff Fox said he'd been made aware of "what could be viewed as a libelous statement" in which another member said Fox wants to introduce another NDO.
"I want to assure all my fellow council members that I have no plans to bring any type of nondiscrimination ordinance before council now or in the future," Fox said. "The reason being, for one, I believe that the June 2020 (decision) handed down by the Supreme Court of the United States of America addressed the key discrimination issues, and I believe that, at this point, all those things are better handled at the federal and state level."
Introduced in March 2017, the city NDO would have would have prohibited discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations on the basis of a variety of factors, four of which are not included in the West Virginia Human Rights Act: veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation and gender identity. Those last two categories were the subject of intense debate that drew large crowds to council meetings for months.
The ordinance was rejected on a 6-3 vote in August 2017.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire someone, fire someone or segregate someone based on a person's sexual orientation.
Fox, who voted for the ordinance, did not specify which council member made the post, but an Aug. 25 comment by Councilman Eric Barber on Barber's Facebook page says "The N.D.O. isn't done in Parkersburg… Jeff Fox has stated he wants to bring it back next year."
Barber, who voted against the ordinance, said Thursday he believes the topic will be "on the ballot" in the November election.
"It's interesting to watch super-liberal Jeff Fox retreat from a position he was very vocal about not long ago," said Barber, who is on the ballot as a Republican this fall after being elected as a Democrat.
Barber pointed to an interview of Fox on the MOV Public Forum, an online video series started by two Parkersburg residents to fill the void in face-to-face campaigning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the video, posted May 9, more than a month before the Supreme Court decision, Fox said he would "support with changes" an NDO. Barber said Fox did not correct the hosts when they said an issue like that could come back before council.
In the interview, Fox said "things can always come back and then it's into the nuts and bolts of the legislation."
On Thursday, Fox said he had "absolutely no plans to revisit" the issue.
"We went there, we had the debate, we move on to something else," he said.
Fox, a Democrat, is facing Republican Austin Richards in the general election, while Barber is being challenged by Democrat Wendy Tuck.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.