Date Choices for Irvine Initiative Are Laid Out

An initiative aimed at removing homosexuals from the protection of Irvine’s human rights ordinance can be placed on the ballot in a special election as early as Aug. 8 or at the next regular municipal election on June, 5, 1990, City Atty. Roger Grable said Thursday.

In a memo to the Irvine City Council, Grable also told the council members that a third option would be to adopt the proposed initiative without change at next Tuesday’s council meeting and therefore avoid an election. The council members are not likely to choose that option, however, since they adopted the language the initiative seeks to remove.

The election could also be held at the same time as the Nov. 7 school district election, Deputy City Clerk Barbara Paliska said Thursday.

Provision Is Target

According to the city attorney’s memo, the council can set the special election on any Tuesday after Aug. 8 but before June, 1990, that does not come immediately before or after a state holiday.

The council will act on the matter at its meeting next Tuesday.

The sexual-orientation provision of the human rights ordinance has been attacked by the Irvine Values Coalition, a group composed primarily of religious fundamentalists. The coalition submitted 5,433 signatures in March to qualify the initiative for the city ballot.

If voters approve it, the initiative would remove the words sexual orientation from the ordinance, which was passed last year to ban discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, physical handicap, marital status or sexual orientation.

If the initiative is placed on the ballot, it would be the first time in Orange County that the issue of equal rights for homosexuals has been put before voters.

‘Strong Reasons’

“I think from the beginning people felt this (initiative) was a bad idea and that it was poorly written,” Mayor Larry Agran said Thursday. “I hope the voters of Irvine reject it.”

In his report on the initiative, the city attorney told the council members that they have the right to compose the ballot argument in opposition to the initiative.

“All the council members expressed their support for the Human Rights Ordinance . . . and none have indicated opposition to the ordinance,” said Agran, who added that he would like to see the council draft the opposition argument.

“We had strong reasons for enacting the ordinance, and I believe we as a council ought to have strong reasons for opposing its repeal,” Agran said.

Scott Peotter, chairman of the Irvine Values Coalition, reacted with dismay to news that a special election could be held in either June or August. He said that a special election could cost the city as much as $65,000 and that he hoped, therefore, that the initiative would be placed on the regular November ballot, so that there would be no added cost to the taxpayer.

Peotter predicted that, regardless of when an election might be held, the initiative would pass overwhelmingly.

“A lot of people are very adamant against special protection for homosexuals,” he said. “When presented with the facts, I’m confident that (voters) will agree and pass our initiative.”