Arkansas Supreme Court strikes down Fayetteville's LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance

The Arkansas Supreme Court has struck down an ordinance that prohibits discrimination against LGBT people in the city of Fayetteville.

The ruling on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that the city's anti-discrimination ordinance did not violate a state law that prevents cities and counties from extending non-discrimination protections beyond the classes that are identified at the state level.

Fayetteville voters approved the ordinance in 2015 to defy Act 137, which became law that same year after the Arkansas legislature approved it and Gov. Asa Hutchison took no action on the measure.

The law essentially prohibits cities from enacting anti-discrimination measures against LGBT people as the Arkansas civil rights code does not include protections for sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Supreme Court ruled that the state civil rights law was the controlling statute, and the city ordinance could not stand because it created a direct inconsistency between state and municipal law, Reuters reported.

The court stated that the ordinance "violates the plain wording of Act 137 by extending discrimination laws in the city of Fayetteville to include two classifications not previously included under state law."

"This necessarily creates a nonuniform nondiscrimination law and obligation in the city of Fayetteville that does not exist under state law," the court added.

However, the court did not rule on the constitutionality of the state law since it was not addressed by the lower court. The case was returned to the Washington County judge that ruled in favor of Fayetteville's ordinance.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, who asked the court to uphold the state law, said she was grateful for the ruling. She noted that Arkansas' law required "discrimination protection be addressed at the state level and be uniform throughout the state."

Fayetteville City Attorney Kit Williams disagreed with the ruling and vowed to challenge the law's constitutionality in the lower court.

"They can't, by not using express terms, accomplish the same result which is truly what their intent was, which was to prevent the city from enacting protections for its gay and lesbian residents," Williams said about the Legislature's passage of the 2015 law, as reported by The Associated Press.