Arkansas passes bill blocking anti-discrimination laws against LGBT people

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published 13 February 2015

On Friday, the Arkansas legislature passed a bill preventing cities and counties from passing laws that would criminalize LGBT discrimination in housing, jobs, and businesses.

The Arkansas House of Representatives voted 57-20 in favor of the bill, which will be sent to Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R). Senators who voted in favor of the bill said that it will "create consistent policies" for employment laws across the state, BuzzFeed reports.

Not all of Arkansas' representatives approved of the bill, though — in a speech on the House floor, Rep. Clarke Tucker (D) called the bill a "proactive act of discrimination" that signals Arkansas is "out of step with corporate culture today in 2015." And Holly Dickinson, the ACLU of Arkansas' legal director, told BuzzFeed that the bill is "designed to permit as much discrimination as possible in the state."