Lessons From a Narrow Victory

By Jeremy Flanagan

Most people across the county have not heard of the hard fight for religious freedom that has taken place over the past four months in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  I believe the main reason is that the citizens rose up to take back their government, and that is not a story that most in the media wants you to hear. It was not an easy struggle, and we only achieved victory by a few hundred votes; but what we have learned will arm us going forward and hopefully give you the tools necessary to defend your city against the constant attack on our religious freedoms.

My name is Jeremy Flanagan, and I pastor Pathway Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  In a typically conservative state and region, Fayetteville has a much different feel. For years the city government has tilted liberal, and we have sat by and watched it happen. Sure, we notice that businesses are fleeing to neighboring cities because of overregulation. We see the liberal agenda being promoted under the mantra of “Keep Fayetteville Funky,” but it has never encroached upon us personally. No matter how conservative or liberal you are, this has always been a place where people just let others live how they want. In August, all of that changed.

On August 4th, many pastors and Christians in our area received an email alerting us to a proposed city ordinance that would give sweeping new special privileges to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community. The ordinance had already received its first reading with no opposition. We had one day to research the issue before its second reading. I emailed a few local pastors, and no one had received any information before that day. We had no clue anything was happening. That Tuesday night many people showed up to stand in opposition. I argued at length about how it would criminalize an online sermon or printed information that gave our Biblical view of homosexuality. We argued how opening public (including church & private school) changing rooms, locker rooms, or bathrooms to anyone claiming to be transgender would allow sexual predators to deceive their way into these previously protected areas. We relayed how Christian business owners in other states had been forced to shut down simply because they did not want to violate their conscience when it came to facilitating religious ceremonies they disagreed with. The council adopted some amendments but mostly dismissed our arguments. They had hoped to slide this in under our noses, but we stood up. However, it did not matter.

Two weeks later, both sides had packed the council chambers waiting to speak. We had just begun to make connections to find out who all were standing against the city council’s agenda. The other side was much more organized. That night we found out who the Human Rights Campaign was. It’s the largest LGBT lobby in the nation, and it’s based in DC. The same group pushing these laws in Houston, San Antonio and elsewhere had come to Fayetteville. We were the first stop on their newly minted “Southern Strategy” of taking over Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi. They had been in our town for months. Their lawyers had worked with our council and city attorney to draft this ordinance. Their activists had organized support and curried favor with the media. We had lost the first battle before we even knew there was a war. Debate raged until 3:20 in the morning. None of that mattered. The 6-2 vote of the city council was decided before the meeting started. The mayor capped off the vote with an impassioned speech for the ordinance and disparaged those opposed to it.

We had no organization before this point. Now we had 30 days to turn everything around. A team quickly formed with a local lawyer, business leaders, and religious leaders. We knew our only option was to repeal but found out we only had 30 days to gather petition signatures to force a special election. It took days to legally set up our organization and meet with the election commission. We had to negotiate with the city in order to get the correct wording for the petition. Over a week had passed before we could even collect our first signature leaving us only two and a half weeks to get over 4,000 signatures ( 15% of the votes cast in the previous mayor’s race). We had to train petition gatherers to follow election law. We had to inform churches on their legal rights and educate them of the need to get involved. We had to become experts overnight working against our city government, the media, and the well oiled machine of the Human Rights Campaign.

Long story short, we barely crossed the finish line with enough valid signatures. We then endured legal challenges, but the special election was scheduled for December 9th. Next we had to figure out how to run a campaign for repeal. Luckily we had the help of different organizations but none more so than the National Black Robe Regiment (NBRR). MD Sias, on staff for NBRR, came on the field and stayed for weeks to help us organize. Mark Gonzales and Alice Patterson helped us prioritize our messaging with the experience they had gained in other efforts around the county. Pastors Dave Welch (Houston) and Charles Flowers (San Antonio) traveled to Fayetteville to help spread the true message of why we were against this ordinance. On December 9th we prevailed with a 52%-48% vote.  Less than 500 votes made the difference in about 14,500 votes cast. Fayetteville, Arkansas became the first city to repeal an ordinance that was pushed by the Human Rights Campaign and passed by a state, county, or local government. This CAN be repeated elsewhere!

Here is what I’ve learned. First, we cannot stay asleep at the wheel. As pastors and church leaders, we had little involvement in our local governments or school boards. We did not realize how much power and influence they could exert upon our lives, our families, our businesses, and our congregations. We must wake up. Second, there is benefit in connecting with local Christian leaders to work together on matters of faith and freedom. We all have our different ministries, but we must start cooperating or at least communicating on some level if we are to protect our communities. We must be proactive. Finally, we need to associate locally so we can cooperate nationally. If we had fought this battle alone, we would not have won. Even with the help from NBRR and others, we were outspent over 10:1. The media was almost uniformly against us. The city was against us. The University of Arkansas system was against us. It will often be the same odds that you will face in your community. The only way to fight back is to have the help of Christians across the nation that will stand together. I was not part of it before, but I will now encourage everyone to become a part of the Black Robe Regiment. Our battle in Fayetteville would have been lost without it. Become active in your community now, or you will have the hard task of reacting to lost freedoms later.