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Proposition 1, on the ballot due to the signature-gathering efforts of the far-right anti-LGBT Alaska Family Council (AFC), would overturn some protections enshrined by the Anchorage Assembly鈥檚 (the city鈥檚 legislative body) 2015 nondiscrimination law, and require city-owned changing facilities and restrooms to be designated for persons of the same sex listed on their birth certificate. The current nondiscrimination law being targeted by the Alaska Family Council and its allies entitles people to use bathrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms that are 鈥渃onsistent with their gender identity.鈥�

Anchorage, which last year the state鈥檚 first two openly gay politicians, Christopher Constant and Felix Rivera, to the municipal assembly, has a long history with anti-LGBT culture wars, and the Alaska Family Council, led by its director Jim Minnery, has been the tip of the spear in attempts to deny LGBT equality over the last decade.

Minnery and the Alaska Family Council, with support from the national anti-LGBT hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (of which Minnery鈥檚 cousin Tom was a co-founder and former board听chairman), led the campaign against Anchorage鈥檚 Proposition 5 in 2012, which would have added sexual orientation and transgender identity to the city鈥檚 civil rights code. The initiative after an ugly campaign against it that included former Governor Tony Knowles 鈥渋ntentionally stigmatizing鈥� and 鈥渄ehumanizing.鈥�

For advocates of equality, the 2012 electoral defeat was a recurring nightmare: In 2009, the Anchorage Assembly approved an ordinance enacting similar protections against discrimination for LGBT people, but then-Mayor Dan Sullivan, a conservative, in the face of by far-right activists, who protested the measure with signs such as 鈥淚 was born black you choose 2B gay鈥� and 鈥渨hen the 鈥楪ay Agenda鈥� destroys Civil Liberties everyone loses!!!鈥� Sullivan鈥檚 father George vetoed a similar LGBT anti-discrimination measure as mayor in 1976.

The Anchorage Assembly revisited the issue in late 2015 and 9 -2 making it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity, including provisions for people to use the bathroom or locker room 鈥渃onsistent with their gender identity,鈥� defined as 鈥済ender-related self-identity, as expressed in appearance or behavior, regardless of the person鈥檚 assigned sex at birth,鈥� established by evidence that the gender identity is 鈥渟incerely held, core to a person鈥檚 gender-related self-identity, and not being asserted for an improper purpose.鈥�

Opponents of the equal rights ordinance pledged to repeal it, and last year signatures were collected for the initiative that would become Proposition 1, sponsored by Minnery鈥檚 wife, Kim.

If enacted, would erase the current law pertaining to bathrooms and changing rooms and require city-owned buildings like libraries and public venues to designate such facilities for persons of the same sex, defined by a person鈥檚 鈥渋mmutable biological condition of being male or female鈥� as determined by 鈥渁natomy and genetics at the time of birth,鈥� with an 鈥渙riginal birth certificate鈥� as 鈥渄efinitive evidence鈥� of an individual鈥檚 sex.

The opposition to Proposition 1, led by a group called and supported by , and the , had outraised the Yes on 1 campaign by a factor of 10 by early March, but a by equality advocates in 2012 didn鈥檛 add up to a win at the ballot box.

Much like in the 2012 campaign, Minnery and the Alaska Family Council are relying on scare tactics like the to convince Anchorage residents to vote yes on the initiative.

鈥淐urrently we鈥檙e seeing our opposition push out really offensive TV ads that hinge on evoking fear in voters,鈥� says Kati Ward, campaign manager for Fair Anchorage. 鈥淲e knew that would be the case since it鈥檚 the exact same tactic that has been used in similar campaigns in the Lower 48. Fair Anchorage鈥檚 job is to figure out how do we address that fear with Anchorage voters, but the biggest hurdle is that those conversations and a deeper understanding of transgender people takes time.鈥�

The Yes on 1 campaign is running a 30-second television commercial featuring a woman named Kate recalling an experience with a transgender person at a public pool, alleging that the individual was looking at women in the shower area and concluding, 鈥淧redatory men are using these laws to violate women.鈥�

The advertisement may backfire with Anchorage voters, though, as it commits the cardinal political sin of featuring a non-Alaskan. According to , the woman featured in the ad is Kate Ives, a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota. Ives was active in a similar anti-transgender bathroom bill campaign in Minnesota, and has produced similar videos for Ask Me First, an anti-transgender campaign with branches in 40 states, INTO reports.

Minnery did not respond to detailed questions from Hatewatch.

鈥淭he reality is we鈥檙e seeing these 鈥榖athroom bills鈥� come as a backlash to marriage equality and it鈥檚 become a wave across the country,鈥� Ward says. 鈥淎s soon as marriage equality was obtained, then the bathroom bills started popping up.鈥�

鈥淚 honestly don鈥檛 know exactly how we would enforce something like that鈥� that would be something that would be extraordinarily difficult for us to deal with,鈥� Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll told the Anchorage Assembly regarding Proposition 1鈥檚 birth-certificates-for-bathroom-use requirement. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think APD has the capacity to staff bathrooms with police officers for checking ID鈥� I mean, it鈥檚 hard to say that with a straight face.鈥�

Both leading mayoral candidates, incumbent progressive Ethan Berkowitz and conservative challenger , who are also on the ballot in this election, have .

Other opponents of Proposition 1 include a including oil and gas behemoth BP, Wells Fargo, the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce and . Keeley Olson, executive director of Standing Together Against Rape (STAR), the leading group in Anchorage devoted to combating sexual violence, is featured in a television ad opposing Proposition 1, declaring, 鈥渆nsuring dignity for transgender people is not a threat to public safety.鈥�

But the campaign against the discriminatory and hateful Proposition 1 has its most forceful spokesperson in Fair Anchorage co-chair David Lockard, who has an 18-year-old transgender son, Col. Lockard, his wife Debbie, Col and Col鈥檚 younger sister appear in a television commercial opposing Proposition 1.

鈥淚鈥檓 scared that if Proposition 1 passes, I鈥檇 be bullied and harassed and forced to use the girls鈥� restroom at school,鈥� Col says in the ad.

鈥淭he target audience [for the Yes on 1 campaign] is people who look like me,鈥� David Lockard tells Hatewatch. 鈥淚鈥檓 an old white guy. I like to fish and hunt, I鈥檓 an engineer, I manage construction projects, and I鈥檓 the target audience 鈥� the people who persecute people in our country, whether it鈥檚 transgender or others, are people who look like me.鈥�

Lockard describes himself as liberal and open-minded, and says he and his wife have had gay and lesbian friends since high school, but when Col came out as transgender to David and his wife three years ago, 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 really didn鈥檛 know what it meant to be transgender.鈥�

Lockard believes many voters who are undecided on Proposition 1 don鈥檛 know what it means to be transgender either, and his prescription for them is 鈥渕eet my son,鈥� describing Col in superlatives.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know I knew any transgender people when my son came out,鈥� Lockard continues. 鈥淣ow I can probably name 30 just in Anchorage, and I haven鈥檛 met anybody who isn鈥檛 just a really decent person. Because they suffer so much from persecution, they鈥檙e very conscious of treating other people well.鈥�

The Fair Anchorage campaign is banking on Anchorage voters鈥� compassion and understanding to defeat the hateful Proposition 1. 鈥淚 think through the field program, talking with Anchorage voters, building an understanding of transgender people through regular conversations with the community, that鈥檚 what will make the real difference in this campaign,鈥� Ward says.

鈥淭his bathroom bill is a venal attempt to find some way to attack a group of people who are not hurting people,鈥� Lockard says. He also points out that Proposition 1 will likely be challenged in the courts if it passes. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to win,鈥� he says. 鈥淯nfortunately there鈥檚 a lot of suffering in the process.鈥�

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