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Down To The Wire, Lots Of Opinions On The Royal Oak Human Rights Ordinance

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) There's lots of talk on the streets of suburban Royal Oak about the human rights ordinance on the ballot Tuesday.

Walking around the city, WWJ found some people had no idea what Proposal A was all about and others had misinformation, believing it meant transgender people could use women's bathrooms.

The proposal -- which says in part that it will prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status -- got support at the Hamlin pub on Main street.

"I support the proposal, I don't think you should discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation," said one man

"It's long overdue, everyone should vote yes on it," another man said.

At the National Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak WWJ found people for Prop A and against.

The equal protection clause in the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution covers, age, race, gender or religion but not explicitly sexual orientation.

"I'm against it completely," one woman said.

Another added: "It's built into the constitution already, everybody's automatically supposed to be created equal. We don't need an ordinance (that could), open it up to various ways of interpreting it."

This ballot issue came after the City Commission passed a local law protecting against bias in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations on March 4. Opponents gathered 1,200 petition signatures to stop it -- so city officials went to the public to decide.

Royal Oak Mayor Jim Ellison, a vocal supporter, said the ordinance is modeled after a similar measure in Ann Arbor.

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