Arkansas asking court to block city’s LGBT protections

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)   The Arkansas attorney general’s office is asking the state’s highest court to prevent a northwestern Arkansas city from enforcing an ordinance that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

State Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office on Friday filed notice that Arkansas is appealing a Washington County judge’s decision to deny the state’s request for a preliminary injunction against Fayetteville’s anti-discrimination ordinance. The state Supreme Court in February reversed a lower court decision that the ordinance didn’t violate a 2015 state law prohibiting cities from enacting protections not covered by state law.

Arkansas’ civil rights law doesn’t cover sexual orientation or gender identity.

Fayetteville is one of several cities that approved local protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in response to the 2015 law.

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