In last week’s installment of The Ballot Box, The Ticker’s miniseries about elections from Traverse City’s history, we told you about Margaret Dodd’s journey to become TC’s first popularly-elected female mayor. What we didn’t tell you was that the mayoral race was only part of what made the 2001 election such a contentious one in Traverse City. Also on the ballot that fall? A controversial proposal that, had it passed, would have barred city commissioners from adopting anti-discrimination protections for gay, lesbian, or bisexual people.
Incidentally, that particular debate originated with Dodd, who proposed in 2000 that the city try to brand itself as a more diverse and accepting place to live. At the time, Traverse City was in the midst of a rash of hate crimes, ranging from cross burning incidents to the vandalism of mailboxes belonging to Jewish people. In September of that year, a trio of neo-Nazi skinheads assaulted a bartender at SideTraxx, the only bar in the city that catered to the LGBTQ+ population.
In response, Dodd and the Traverse City Human Rights Commission came up with the idea for a rainbow-colored bumper sticker, which showed six anthropomorphic puzzle pieces – each a different color – fitting together in harmony. “We Are Traverse City,” the stickers proclaimed. Soon, the city had affixed the stickers to all government vehicles, including police cars and fire trucks…