WHEREAS: APRIL 2006 marks the thirty-eighth anniversary of passage of the Fair Housing Law as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which was comprehensively revised by passage of the federal Fair Housing Act of 1988, to protect the rights of all to fair and equal opportunity for housing without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin; and
WHEREAS: The City of Lawrence, following its long tradition of leading the way in the struggle to achieve the ideal of freedom and justice for all, adopted its first Fair Housing Ordinance on July 19, 1967; and
WHEREAS: The State of Kansas adopted Fair Housing legislation in 1970, which was amended significantly in 1991 and 1992 to expand the remedies and options available relative to Fair Housing, and to protect all from discrimination in housing on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, or ancestry; and
WHEREAS: Fair Housing is consistent with the principles of freedom and justice for all, upon which the United States of America, the State of Kansas, and the City of Lawrence each were founded on;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Dennis “Boog” Highberger, Mayor of the City of Lawrence, Kansas, do hereby proclaim the month of APRIL 2006 to be
“FAIR HOUSING MONTH”
in Lawrence, and ask the citizens of Lawrence to join me in reaffirming our obligation to fair and equal housing opportunity for every person who resides or wishes to reside in our city.
April 4, 2006