A groundbreaking civil union ordinance in the southern Arizona city of Bisbee will lose much of its punch after Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne on Monday said he’s reached an agreement in principal on changes that will remove his opposition and a threat to sue to block it from taking effect, AP reports.
Horne met with lawyers representing Bisbee from a Phoenix firm and a national group that seeks full legal rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people and they agreed to change language Horne believed conflicted with state law.
Horne and Jennifer Pizer of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund say Bisbee will rewrite a section of the ordinance to make it clear that it doesn’t confer rights under state laws.
There’s disagreement as to whether the original version did that, but the city put it on hold early this month after Horne threatened to sue.
