One side says Spokane already has an intolerant reputation. Repealing legal protection against discrimination for gays and lesbians in the Nov. 2 election will only make it worse.

The other side says it's a bad law. Businesses will be badgered with lawsuits. Landlords will be forced to go against their morals. It's government-endorsed acceptance of homosexuality.

Eight months after the Spokane City Council approved the Human Rights Ordinance as law, dueling campaigns are spending thousands of dollars to reach voters.

Equal Rights Not Special Rights collected signatures to put an initiative on the ballot to remove sexual orientation from the list of classifications that receive legal protection from discrimination.

The group has raised $1,500 to date for its campaign.

But a group opposing the repeal, No On Discrimination, has gathered $29,000 to date. The money's been spent on mailings, the salary of a full-time campaign manager, office supplies, insurance and phone costs for the downtown office that was donated by Wells & Company. The group has also spent $1,228 on a campaign trainer from New York.

No On Discrimination also spent $1,000 to bring in Suzanne Westenhoefer on Oct. 23, the first openly lesbian comedian to get an HBO special. She will perform a benefit concert at Spokane Falls Community College. Banquets and worship services are also planned.

For the past few months, No On Discrimination has sought support in Spokane neighborhoods through phone calls and door-to-door visits.

Volunteer Kevan Gardner has gone out several times to make his pitch for gay and lesbian protection.

To date, the No On Discrimination ballot committee has found 2,000 Spokane people who said they'd vote down the initiative. The list includes an elderly South Hill woman who flinched when Gardner said "gay and lesbian" and one voter who reportedly said, "I don't like homosexuals but discrimination is wrong."

Last week, the group Equal Rights refiled with the county Elections Office to become a full-reporting committee, which frees it up to accept more than $2,000 in donations as long as it files frequent public disclosure reports.

Ron Johnson, pastor at Indian Trail Community Church and executive director of Equal Rights, said he weighed in against the inclusion of sexual orientation in the ordinance almost three years ago.

His campaign is based on getting the word out and making sure people vote.

"I don't think we need to persuade people in the community of our position. I think they agree with our position," Johnson said. "I'm confident it will pass if we get the message out to the people."

Johnson said he has not forgotten the debate he had with a former Human Rights Commission chairman on the KSPS program "Spokane This Week."

During a heated exchange, Frank Cikutovich said, "I don't trust the people to make the call because people used to say blacks couldn't vote and blacks were not human. I don't trust the majority when the majority actively puts somebody down and says you don't have the same rights as everyone else."

Johnson said Cikutovich's statement and the Human Rights Ordinance are examples of a liberal government that thinks it's smarter than the people.

His opposition, No On Discrimination, sees strong support in Spokane to defeat the measure.

In 1997, 23,000 Spokane residents voted to protect the jobs of gays and lesbians by supporting state Initiative 677, said Leslie Farris, a campaign spokesperson. The state initiative failed in the town, county and state. But those votes came without a local effort to raise awareness, she said.

"People in Spokane don't want to be perceived as discriminating and noninclusive and nonprogressive," Farris said. "Everyone talks about this undeserved reputation because of the Aryan Nations. I think people realize that passing a law like this as a matter of public policy would just exacerbate the situation."

It's not only Spokane people who see it that way.

While most of the financial contributions to No On Discrimination have come from individuals in Spokane, such as a Gonzaga University professor, two members of the Human Rights Commission and a minister of a local Lutheran church, some big donations have come from the Seattle area.

In July, the Pride Foundation, the largest gay and lesbian foundation in the Northwest, donated $10,000.

Thatcher Bailey, publisher of the Copper Canyon Press poetry journal and president of the Pride Foundation board, said surrounding states are watching Spokane's upcoming election.

"It's a very significant issue," Bailey said. Most every issue in the country that threatens to remove or block rights of gays and lesbians captures keen attention, Bailey said.

"This is something that affects all of us," he said.

The ordinance passed by the City Council in January reinforces state and federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, marital status and disability. But it goes further by offering protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"Sexual orientation" is defined in the ordinance as actual or perceived bisexuality, heterosexuality or homosexuality.

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