Greenville Chamber says 1996 resolution does not reflect community.

Greenville Chamber CEO Carlos Phillips says the Greenville County Council's failure to rescind a 1996 resolution (pdf) on "gay life style" does not represent the area's business community.

The 1996 County Council resolution says LGBT life style is incompatible with Greenville's "traditional family structure" of community standards. The 1996 nonbinding resolution also pledges not to fund "activities which seek to contravene these existing community standards."

A proposed new "sunset clause" resolution (pdf), which requires seven votes to pass, would phase out nonbinding resolutions, including the 1996 statement, after four years. Although eight council members voted in favor of the sunset clause in a committee meeting, the measure failed when only six voted for it during the March 3 County Council meeting, which followed impassioned public comments on both sides of the issue.

"The Greenville Chamber supports policies that promote economic inclusion, growth and competitiveness," Phillips said in a written statement this week. "The County Council resolution at the center of the current debate does not reflect the diverse, successful community that Greenville has become in the past 24 years. Companies in Greenville County and throughout the region recognize the value of diversity in their workforce, their customers, and their leadership."

Greenville County Council Chairman Butch...