Sen. Bart Hester, a former Razorback baseball player from Cave Springs, isn’t happy with his alma mater, apparently on account of Chancellor G. David Gearhart’s objection to the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce’s opposition to the new Fayetteville civil rights ordinance.

The ordinance discourages, among others, discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Those who favor discrimination against gay people are up in arms and have put the ordinance to a referendum Dec. 9 . The Chamber has raised some spurious objections, allegedly by a unanimous board vote. Gearhart is an ex officio board member. He said nobody told him about a board meeting and he urged the Chamber to rescind its resolution against the ordinance.

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So, this week, Hester posted unhappy items on Twitter. The bathroom scare, shown above, has led opponents’ talking points The ordinance doesn’t open the door to such scary encounters, unless you reject the science that people can choose to identify (sometimes with expensive medical treatment) as a gender different from that at birth. As for tax money being spent against religion, I have no idea what he’s talking about — unless he’s suggesting that someone on a public payroll is barred from saying things with which his particular brand of religion disagrees. The most strident opponents of the civil rights ordinance say it’s religious discrimination if they aren’t allowed to discriminate against gay people. I’ve sent him a question.

I also got a comment from the UA on Hester’s barbs:

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“The chancellor does not follow Twitter,” a spokesman said.
ALSO: I overlooked Hester’s Tweet promising retaliation against the UA with his vote. Hester loves the 2nd Amendment. The 1st Amendment, not so much.

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