WATERLOO - Waterloo Mayor Tim Hurley joined the city Human Rights Commission Monday in condemning the slaying of a gay Waterloo man two weeks ago.

However, the mayor said he's formed no opinion yet on the commission's recommendation to add sexual orientation protections to the city's anti-discrimination ordinance.

"I have no personal position at this time, other than this is a community that should be inclusive of all walks of life," Hurley said.

Hurley joined the commission in a press conference outside commission offices to condemn the March 12 murder of Jason Gage, who was found dead in his apartment at the Russell-Lamson Building.

Within hours, authorities arrested Joseph Lawrence, 23, recently of Cedar Falls, for first-degree murder. Lawrence's girlfriend said Lawrence told her he struck Gage when Gage made sexual advances.

Commission members called the killing a hate crime and renewed calls for sexual orientation protections in the city's human rights ordinance. The City Attorney's Office is reviewing a draft of that language.

"To pretend that it is not controversial would be disingenuous," Hurley said. "We know in other communities in the state, it's caused controversy. And I think we just need to have open and frank and honest discussions without getting emotional about it, examine it for what it is, and is not, and make a decision based on that, a rational decision."

"We will not tolerate this kind of action in our community," said former Black Hawk County supervisor Craig White, a Human Rights Commission member and chair of the hate crimes roundtable of the Cedar Valley Diversity Appreciation Team.

"This is our community. It's everyone's community that lives here," White said. "We want to make it a safe place for everyone to live, not just a chosen few."

"The bottom line is when one takes a life, its a tragedy." said Hurley, whose daughter's fiance was murdered in a Waterloo neighborhood in 1990. "When you add the ingredient of hate or discrimination it just becomes more onerous. That's when we have to gather together to speak up and say, 'Not here.' "

Contact Pat Kinney at 291-1484 or at pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com