Delaware is 21st state to pass lesbian-gay bias law
Dover, Delaware–State lawmakers sent a sexual orientation nondiscrimination bill to the governor on June 25, passing it through both houses of the legislature in only an hour.
The House passed the measure at 8:30 pm, shortly after the Senate passed an identical bill. In previous legislative sessions, the Senate killed the bill.
Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, one of the bill’s champions, said that Gov. Jack Markell had expressed support for the measure
When Markell signs it, Delaware will become the 21st state with such a law. But, unlike seven similar state laws passed since 2002, Delaware’s does not include gender identity.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/delaware-is-2…
LGBT discussion takes on a new tone in the Ohio Statehouse
Columbus–As the House State Government committee considered a bill to outlaw discrimination by sexual orientation or gender identity, State Rep. Cliff Hite of Findlay challenged Crystal Curry of the anti-gay Concerned Women for America.
“You and the other [Equal Housing and Employment Act opponents] have testified that homosexuals are only about three percent of the population,” said Hite, a Republican. “So how is it that three percent represents such a threat?”
“They’re not,” Curry answered, “unless we give them civil rights and allow them to marry. Then they are a threat. Three percent is not harmful unless they keep pushing and pushing and take on rights.”
Curry then told lawmakers that because LGBT people use the word “gay” instead of “homosexual” and Will and Grace has gay characters, homosexuality will “become accepted.”
“Kids will grow up and try it,” she complained.
The exchange caused a visible reaction in Hite and other committee members, both Democrats and Republicans.
This illustrates what might be the most significant development in the bill’s movement through the Ohio legislature:
The measure’s opponents can no longer make wild, unsubstantiated and long-debunked claims about the lives of LGBT people without challenges from both sides of the partisan aisle.
See LGBT discussion takes on a new tone in the Ohio Statehouse
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/lgbt-discussi…
