Delaware gay rights bill stalled...

[LeahMira]

Delaware News-Journal headline today: Delaware gay rights bill stalled.

"The Delaware Senate is less likely to consider a bill this year that would extend the state's anti-discrimination protections to gay people because of the national furor over same-sex marriage, legislators and bill supporters said. ....

"The bill would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas such as housing, public accommodations and employment. It would add sexual orientation to state laws that now protect people from discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, marital and family status, age and disability.

"Legislators said a Massachusetts court ruling last summer that found a ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional and the recent controversy over issuing marriage licenses to gay couples in several cities may have hardened opposition in the Senate."

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/03/16delawaregayrigh.html

Info about the bill: It's HB 99, in case this link doesn't take you right to the info.
http://www.legis.state.de.us/Legislature.nsf/fsLIS?openframeset&Frame=Main&Src=/LIS/LIS142.NSF/Home?Openform

Please also vote at the News-Journal poll:
Should gay marriage be legal in Delaware?
At 10:00 am today...
43.6% Yes
53.3% No
3.2% Undecided

Please take notice... this is not a gay marriage issue. This is simply a bill that would prohibit discrimination against persons on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations, and insurance and grants Superior Court exclusive criminal jurisdiction over violations of equal accommodations, fair housing and employment discrimination and deletes the addition to the Recorder of Deeds’ duties.

Also, please take notice of the attempts at linkage of this bill to the gay marriage debate. In fact, this bill has been going around since long before gay marriage became a national issue. The same old voices have been heard over and over already. Some of the bigoted statements made in years past on the floor of our legislature have been nothing short of disgraceful and outright nasty. This new linkage is one more sorry attempt to marginalize a group of people because of their sexual orientation. Still, I think it needs to be addressed with facts that will put it to rest once and for all.

Contact info for Senators and Representatives is here:
http://www.legis.state.de.us/Legislature.nsf/fsContactInfo?openframeset&Frame=Main&Src=/Legislature.nsf/Lookup/ContactInfo_Home?open

My support for equal rights comes from the heart, not the intellect. I'm not conversant with all the legal ins and outs and all the history; I simply believe that all people deserve respect and justice. I will write to my representatives in the State Senate and House, but please... especially those of you who are knowledgeable about law... please flood the e-mailboxes... and tell your friends. I'm ashamed of my state for its very backward policies. Delaware calls itself "The First State" because it was first to ratify the Constitution, but to deny equal rights and protections to people who are homosexual makes a mockery of it's nickname.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

P.S. If you can only write to one individual, choose Senator Venables. He needs to understand that his bigotry has no legal legs to stand on.


Again, thanks!

:grouphug:

[Brian_Expat]

1. If Delaware wants to preserve its status as a corporate haven. . .

. . . it better get on board the equal rights train. New Jersey is just across the DMB and ready for companies to set up shop -- companies who believe all their employees have value, worth, dignity and are deserving of equality.

Every major economic study on this issue to date shows that states that support diversity outperform those who don't. Considering that most of Delaware borders states that don't support bigotry or allow it in employment and accommodation, it stands to lose big over the long haul.

[David__77]

2. They blocked this before...

It's not because of marriage. A certain rightist Democrat in the state senate is vitriolic against gay people and won't let this pass his committee. It's that sort that need to be aligned with more mainstream party thinking.