The question on the minds of a lot of
Delaware politicos this year has been whether Delaware, the first state
to sign the U.S. Constitution, will become the 13th state in the nation
to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Now, as we reach
the June 30 adjournment date, the Delaware Senate has not voted on H.B.
99, a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual
orientation in employment, housing, public contracts and public
accommodations. The Delaware House passed H.B. 99 last year. When the
bill got to the upper chamber, Senate Pro Tempore, Thomas Sharp
(D-Wilmington), referred the bill to the Senate Small Business
Committee, led by Senator Robert Venables (D-Laurel), where it has been
stuck ever since.
The ACLU Delaware Gay and Lesbian Project, which
has been building support for this bill for years, and the Human Rights
Campaign have pulled out all the stops to secure a senate vote this
year. Members of both groups and other fair-minded people from all over
the state have sent literally thousands of e-mails and faxes to their
state legislators and have placed innumerable phone calls in support of
H.B. 99. In a state where state legislators are likely to respond
personally to constituent mail and where four people answer the phones-2
for the House and 2 for the Senate-that kind of constituent support gets
noticed.
HRC also commissioned a statewide poll. Hickman
Brown Public Opinion Research contacted a random sample of registered
Delaware voters in May and found that 69% favored passage of H.B. 99.
When asked if they would be more or less likely to support a candidate
who voted for the bill, 61% said more likely. Nearly 8 in 10 (78%)
Delaware voters thought the senate should vote on the bill. (Perhaps it
shouldn’t be surprising that voters from the first state to ratify the
U.S. Constitution are so supportive of the democratic process, even
those people who may not support the bill itself.)
You’d think these results would be slam-dunk to
get the bill passed and by the time you read this, perhaps it has. But
more likely, Senators Sharp and Venables have exercised their
prerogative to run out the clock. Along with the whole concept that a
candidate with the most votes can actually lose an election, we don’t
learn a lot about the “wait-out-the-clock” strategy in civics class.
But it is a tried and true strategy for preventing votes on certain
issues.
Senator Venables refuses to let the bill out of
his committee and Senator Sharp, although he has the power to do so, is
not willing to over rule the committee chairman. To be sure, supporters
of gay and lesbian issues have also used this strategy in our favor many
times in many legislative bodies. But in this case, we are at the mercy
of two legislators not at all inclined to support us.
So even with the strong support of voters, enough
votes in the Senate to pass the bill and the endorsement of Governor
Ruth Ann Minner-who has said publicly on several occasions that she
would sign the bill and who has personally lobbied Senator
Sharp-Delawareans are still not protected from discrimination based on
sexual orientation.
But we should not despair. We will be back at it
again when the newly elected legislature takes over in January 2003.
Senator Sharp has announced his retirement, so we’ll have at least one
less roadblock to contend with. But surely there will be others and both
the ACLU Delaware and the Human Rights Campaign will be calling on all
fair-minded people in Delaware to once again let their voices be heard
on this issue. Perhaps it won’t be this year, but eventually the will
of the people will prevail and Delaware will join the small but growing
number of states that protect all their citizens, including their gay
and lesbian citizens, from discrimination.
Seth Kilbourn is the National Field Director
for the Human Rights Campaign.
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