Gay rights groups and social conservatives are making major efforts to pass gay-related bills in state legislatures all across the country. Pro-gay proposals making the most progress are hate crimes bills, which usually increase the punishment for crimes motivated by hatred of racial or religious groups or by the victim's sexual orientation. People for the American Way, a group favoring liberal social policies, has announced a special program to promote hate crimes bills in 18 state legislatures. It should be noted, however, that some prominent gay figuressuch as writer Andrew Sullivan on the right and activist Bill Dobbs on the leftoppose hate crimes laws on the grounds that they punish thought, not action.
Gains for Hate Crimes Bills
Hate crimes bills are meeting with considerable success, passing significant legislative hurdles in conservative states.
In Utah, the GOP-controlled Senate reversed a prior defeat of a hate crimes bill and passed the measure by a 21-5 vote. The bill's prospects in the Utah House are uncertain.
In Arkansas, for the first time the state Senate approved a hate crimes measure that includes sexual orientation. However, the bill was killed in a House committee.
In Texas, a hate crimes bill has passed both the House and Senate judiciary committees with bipartisan support. Last year, a similar measure got bottled up in a Senate committee, mostly because then-Governor George W. Bush's supporters didn't want to him to have to sign or veto the measure, which they feared in either case would have hurt his presidential bid.
This year, however, Bush is in the White House and a hate crimes billnamed for James Byrd Jr., the African-American murdered by being dragged behind a truck in an East Texas townis now poised for floor action in both legislative chambers. Each of the state's legislative bodies has passed a similar bill at least once in the past. This year, prospects for the bill's passage have never been brighter. Dianne Hardy-Garcia, executive director of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, said, "A number of legislators are making it a priority, from both sides of the aisle." The measure is also getting a boost from the efforts of state Rep. Glenn Maxey (D), the only openly gay legislator in Texas.
Other pro-gay measures also get attention:
In New York, the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act passed the house by an impressive 113-33 margin and the outlook in the Senatewhich finally passed a hate crimes bill last yearis better than ever. In New Mexico, a similar bill passed the House Judiciary Committee, but failed on the house floor. In Hawaii, where the U.S. gay marriage battle was born, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has introduced a civil unions measure that would provide gay and lesbian couples the same legal rights as married couples.
Gay-supported efforts to repeal bans on sex between persons of the same sex have so far failed. In Virginia, two sodomy reform bills were introduced but got killed in House committees. Virginians for Justice, a gay rights group, is hopeful about the future. The group commissioned a poll, which showed that 65 percent of respondents favor repealing the state's "Crimes Against Nature" anti-sodomy statute. In Montana, a bill to repeal the state law banning sodomy was killed in the House Judiciary Committee. And in Puerto Rico, the focus is on the territory's Supreme Court, where the judges are considering a challenge to the island's anti-sodomy statute.
Focus on the Gay Family
Anti-gay forces are concentrating on proposals designed to deter gay people from forming families. Last year, the legislatures in Mississippi and Utah enacted bans on adoptions by same-sex couples. These anti-gay successes have "emboldened the right wing to make attacks on LGBT families," says Hector Vargas, of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
This year in the Arkansas legislature, a bill that would have banned gay adoptions as well as the placing of foster-care children with homosexual parents, lost by only one vote in committee and will be reintroduced later this year. A similar bill has been introduced in Indiana. In Texas, where the legislature consideredbut did not passa gay adoption ban last year, social conservatives are expected to make another attempt this year.
In addition, bills to ensure that Boy Scouts have access to public facilities and to government-related funding programs, such as the United Way, have been introduced in Arizona, Georgia and Washington.
Proposals to deny recognition to same-sex relationships are another major priority of the anti-gay forces. In Texas, the Christian Coalition, the Eagle Forum, and the Texas Family Association have seven lobbyists working the legislature in Austin on behalf of a "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) for the state, which would prevent the state from recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages and civil unions, such as those in Vermont. Unfortunately, the Texas DOMA has a fair chance of passing.
Meanwhile in Vermont, the House Judiciary Committee is holding hearings on five anti-gay bills, including "The Marriage Restoration Act." Proponents of the bills, one of which would outlaw public schools' promotion of homosexuality, are equating gays with pedophilia and disease. None of the bills are expected to pass this year.
Hastings Wyman publishes Southern Political Report, a nonpartisan biweekly political newsletter. E-mail HwymanSPR@aol.com.
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 11, No. 2, Mar. 9, 2001