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Written by Lisa Neff
Apr 8, 2010
Members of the New Hampshire House vote to kill two proposals – to repeal the state’s six-week-old law legalizing civil unions and to back a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman – at the State House in Concord. Voters in the Granite State also rejected a series of resolutions against marriage equality for gays. – Photo: AP/Cheryl Senter
Gay bars years ago resumed serving screwdrivers and lifted the orange juice boycott enacted to protest pitchwoman Anita Bryant’s anti-gay crusade in Florida.
But the 1977 anti-gay adoption ban enacted in the heyday of Bryant’s Save Our Children campaign remains on the books – a Miami-Dade circuit court judge in 2009 overturned the ban, the only law in the nation that explicitly prohibits gays and lesbians from adopting children, but the ruling is on appeal.
So in mid-March, dozens of LGBT civil rights advocates went to Tallahassee to lobby lawmakers to pass legislation to lift the adoption ban, as well as to enact an anti-discrimination measure, establish a statewide domestic partnership policy, and approve resolutions calling for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and condemning a proposal in Uganda that would establish the death penalty for same-sex sexual activity.
Sunshine State activists celebrated in mid-March after persuading state representatives and senators to speak out against the adoption ban.
“We ended 33 years of silence when the shameful anti-gay adoption ban was condemned on the floor of both the Florida House and Senate,” stated Equality Florida, a statewide LGBT lobbying group.
Activists celebrated another first in late March, when legislators held a workshop to discuss the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
And they celebrated again after successfully lobbying to strike anti-LGBT language from a bill to offer tax credits to film companies that select Florida as a locale. The original legislation would have denied credits to companies shooting programs with LGBT characters.
“Maybe they’re small victories,” said Tampa activist Ben Williams. “But they are victories.”
There have been other early, small victories for activists lobbying other state legislatures, but the 2010 legislative season is expected to be a relatively quiet one in regards to civil rights issues.
“Everyone is focused on mid-term elections,” said Sarah Warbelow, state legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign. “And another trend – many states are dealing with budget shortfalls. Economics has taken all of the focus right now, it’s about basic budget issues.”
Last year, Warbelow tracked nearly 400 LGBT-related bills in 34 states. Fifty measures considered pro-LGBT passed, as did four bills considered “bad” for LGBT people.
Many other measures were carried over to the 2010 legislative season, and they may be carried over again, if they don’t die in committee.
“We’re trying to make sure we get through this cycle safely,” Warbelow said. “We’re not seeing a lot of positive legislation (move) right now, but we’re being successful in defeating negative legislation.”
The year began with activists hoping for the advancement of civil unions in Hawaii and a domestic partnership bill in New Mexico, but a vote on Hawaii’s measure was postponed indefinitely in the House and New Mexico has wrapped up its regular legislative business for the year.
A succinct announcement from Equality New Mexico on the 30-day session stated, “Bad news: SB 183 domestic partnership legislation tabled in Senate Finance Committee. Good news: All three DOMAS defeated.”
West Virginia also concluded its legislative business for the year – without moving forward on a proposed ballot initiative against gay marriage.
Similar anti-gay initiatives already have been thwarted in Pennsylvania and Indiana, while a series of anti-gay resolutions were defeated at the polls in New Hampshire earlier this year.
Meanwhile, in Maryland, Republican lawmakers are seeking to overturn the state attorney general’s opinion that statutes allow for the recognition of same-sex marriages legalized in other states and neighboring District of Columbia.
“Thus far, all of those have been defeated,” Warbelow said.
Activists remain focused on marriage equality in New York state, where a coordinated campaign is underway to defeat legislators who late in 2009 voted against a measure to legalize marriage for same-sex couples.
“We hope that in 2010 some legislators who did not vote for marriage will be replaced with legislators who are willing to vote for marriage,” Warbelow said. “Elections are very important to us.”
An early legislative victory in the Midwest was passage of the Healthy Youth Act dealing with comprehensive sex education in Wisconsin, where the two bills to watch now would create enhanced penalties for certain crimes on the basis of gender or perceived gender and strengthen anti-bullying efforts in schools, said Warbelow.
In neighboring Iowa, activists are celebrating an anniversary of legalized same-sex marriage, and, in Illinois, activists are lobbying for passage of civil unions legislation.
In the western states, activists are lobbying for more than a dozen measures in California, including the Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act, which would strengthen the differentiation between civil and religious marriage and is seen by sponsor Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, as needed if activists are to repeal Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage.
“Marriage equality proponents have never believed that churches would be forced to solemnize marriages that are against their beliefs because of the constitutional protections for freedom of religion,” Leno said. “Just as many churches are willing and eager to welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith and same-sex couples, members of clergy may also refuse to marry same-sex couples based on their religious tenets.
“Clearly, we need to clarify under California law that all members of clergy have this fundamental freedom.”
Another important measure is pending in Arizona. There, Warbelow said, the focus is on defeating a bill that would “make it difficult for same-sex couples to adopt.”
If the measure passes, state adoption agencies would give “primary consideration” to placement of a child with a married couple, although adoption agencies may consider placement with a single person if a married couple is not available.
Arizona LGBT activists said the arguments for the measure, called the Marital Preference for Adoption Act, remind them of the campaign to pass the adoption ban in Florida 33 years ago.
“But this is 2010,” said LGBT civil rights advocate Randy Delossa of Phoenix. “And in 2010, we’re not going to lose.”
