News
2007-03-28
Iowa senate
passes LGBT rights bill
Iowa's state
senate passed a bill Monday to extend civil rights
protections to gay, lesbian, and transgender people in the
state, despit
Iowa's state
senate passed a bill Monday to extend civil rights
protections to gay, lesbian, and transgender people in the
state, despite opposition from business interests.
The bill adds
sexual orientation and gender identity to a list of
protected characteristics under Iowa's Civil Rights Act.
Democrats have long supported expanded protections,
and they now control the senate, the house, and the
governor's office.
The chamber
passed the bill on a bipartisan 32-17 vote. It moves
now to the state house of representatives, where Iowa
Equality board president Sandy Vopalka expects it to
have a tougher time.
Among the civil
rights bill's opponents of record were the Iowa
Association of Business and Industry and Meredith Corp., the
Des Moines–based owner of 12 TV stations and
publisher of 26 subscription magazines, including
Family Circle,Ladies' Home Journal, and Better Homes and Gardens.
Meredith lobbyist
Jim Carney told Gay.com on Tuesday that that stance was
"a mistake" arising from miscommunication, and that
Meredith, going forward, will take a "monitoring or
neutral" stance on the bill.
"We traditionally
take a neutral statement on these types of bills,
these social-action bills," said Art Slusark, Meredith's
vice president of corporate communications and
government relations. "In any case, I think it's
moving along pretty well."
Meredith includes
sexual orientation in its corporate nondiscrimination
policy. "We don't discriminate," Slusark said.
The Iowa
Association of Business and Industry's board has "unanimous
feeling" that firms should take the lead in not
discriminating but is concerned about liability in
case of lawsuits, association president Mike Ralston
told The Des Moines Register.
"That's a poor
excuse for failing to stand up for fairness. It's
shortsighted, too," the Register said Sunday in
an editorial favoring the rights bill. Iowa needs
nondiscriminatory policies to attract talent and money to
the state, the editorial said.
Vopalka is
already lobbying house members on the legislation. "We
have 14 districts we're working on," she said. "I've been up
there for the past four years as a volunteer to push this
thing."
If the bill
becomes law, Iowa would be the 19th state to ban
workplace bias based on sexual orientation and the 10th
to have some protection regarding gender identity
either through statutes or court rulings, according to
Lambda Legal. The legislation has passed each chamber
previously, but in different years.
Among the
groups favoring the measure are the Iowa League of
Cities, the American Civil Liberties Union, and
various labor unions, including the United
Steelworkers of America. (Barbara Wilcox, The
Advocate)
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