LGBT job bill languishes in Ga. House Judiciary subcommittee


MORE INFORMATION:

What will HB 630 do?

There are 24 states plus Washington, D.C., that bar job discrimination against state employees based on sexual orientation, while 12 also ban job bias against state employees based on gender identity, according to Georgia Equality.

HB 630 would also bring the state in line with the nondiscrimination practices of Athens, Atlanta, Clarkston, College Park, Decatur, Doraville, East Point, Macon, Savannah and Tybee Island. Georgia counties that have nondiscrimination policies in place are Athens-Clarke County, DeKalb and Fulton, said State Rep. Karla Drenner, sponsor of the bill.
A survey taken of 450 Georgia registered voters from Jan. 27-Feb. 5, 2011, by the Schapiro Group, showed that 76 percent supported HB 630, Drenner said.

What the bill WOULD do:

• Amend the state Fair Employment Practices act to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.”

• Put Georgia’s employment policies in line with major Georgia employers including Delta Air Lines, Coca-Cola, United Parcel Service, Wal-Mart, SunTrust and Newell Rubbermaid.

• Provide protections to LGBT people working in state universities and colleges.

• Provide clear instructions to agencies, supervisors and managers on how to prevent discrimination in public employment. “This would also help the state avoid litigation defending against discriminatory practices,” Drenner testified.

In December, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Vandy Beth Glenn, who was fired from her job as a legislative editor for the Georgia General Assembly for being transgender. Glenn was fired in 2007 and then sued the state, winning after a four-year costly battle for the state.

What the bill WOULD NOT do:

• Mandate quotas.

• The bill does not address private employers nor does it effect K-12 employment, Drenner said.

• It would not provide “additional or special remedies” in the code other than adding sexual orientation and gender identity.

March 5 is expected to be this session’s crossover day, the last day a bill can be approved in one chamber and then passed to the other.

Testimony for HB 630 came at the end of a more than two hour hearing that included several other bills. State Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates), who is openly gay and sponsor of the bill, was the only person to testify about the bill; no opponents were heard.

“I want to address some of concerns of the definitions of sexual orientation and gender identity. I did some research … and there has been no judicial expansion of the term to include pedophilia or bestiality or any of the other terms mentioned in the report that was provided to the committee at the last hearing,” Drenner said.

Drenner was responding to the Feb. 21 testimony by Tanya Ditty, state director for the Concerned Women for America, who stated the bill would open the door to mandating the state hire pedophiles and necrophiliacs.

“What’s going to protect our children if a pedophiliac comes in and gets a teaching job, is a bus driver, is a custodian? And they could be people that just want to prey on children and they would be protected by this law,” Ditty said at the Feb. 21 hearing where the bill was tabled in 3-2 vote along party lines.

Ditty also said there were 23 “sexual orientations” that include pedophilia, transsexuality, zoophilia and necrophilia and presented committee members a dubious report on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Ditty ‘harassed’ after video?

Six state troopers were stationed in Room 406 and in the hallway of the Coverdell Building where the Feb. 27 hearing took place, with one officer brusquely halting members of the media from taking photos and video at the request of Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs).

Wendell is chair of the House Judiciary Committee. He attended the subcommittee meeting and is also a co-sponsor of HB 630.

Willard made the motion to disallow cameras during the hearing because he said video from the Feb. 21 Judiciary subcommittee was “abused” after it was posted to the internet.

While not specifically naming the video, Willard was no doubt speaking of the video of Ditty’s remarks. The video went viral and apparently Ditty was “harassed” by LGBT people not happy with her testimony.

Willard said he supported everyone’s right to the First Amendment and to hold differing opinions, but did not think it fair to “abuse” that privilege by posting video of a person’s statements at a public forum onto the internet.

Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta) disagreed with Willard, saying to deny cameras in the hearing was a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

“I do request people try to respect and honor a difference of opinion, but cannot support this motion to infringe on freedom of the press,” Bruce said.

Responded Willard, “I’m not asking the press to be removed. I’m just asking they not photograph or videotape this session.”

The motion to bar media from photographing and videotaping the session was approved in a voice vote.

Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham said there was still hope for the bill and he urged voters to contact their state representatives to support HB 630. He also asked voters to contact Rep. Jacobs and Rep. Willard directly to ask them that the bill get a hearing before the full Judiciary Committee.

Graham was also surprised by the camera ban in the hearing but said the testimony given last week by Ditty was filled with “dangerous inaccuracies.”

“They know that their report is full of dangerous inaccuracies about the LGBT community. They are embarrassed by their own testimony. People are making their own decisions what they [Concerned Women for America] stand for,” he said.

Bruce, the lone vote against banning cameras, said he’s worked in the General Assembly for 10 years and has never seen cameras banned from a public hearing before.

“If you’re doing what you really believed in, it shouldn’t matter who hears it as far as I’m concerned,” Bruce said.

Jacobs, who chaired this subcommittee meeting and has been a legislator under the Gold Dome for eight years, also said he had never seen cameras banned from a public hearing before.

“The subcommittee serves at the pleasure of the chairman of the committee. It was his call,” Jacobs said.

“I think, personally, cameras should be permitted, particularly for members for the press. It’s a call the chairman of the committee is allowed to make,” Jacobs said.

Interestingly, video of Ditty’s testimony was posted to the Concerned Women for America website but has since been removed.

Willard didn’t take kindly to questions from the GA Voice. Here’s the transcript of an interview after the hearing:

GA Voice: Why was photography not allowed and video not allowed?

Willard: Because the right of taking photography was abused last time on this bill’s consideration.

GA Voice: How was it abused?

Willard: You let me finish.

GA Voice: Yes sir.

Willard: Who you do you represent?

GA Voice: The GA Voice newspaper.

Willard: Georgia who?

GA Voice: The GA Voice newspaper.

Willard: I understand it was through someone representing your group that this information was put on the internet.

GA Voice: Yes, why is that abuse?

Willard: I’m not going to talk to you anymore.

GA Voice: Why was that an abuse?

Willard: I find it an abuse. That’s why.

Top photo: State Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs) banned cameras and video at the Feb. 27 House Judiciary subcommittee that included discussion on HB 630, a bill that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT state employees. (by Dyana Bagby)