Equality Texas fears anti-gay backlash with new speaker

SOURCE:

DALLAS VOICE
The Community Newspaper for Gay & Lesbian Dallas

By Tammye Nash Senior Editor
Jan 15, 2009 - 7:51:27 PM

Group touts pro-LGBT legislation; Senate in uproar as session begins

The Texas Legislature opened its 81st session this week with a moderate Republican at the helm as speaker of the House, but with the Senate in an uproar as Republicans there try to circumvent filibuster rules.

“The Senate is in the process of blowing up even as we speak,” Terrell said Wednesday afternoon. “There’s a struggle going on on two issues right now: voter IDs and redistricting. “The Senate has always had a rule requiring a two-thirds majority vote to bring something to the floor. But there is a proposal right now to remove that requirement on bills dealing with these two issues [voter IDs and redistricting],” he explained. “Democrats have had enough votes in the past to block bad bills from coming to the floor because of the two-thirds requirement. But if they remove that requirement, then [the Democrats] can’t stop those bills from coming up for a vote,” Terrell said.

Randall Terrell, political director for the LGBT advocacy organization Equality Texas, said Wednesday, Jan. 14, that new leadership in the House could be advantageous for LGBT people in the Lone Star State. But it could also bring up new challenges, as well.

“I am a little more hopeful now that [San Antonio Republican Rep. Joe] Straus is speaker of the House, but that cuts both ways,” Terrell said.

The speaker of the House controls the agenda there, determining which bills can come to the floor for a vote. Straus is not expected to push the kind of socially conservative agenda that former Speaker Tom Craddick backed. But Craddick still has supporters in the House, and they are likely to test the new speaker on those issues with anti-gay amendments to other bills, Terrell said.

“With a lighter hand from the speaker of the House this time, I expect to see more attempts to throw amendments up from the floor,” Terrell said. “The Arkansas bill [Act 1, an initiative approved by voters there last November that prohibits gays and lesbians from becoming foster or adoptive parents] has us all worried. I fully expect to see a nasty amendment on foster care or adoption in the House this session.

“The social conservative minority in the House is probably going to try and force votes on some issues. With a moderate Republican as speaker, we’re going to see attempts by the social conservatives to embarrass him or to try and sneak something through,” Terrell said.

He said that the uproar in the Senate could impact the LGBT community, as well.

“The Senate is in the process of blowing up even as we speak,” Terrell said Wednesday afternoon. “There’s a struggle going on on two issues right now: voter IDs and redistricting.

“Despite the possible problems, Terrell said, there are several bright spots in this first week of the session for the LGBT community. One that tops the list is Rep. Marc Veasey’s bill that would establish a commission to study the effectiveness so far of the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act. “Essentially, police officers in Texas investigate a lot of crimes each year as potential hate crimes, but only eight prosecutions have occurred that have asked for a hate crimes finding” since the act was passed in 2001. “You’d think there would be a higher percentage of cases where the prosecutors would ask for a hate crime finding,” Terrell said. “There is a lot of information out there already, and we know what we’re looking for. But Marc Veasey’s bill goes a long way toward getting that information all together in once place. And when we get that information together, that could help us see if we need to do something to tweak the legislation so that prosecutors will use it more.”

“The Senate has always had a rule requiring a two-thirds majority vote to bring something to the floor. But there is a proposal right now to remove that requirement on bills dealing with these two issues [voter IDs and redistricting],” he explained.

“Democrats have had enough votes in the past to block bad bills from coming to the floor because of the two-thirds requirement. But if they remove that requirement, then [the Democrats] can’t stop those bills from coming up for a vote,” Terrell said.

Redistricting always has the possibility of re-aligning districts in such a way that LGBT-friendly lawmakers see their constituency divided and their chances of re-election diminished.

The last redistricting in Texas, controlled by Republicans, prompted longtime LGBT ally state Rep. Harryette Ehrhardt not to run for re-election after her district was redrawn. It also led to the re-election loss of another longtime LGBT ally, Congressman Martin Frost.

Redistricting, Terrell said, “is a purely partisan affair,” and a look at the Texas Republican Party’s state party platform, “a truly heinous” document, makes it obvious why Republican-friendly districts could be bad for LGBT Texans.

But, Terrell said, the voter ID debate can also have a significant negative impact on the community.

“We got collaterally involved in the voter ID issue last time, and we may do so again, depending on the language used in this version,” he said. “Requiring people to present a photo ID to be able to vote sounds all well and good. But the fact is, 10 to 15 percent of Texas voters don’t have a photo ID. And last session when this bill was introduced, it included language saying that if the precinct judge at your polling place said your appearance didn’t match your ID, then they could exclude you from voting. And that certainly directly affects some of our constituents.”

Terrell said an obvious example is that many transgender people have photo IDs that do not accurately represent their gender identity. But even something as minor as someone having dyed their hair could give an election judge reason to deny that person the ability to vote.

“Without some definite standards in place, it could really endanger the ability of our community to vote,” he said. “And having anyone be denied their right to vote is a tragedy.”

Despite the possible problems, Terrell said, there are several bright spots in this first week of the session for the LGBT community. One that tops the list is Rep. Marc Veasey’s bill that would establish a commission to study the effectiveness so far of the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act.

“Essentially, police officers in Texas investigate a lot of crimes each year as potential hate crimes, but only eight prosecutions have occurred that have asked for a hate crimes finding” since the act was passed in 2001.

“You’d think there would be a higher percentage of cases where the prosecutors would ask for a hate crime finding,” Terrell said. “There is a lot of information out there already, and we know what we’re looking for. But Marc Veasey’s bill goes a long way toward getting that information all together in once place. And when we get that information together, that could help us see if we need to do something to tweak the legislation so that prosecutors will use it more.”

Veasey is a Democrat from Fort Worth. He introduced the same measure in the 80th legislative session in 2007, but it never made it to the House floor for a vote.

Rep. Mike Villareal, a Democrat from San Antonio, has introduced an omnibus nondiscrimination bill that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations and other areas. Terrell said that a previous version of this bill, which also did not make it to the floor for a vote in 2007, would have established separate regulations preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This new bill simply injects sexual orientation and gender identity into the protected classes in existing regulations.

Rep. Eddie Rodriguez of Austin, a Democrat, has introduced legislation guaranteeing unmarried partners hospital visitation rights and the right to make medical care decisions for one another. “It is a fairly comprehensive effort to look at all those situations where people should be able to stay with their partner and help in decision-making,” Terrell said. “It is a very nice bill and we really like it.”

Democratic Rep. Roberto Alonzo of Dallas has refiled a bill to ban discrimination in the provision of insurance. Terrell said the measure did not make it out of committee in the last session of the Legislature, “which was not surprising given the leadership we had at the time. We’re very happy that Rep. Alonzo has filed this bill again.”

On the Senate side, Democratic Sen. Royce West of Dallas has filed a measure that would add protections for homeless people to the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act.

Terrell said because “there is a lot of crossover” between the LGBT population and the homeless population, Equality Texas is watching this bill, too. “He [West] hasn’t proposed this yet, but we would like to see gender identity and gender expression added to the protected classes [in the hate crimes act] as well,” Terrell said.

Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Democrat from Houston, has introduced legislation proposing to set up an insurance system for small businesses that can’t otherwise get insurance. The bill has a nondiscrimination clause that includes sexual orientation, but does not yet include gender identity and gender expression, Terrell said.

“I think we can work with him on that to get those included. That’s another one we’re watching,” he added.

E-mail nash@dallasvoice.com

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition January 16, 2009.

New Initiative Aims To Expand Universal Human Rights To Include Gays

SOURCE:
RADIO FREE EUROPE
RADIO LIBERTY

December 19, 2008


France's Rama Yade -- "At the beginning of this 21st century, how can we accept that people could be arrested, could be tortured, could be executed because of their sexual orientation?"

(RFE/RL) -- Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not a legally binding document, it does define terms like "fundamental freedoms" and "human rights" as stipulated in the United Nations Charter, which is binding on all UN member states.

The declaration also has served as the basis for two binding UN pacts: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

For that reason, the 1948 declaration has grown to be regarded as an integral part of international law -- as well as a document with a mission to protect the basic rights of all people.

Nevertheless, the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not contain any specific mention of protecting the rights of those whose sexual orientation is toward their own sex.

On December 18, diplomats from 66 countries signed a memorandum, declaring that it is high time for the UN General Assembly to openly debate the issue of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The drive to collect signatures was announced by seven countries -- France, Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Gabon, the Netherlands, and Norway.

"Today, 66 states are emerging from silence to claim the protection of fundamental freedom and the question of sexual orientation and gender identity are connected," said Rama Yade, France's secretary of state for international affairs and human rights.

"At the beginning of this 21st century, how can we accept that people could be arrested, could be tortured, could be executed because of their sexual orientation?" she asked.

'Historic Step'

Yade said those who fail to protect the rights of homosexuals, or even to speak out against hate crimes targeting homosexuals, are accomplices to such crimes.

"It is my conviction we should never stop," she said. "Each violation, each attack on fundamental rights must be fought. We should never accommodate injustice. We should repair it. Each violation must be exposed and denounced. It's silence that is an accomplice of crime and infamy."

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said the new declaration is not enough, on its own, to improve the situation for homosexuals. But he said it is a historic step toward recognizing their basic human rights.

"Even in countries that do not criminalize homosexual acts, gays are often in a very difficult position, accepted for who they are by neither their families nor their government, nor society as a whole," Verhagen said.

"They face major obstacles to enjoying their economic, social, and cultural rights. Discrimination, exclusion, and even aggression are never far away," he added. "Indeed, the realities of life are harsh for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people."

The UN-AIDS program has supported the declaration, saying it would help people at risk with AIDS or infected with the HIV virus to receive medical assistance.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, also signaled her support, saying there is a considerable body of legal decisions affirming that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is contrary to international human rights law.

On its own, the European Union has endorsed an initiative by France, which calls for the universal decriminalization of homosexuality and a campaign to raise awareness of violence and discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender individuals.

Homosexuality is forbidden and penalized in 77 countries. The death penalty is applied in seven countries against those convicted of homosexuality: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sudan, and Yemen.

That compares to 47 countries where homosexuality is legal, and 57 other countries that have passed legislation to protect same-sex orientation.

U.S. Backs Off

There is no official minimum number of signatures needed on the new declaration to force debate by the UN General Assembly. But backing from about 100 of the 192 members of the United Nations is considered a significant threshold.

Major powers that have not backed the declaration so far include Russia, China, and the United States.

After the December 18 meeting, Verhagen said he was disappointed that the United States was among the countries that did not sign the declaration.

"The United States, as such, is a country with a strong human rights record," Verhagen said. "And I note that the United States is also a traditional defender of human rights worldwide. So that is why I'm disappointed that their reading of this text made it impossible for them to sign the declaration."

U.S. officials were said to have expressed concern privately to some of the states backing the initiative that some parts of it could be problematic in that they would commit the federal government on issues that fall under state jurisdiction.

A U.S. spokeswoman for the UN mission, Carolyn Vadino, stressed that the United States does condemn any violations of human rights related to sexual orientation.

Verhagen said he hopes that the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will be more inclined to recognize that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should also apply to homosexuals.

"What we say is that Universal Declaration Of Human Rights means that they also have to be applied to homosexual, bisexual, and transgender people," Verhagen said.

"We are not saying that people should behave like certain people behave, we don't say we should apply a certain lifestyle, what we say is you don't use this as an excuse to discriminate against them, to violate their human rights or to penalize them," he added. "So I hope that also the U.S. will be the next of the countries that will support this statement."

Even as Verhagen was making those remarks, Obama signaled at a news conference in Chicago the same day that he supports the spirit of the declaration.

"I think that it is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans," Obama said. "It is something that I have been consistent on and something that I intend to continue to be consistent on during my presidency."