VERMONT'S NEWSPAPER FOR LESBIANS, GAY MEN, AND BISEXUALS

 
 

_ Volume VI, Number 4

May 1991

Gay Rights Bills Pass in Connecticut, Hawaii

Both East Coast and West Coast gays
and lesbians had reasons to celebrate re-
cently as two more states in the country
voted gay rights legislation into law. Ha-
waii became the third state in the nation to
approve the bill, closely followed by Con-
neclicut. Previously, Wisconsin and Mas-
sachusetts were the only two states with
such measures enacted.

Despite this doubling of states with
gay and lesbian rights, Maine experienced
an unexpected setback when a similar bill
was defeated in that state’s House of Rep-
resentatives. Vermont’s gay rights bill, also
receiving attention this year, continues to
be put on hold due to state concerns over
budgetary matters.

In Hawaii, the gay rights bill was
signed into law by Governor John Waihee
on March 21. The statute, which added
sexual orientation to those areas covered by
previous laws concerning employment,
housing, and access to services, was ap-
proved by a large majority of votes in both
legislative houses.

Hawaii had been trying to pass a gay
rights bill since 1974, but what made things
“easy in the islands” this time around was
the work done by lobbyist Leon Rouse. In
a winning strategic move, Rouse suggested
that the bill be introduced through the
Senate Employment Committee, thus
avoiding immediate attack from funda-
mentalist groups. Though that criticism

It's time to air out the banners and start designing placards for Pride Day '91,

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Editor's Best Friends previews the offerings from Out in the Mountains.

emerged later in the game, the bill had
already garnered enough support to carry it
through.

A great deal of support for the measure
in Connecticut came through the work of
Representative Joseph Grabarz. While he
has lobbied for the bill since 1984, his
announcement last December that he was
gay distinguished him as the only openly
gay legislator in the state and strengthened
his stand on the matter. Grabarz is pleased
with the outcome, and claims that Con-
necticut’s bill is “one of the best gay and
lesbian rights bills in the country.”

Connecticut’s House of Representa-
tives passed the bill on April 1 1 by an 81-65
majority. The Senate followed suit on April
17 with a two-thirds majority of 21-14 to
pass the statute. Connecticut Governor
Lowell P. Weicker intends to sign the leg-
islation, which will become active on Octo-
ber 1, 1991.

Meanwhile, a surprise statement from
Maine Governor John McKeman on April
1 dashed hopes for that state’s passage of
gay rights legislation. Less than an hour
before the bill’ was first slated to appear
before the House, McKeman announced
his intention to veto the measure unless one
of two conditions were met: the bill should
either pass by a significant majority, or it
would require an amendment to have it put
'up to state referendum. Massachusetts lob-
byists have been struggling to keep that
state’s gay rights law from being repealed
by referendum.

Such political pressure swayed a
number of crucial votes, leading the bill to
fail in the House by a vote of 76-51. Ed
Shannon, chair of the Maine Lesbian and
Gay Political Alliance, said that the over-
riding atmosphere in the House following
the defeat was one of embarrassment on the
part of the legislators. The bill will not
appear before the legislature again until
1993.

(continued on page 5)

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