Gov. Baldacci - DPosted on 02/27/2005 10:20:18 AM PST by SheLion
BANGOR - Setting up a fight with social conservatives, Gov. John Baldacci on Friday submitted a gay rights bill he said would, besides prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians, improve Maine's economy. "In our state we treat people the way we want to be treated," Baldacci told a morning meeting of business leaders in Bangor, where he announced the bill's filing. "It's not special rights, we're just giving people equal rights."
The bill would amend the Maine Human Rights Act to add sexual orientation as a class protected against discrimination in employment, housing and education. Race, gender, religion, age, and physical and mental disabilities are among the protected classes already in the act.
Baldacci's choice of venue for the announcement was atypical by design, his aides said, with the Action Committee of 50 meeting at Husson College in Bangor providing a chance to look beyond the obvious social impacts of the law and explore its economic advantages. The governor said Friday the new law would attract workers and better position Maine as a welcoming and tolerant state.
Support for gay rights has been mixed in Maine over the years. In 1995, voters rejected an anti-gay rights initiative. Two years later, they repealed a law extending civil rights protections to homosexuals. In 2000, voters rejected a second attempt to add gays and lesbians to the list of protected classes.
The Christian Civic League of Maine has been involved in all of those political fights, which many pundits rank among the state's most emotional and divisive of the past decade.
Michael Heath, the league's director, on Friday repeated his group's intentions to defeat the bill in the Legislature and at least ask that the matter go back before voters.
As it stands, Baldacci's bill would not require voter approval at referendum.
Should lawmakers pass the measure as written, Heath promised a swift repeal effort.
"It's pure unadulterated elitism given the history of this issue," Health said of Baldacci's preference to let the Legislature settle the matter.
But Betsy Smith, executive director of Equality Maine, said the Legislature is the most effective setting to decide the bill's fate.
"That's their job, to study these bills," said Smith, adding she was thrilled with its reintroduction. "They can sit down and study this issue more than voters can."
Maine is the only New England state in which laws do not explicitly protect homosexuals from discrimination.
While there is no statewide law, about a dozen communities - including Bangor - have statutes on the books ensuring equal rights for gays and lesbians.
The governor's gay rights legislation is not the only bill expected to prompt debate over homosexuality this session.
A second bill, sponsored by Rep. Brian Duprey, R-Hampden, seeks to outlaw abortion if a child carries an as-yet undiscovered gene determining homosexuality.
"Most people would agree that to kill someone just because that person might be gay would constitute a hate crime," Duprey said, in a news release arguing some mothers would abort their fetuses if they carried the so-called "gay gene."
Duprey is an ardent opponent of gay marriage and of extending the human rights act to homosexuals.
Smith on Friday declined comment on Duprey's bill.
Nicole Clegg, spokeswoman for the Family Planning Association of Maine, was candid in her opposition to the bill, simply calling it "an unfortunate use of the Legislature's time."
Gov. Baldacci - D
When constituents can't vote on an issue, and the bills are pushed down our throats, I ask "Just what COUNTRY" are we living in?
See? The lawmakers promise us the moon just to get our votes. But once in office, they could care less about us!!
what rights do people who practice a certain kind of sex need that the rest of the citizens don't already have?
if you don't like, why don't you do something about it? something about your tag line tells me you've been affected by the venom of defeatism.
BWAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAA..........this coming from someone who stripped private business owners of property rights, is now stripping them of further rights of who they hire?
sorry - but I just find that too much for words.
That's it! And if a person wants to be gay, I don't want to know. I guess they want to visibility show their love out in the open, and very straight people don't want to see that on the streets, so the gays get bashed.
I guess this bill is going to put anyone in jail that lays a finger on a gay person.
"Our economy sucks said Baldassi. This bill would fix things so our economy would not suck."
They'll love this in Ogunquit.
Perfect! As soon as another gay person lays a finger on a gay person, one or both will go to jail! What a concept. In jail, they will feel like they have died and gone to heaven. Sort of like Muhammed and his 32 virgins. It's a win/win!
It's better to stay in the closet, I'd say.
if you don't like, why don't you do something about it? something about your tag line tells me you've been affected by the venom of defeatism.
Excuse me? And something about YOUR handle tells ME that I want no part of it touching ME. How dare you criticize my tagline! That alone tells me that you aren't up on what has been going on around the world and especially right here in the United States. You better start reading up HAND!
Just where are you from, anyway. This is a Maine Issue.
And how can we DO anything about IT if we aren't even allowed to VOTE on it!
What did I do? Touch a NERVE?
More FORCED perversion.
The citizens of Maine need to put pressure on their elected officials and let them know they better vote NO on this legislation if they intend to keep their jobs. Its the only thing that works.
If you want on/off the ping list see my profile page.
sorry - but I just find that too much for words.
Exactly. He forced a smoking ban state wide on private business's but now he is forcing a bill down our throats to give gays protection. It will be "good for business," he states. Go figure!
Baldy is nothing but a little puke.
People who enjoy shocking others are bullies.
I KNOW it! How does he figure this bill will help our economy? He already brought in over 1,200 Somali's to Lewiston, Maine, and over HALF of them are living off of our welfare system.
He is going off half cocked with this one, that's for sure.
Imagine that. Going off half-cocked on a gay rights bill.
We live in a representative republic. That's the way it's supposed to work. If you don't want this bill, write your elected rep and tell him/her so. If they vote for it anyway, work to put him/her on the unemployment line.
It is 'shoving it down our throats,' that's for sure. I know my hubby and I didn't openly kiss and fondle each other outside the house!
Poor choice of words, eh? hehe!
Oh! Don't worry! I will! And I will send them the URL to this thread as well!
I tend to think that the overwhelming number of people in love would rather have intimacy and privacy. There are some who seem to want to be a little more public. I think of this as more exhibitionism than romance. And I think that the gays and lesbians who want to draw attention to themselves in public by kissing and fondling are more exhibitionist than committed partners. But, I could be wrong.
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