Malloy Signs Order Barring State-Funded Travel To Indiana
HARTFORD (AP) – Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order on Monday barring state spending on travel to Indiana and any other state enacting legislation that protects religious freedoms but ultimately discriminates against gays and others groups.
Malloy, the incoming chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, called Indiana’s new religious objections law “disturbing, disgraceful and outright discriminatory.”
“We cannot sit idly by and do nothing while laws are enacted that will turn back the clock,” Malloy said, adding how he “won’t allow any of our citizens in Connecticut to face discrimination in other states, at least without a fight.”
The Indiana measure prohibits state laws that “substantially burden” a person’s ability to follow his or her religious beliefs. The definition of “person” includes religious institutions, businesses and associations. The proposal has prompted businesses and organizations across the country to cancel future travel plans to Indiana and table expansion plans.
Republican Gov. Mike Pence signed the measure last week and defended it during a television appearance on Sunday. Indiana’s Republican legislative leaders said Monday they are working on adding language to make it clear it doesn’t discriminate against gays and lesbians.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen a reaction like this to the laws passed historically in the other states or when the federal government did it,” said Indiana Senate President Pro Tem David Long. “Clearly people are reacting differently to this law. We didn’t see that coming.”
Malloy said he’d prefer the legislation be repealed. Furor over the law stems in part from the fact Indiana’s civil rights laws don’t ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Malloy’s one-page order directs all state agencies, departments, boards and commissions, UConn and the Board of Regents to immediately review all requests for state-funded or state-sponsored travel to states that “create the grounds for such discrimination.” Such travel would be barred unless it’s necessary to enforce state law, meet contractual obligations or protect public health.
Next year, the NCAA Final Four women’s basketball tournament will be held in Indianapolis. Malloy said he hopes the NCAA moves the tournament. UConn has been a perennial power in women’s basketball.
Bill Making It Easier To Change Gender On Records Progresses
HARTFORD (AP) – A bill that would make it easier for transgender people to update their names and gender on their birth certificates is progressing through the Connecticut General Assembly.
An early vote showed the proposed legislation cleared the legislature’s Public Health Committee on Monday. A final tally was expected later in the day.
Connecticut already has a law allowing people to change the sex on their birth certificates, but so long as they’ve undergone sex reassignment surgery.
Proponents of the legislation contend that standard is outdated. They said the course of care for gender transition doesn’t always involve surgery.
Connecticut’s Department of Motor Vehicles already allows transgender people to change the gender designation on their driver’s licenses without showing proof of surgery.
The bill awaits further action in the House of Representatives.
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West Point Board Of Visitors Gets An 1980 Grad As Leader
WEST POINT (AP) – A 1980 West Point graduate active in the fight for gay rights in the military has been named chairwoman of the board that reviews programs at the U.S. Military Academy.
Brenda Sue Fulton was named chairwoman of the Board of Visitors on Monday at a meeting of the advisory board.
Fulton was a founder of Knights Out and a founding board member of OutServe. She currently heads SPARTA, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender military organization.
Fulton and Penelope Gnesin were the first same-sex couple to exchange vows at West Point’s landmark Cadet Chapel in 2012.
She was appointed to the board by President Barack Obama in 2011.
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Gov. McCrory Says He Won’t Back Religious Exemption Bills
CHARLOTTE (AP) – Gov. Pat McCrory said Monday he isn’t backing bills giving exemptions to court officials who don’t want to perform gay marriages and offering other religious protections to businesses.
Appearing on WFAE radio in Charlotte the Republican governor criticized, in its current form, a Senate bill that allows magistrates and some register of deeds workers to refuse to carry out marriage duties based on a “sincerely held religious objection.” Under the bill, the official wouldn’t be allowed to perform any marriage, not just same-sex marriages.
“I don’t think you should have an exemption or a carve-out when you swore an oath to the Constitution of North Carolina or to the Constitution of the United States of America,” McCrory said. “Even if there are things in the constitution that I disagree with that are upheld by the courts.”
The bill cleared the Senate in February and now sits in a House judiciary committee. When asked whether he’d sign the bill or veto it if it came to his desk, McCrory said: “At this time I would not sign it the way it’s written.”
A bill still becomes law when a governor declines to sign it. McCrory’s fellow Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate, meaning they could choose to override a governor’s objections if GOP lawmakers remain together.
Gay-rights advocates contend the measure upholds legal discrimination, as would a pair of bills filed last week called the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.” The broader bills, which have yet to be heard, attempt to protect the rights of business owners or government officials from having to carry out laws that would burden the ability of a person to follow one’s religious beliefs.
McCrory expressed skepticism of the bill. “What is the problem they’re trying to solve,” he asked, adding “I haven’t seen it at this point in time.” A similar proposal cleared a House committee in 2013.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill into law last week with the same name as the North Carolina legislation.
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Indiana Plans Language To ‘Clarify’ Religious Objections Law
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said Tuesday that he wants legislation on his desk by the end of the week to clarify that the state’s new religious-freedom law does not allow discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Pence defended the measure as a vehicle to protect religious liberty but said he has been meeting with lawmakers “around the clock” to address concerns that it would allow businesses to deny services to gay customers.
The governor said he does not believe “for a minute” that lawmakers intended “to create a license to discriminate.”
“It certainly wasn’t my intent,” said Pence, who signed the law last week.
But, he said, he “can appreciate that that’s become the perception, not just here in Indiana but all across the country. We need to confront that.”
The law prohibits state laws that “substantially burden” a person’s ability to follow his or her religious beliefs. The definition of “person” includes religious institutions, businesses and associations.
Although the legal language does not specifically mention gays and lesbians, critics say the law is designed to protect businesses and individuals who do not want to serve gays and lesbians, such as florists or caterers who might be hired for a same-sex wedding.
Businesses and organizations including Apple and the NCAA have voiced concern over the effect of the law, and some states have barred government-funded travel to Indiana.
Also Tuesday, the Indianapolis Star urged Indiana lawmakers in a front-page editorial to respond to widespread criticism of the law by protecting the rights of gays and lesbians.
The Star’s editorial, headlined “FIX THIS NOW,” covered the newspaper’s entire front page. It called for lawmakers to enact a law that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The newspaper says the uproar sparked by the law has “done enormous harm” to the state and potentially to its economic future.
In an essay for The Wall Street Journal, Pence said “the law is not a ‘license to discriminate'” and reflects federal law. But the Affordable Care Act, he said, “renewed concerns about government infringement on deeply held religious beliefs.”
“Faith and religion are important values to millions of Indiana residents,” he said. “With the passage of this legislation, Indiana will continue to be a place that respects the beliefs of every person in our state.”
Republican Senate President Pro Tem David Long stressed that the new law is based on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which has been upheld by courts.
Meanwhile, the fallout continued. The public-employee union known as AFSCME announced Monday it was canceling a planned women’s conference in Indianapolis this year because of the law. The band Wilco said it was canceling a May performance.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued a letter to Indiana corporations saying Virginia is a business-friendly state that does “not discriminate against our friends and neighbors,” while Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel sent letters to more than a dozen Indiana businesses, urging them to relocate to a “welcoming place to people of all races, faiths and countries of origin.”
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee said he was imposing an administration-wide ban on state-funded travel to Indiana.
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Feds Sue Oklahoma University, Allege Gender Discrimination
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant was denied a promotion because she was transgender and then fired after she complained about the discrimination, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges in a federal lawsuit filed Monday.
Rachel Tudor, an assistant professor of English at the university, didn’t receive a promotion despite a recommendation from her department chair and other tenured faculty from her department, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Oklahoma City.
“We will not allow unfair biases and unjust prejudices to prevent transgender Americans from reaching their full potential as workers and as citizens,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
Tudor began working at Southeastern as a man in 2004 but started presenting herself as a woman in 2007 by wearing women’s clothing, styling her hair in a feminine way and going by the name Rachel, the lawsuit alleges. After she was denied tenure in 2010, Tudor filed a discrimination complaint. She was fired the following year.
Tudor filed a discrimination charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which investigated and referred the matter to the Department of Justice.
Southeastern President Sean Burrage said in a statement that university officials are aware of the lawsuit and are committed to diversity and equal employment opportunities.
“The university is confident in its legal position and its adherence to all applicable employment laws,” Burrage said. “We will allow the legal system to run its course, while we direct our focus and energy on our top priority, that of educating our students.”
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s office will represent the university.
Founded in 1909, Southeastern currently has about 5,230 students. It is governed by the Regional University System of Oklahoma, which also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
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Religion Bill Cast As Anti-LGBT Advances To House
LITTLE ROCK (AP) – Opponents of an Arkansas “religious freedom” measure that they say will allow widespread discrimination against gays and lesbians filled the state Capitol on Monday to protest the bill as it neared a final vote.
The protests, however, showed no signs of slowing the momentum of the bill, endorsed by a House committee Monday, that prevents state and local governments from infringing upon someone’s religious beliefs without a “compelling” interest. Despite efforts to clarify a similar measure enacted in Indiana, Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the lawmaker behind the proposal said they’re not seeking any more changes to Arkansas’ bill.
The House, which had supported an initial version of the bill, could take up the proposal as early as Tuesday afternoon.
Protesters held an early-morning rally outside the governor’s mansion, but the main event drew more than 500 people outside the entrance to the state House chamber Monday. Outside the committee room, protesters held signs that read “Discrimination is not a Christian Value” and “Discrimination is a Disease”, and chanted “Shame on You” at the sponsor of the measure.
“This is not nearly as exciting a law change as what I think a lot of people think it is,” Republican Rep. Bob Ballinger of Hindsville told the House Judiciary Committee before the vote. “However, what it does is it does create a situation where we can protect people’s religious practices, let people believe what they want to believe.”
If enacted, Arkansas would become the second state to adopt such a law change this year.
Indiana has been widely criticized by businesses and organizations since Gov. Mike Pence signed a similar measure into law last week. Similar proposals have been introduced in more than a dozen states, patterned after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Nineteen other states have similar laws on the books.
Hutchinson last week said he’d sign the measure into law, and his office said Monday his position hadn’t changed. Hutchinson had expressed reservations about unintended consequences about an earlier version of the bill, but said changes have addressed those concerns.
“I have said if this bill reaches my desk in similar form as to what has been passed in 20 other states then I will sign it, but I am pleased that the Legislature is continuing to look at ways to assure balance and fairness in the legislation,” Hutchinson said Monday in a statement.
A Hutchinson spokesman said the governor wasn’t actively seeking any more changes to the bill, and Ballinger said he didn’t expect any either. Time is running out for the Legislature to take up the proposal, with the session expected to wrap up Thursday.
“There’s not really any place to make any changes now,” Ballinger said. “If there are questions in two years we can fix it.”
Sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in Arkansas’ anti-discrimination protections. Last month, Hutchinson allowed a measure to go into law that prevented local governments from including such protections in their anti-discrimination ordinances.
