by Toni Pizanie
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
Louisiana Senate Nightmare
A battle has begun in the Louisiana Senate between the state-wide, proven, successful LAGPAC [Louisiana Lesbian & Gay Political Action Caucus] and the New Orleans local Forum for Equality. Senators Cravins of Lafayette and Irons of New Orleans are the sponsors of Senate bill 862. This bill deals with discrimination in the workplace and reads as follows: EMPLOYMENT: Provides prohibitions against discrimination because of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Forum's bill has deleted the words "gender identity." That means no protection for Transgender people. I feel as though I am back in 1998 fighting for the inclusion of Transgenders against HRC. Today HRC is leading that fight. Has the Forum learned nothing in the last four years?
I spoke with the articulate and pleasant Jimmy Fahrenholtz who is the Executive Director of Forum. My question was why eliminate one group of our community? His answer was that after research, he had learned that the bill could not pass with the inclusion of gender identify. He said that it was for realistic and practical reasons that the Forum chose to register a second bill.
When I called Baton Rouge to speak with an acquaintance in the capital, I was told that Senator Cravins made it clear that if two bills were filed, they are both dead. Since LAGPAC had previously filed a bill, it seems that the Forum has set us back another two years. The aide that I spoke with said the filing of two bills makes the state-wide GLBT community look weak, confused and unprofessional. The only way to correct this enormous insult to the our community would be for Forum to withdraw their bill.
I also spoke with LAGPAC co-chair, Chris Daigle, who is presently in Baton Rouge as a lobbyist for GLBT issues with this session of the legislature. Chris pointed to three groups that will be protected by the inclusion of the term "gender identity." First, there is the overly masculine woman or effeminate male who could be fired not because they are Lesbian or Gay but because their actions are contrary to their gender. Second, there are the Transgenders who have been identified medically as such and been instructed to live as the gender with which they identity. Third, there are heterosexual men who cross dress on their own time, not at work, but are fired because someone accidentally saw them out on a Saturday night. Shades of the Winn-Dixie suit. SB 862 is stopping up the loopholes. We would be deficient as the Forum's bill is deficient if we did not include "gender identity" said Daigle.
I suggested that it is an arrogant attitude that a local organization would take it upon itself to undo the work of a state-wide organization. I asked about the LAGPAC Board and was told that Board members are residents in Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Zachary and New Orleans.
Chris also said that the case law is proving the actual or perceived sexual orientation is inadequate due to the existing loophole. There are nineteen similar bills across the United States, Chris said, eleven include gender identity. People are getting the message that we cannot go backwards.
How do you plan to pass this bill? "LAGPAC has a state-wide tour to continue doing grassroots work. There is a post card campaign and street outreach campaign. To show the legislature the visibility of the GLBT community in Louisiana, we are having visibility day at the capital on May 10. Here is where LAGPAC needs the assistance of every GLBT person in the state to help us help them."
Our Gay rights are at stake. Call one of the following board members of Forum for Equality and ask them to allow our state-wide organization to do the professional job that they have continued to do over the years. Call Randy Evans, Founder, 504.897.3212, Jimmy Fahrenholtz, Executive Director, 504.258.3703 (cell phone), or Sue LaPorte, President, 504.484.6487.
