Senators shoot down bill to protect gays

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BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star

After hours of debate over two days, Nebraska senators killed a bill Tuesday that would have prohibited discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation.

The debate Tuesday afternoon was limited to five or six senators, with others briefly chiming in. But Sen. Phil Erdman of Bayard sealed the fate of the bill after a couple of hours with a motion to postpone it indefinitely.

Those who favored the bill (LB475), sponsored by Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, argued it was just a matter of time before legislation of this type passed in the state. More and more states, including neighboring states, are passing similar legislation.

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Sen. Ernie Chambers listens to debate on the floor of the legislature Tuesday on his bill designed to prevent discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation. (Eric Gregory)

Sen. Ernie Chambers listens to debate on the floor of the legislature Tuesday on his bill designed to prevent discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation. (Eric Gregory)

Those who opposed it said Nebraska does not need another protected class of people. To meet the definition of a disadvantaged class, Erdman said, the class has to be subject to discrimination, exhibit characteristics that define it as a discrete group, and be a minority or politically powerless.

A number of businesses have already adopted nondiscrimination policies on their own, Erdman said.

No business owners appeared at the bill’s hearing to oppose it.

Chambers said the level of the debate on Tuesday afternoon was unsatisfactory, even silly. Senators were bringing up things that had nothing to do with the bill, he said.

“I’m 70 years old and I’m still hearing this kind of conversation in the Legislature?” Chambers said.

Children in high school would be having a more intellectual conversation, he said.

“We’re talking about employment, the right to have a job,” he said.

Lincoln Sen. Tony Fulton, Sen. Tom Carlson of Holdrege and Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff said their opposition to the bill did not make them bigots.

“Senator Chambers, I just want you to understand I’m not a bigot. In my entire life I never crossed that line. I do not appreciate having my values questioned,” Harms said.

Life is a series of choices, he said, and it is not his right to be critical of the choices people make. But sexual orientation should not be protected as race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, marital status and national origin are.

Lincoln Sen. Danielle Nantkes said she had been threatened because of her support of this issue. But the bill simply gives homosexuals the right to work and be judged on their performance on the job, not on their sexual preferences. The bill does not cover marriage, parenting, insurance or medical decision-making, she said.

Several times senators brought up the issue of pedophiles.

Homosexuals and pedophiles are not the same, said Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island. “If that’s the way you think, that’s bigotry,” he said.

“Bigotry is alive and well in Nebraska,” he said.

All this bill does is try to eliminate some discrimination, he said.

But Al Riskowski of the Nebraska Family Council, standing outside the chamber watching the debate, said when a law protects a behavior, it endorses a behavior. And that, he said, would confuse children about appropriate moral behavior.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.