At Week's End; 616; AWE #616 Equal Sexual Rights

just to say this but this is boston since june this has been here in the nineteen ninety three session of the new mexico legislature some of the oldest issues in the world sexual preferences god human rights joined us for a discussion of as the night he won an amendment to the human rights act a measure to bar discrimination against gays and lesbians in new mexico we're here in the senate conservation committee room hour with senator list affects you as a democrat from santa fe los alamos san miguel torrance sandoval

and a bit of barley kelley welcome centers do not tell me what espy ninety one he is and i know you were co sponsor a strong supporter tell me why that bill should not pass the house bill ninety one amends our state human rights act to protect his sexual orientation in terms of her sex rally hummus actually am by six rally in the areas of housing on public accommodations credit and employment and it does not legislate walls by use of religious police it basically addresses those particular issues i have a cold of the reasons why it's very important on this particular bill affects me i'm an open lesbian it affects my friends if it's my community there's also an economic issue for state and economics is that we do not want more homeless new mexicans we want people to be able to get house and we want people to be able to get

credit so they can pay their bills and that they can go out become a consumer and then buy a house and so on and we want people being employed real people what we don't want people on the unemployment lines are receiving public assistance so i see this as two pieces of legislation really it's taking on human rights act it's amending and we already have on the books oh i see it as a human civil rights act and i see it as an economic issue for a state does it address real needs i think many in the heterosexual community think that that there's no problem out there there's no discrimination against homosexuals either a female or four male what what sort of problem or we addressing was an example well i got to testify before one in the senate committees and when i'm working extra ten years ago was to teach at the university of new mexico and at that time i went through a situation with a supervisor and i'm about three years after they're on the basis that proceed on homosexuality and he might decide to do is to eliminate my position well i had to fight through them and

state levels to my department and then through my college and then to the university and they basically said no we need that position liz is doing a fine job he will stay or based on perceived homosexuality he wanted to let the position it was nothing in the in the in state statutes to bar him from doing that you have to go through an administrative process that's economist at the time he'd ever seen in mexico and not having architectural against this type of discrimination and states are going to either i also had some friends are who lives here in santa fe tammaro michael back in the rough seas now that these john than if the cafe and when that town became ill michael enough to try to find housing for the two of them and he when he leaves the house and when he went back and told how we have the faster than removing two and they ride the first day and tom was in a wheelchair you is michael pushing a wheelchair a neighbor called the landlady and said are two men moving into this house wares and will cheer you must be sick they must be gay la la cancel the lease and there without a

home and actually became homeless for a little while until we can get on the stuyvesant another home for this is that the discrimination been it's been faced by by racial minorities by white ethnic minorities in america by people who were different examples of the difference and zac rinaldo it is we're talking in the smell that actual scene discrimination based upon surgery patient you know we're not been put on the back the buses were treated like that in many situations you miss all right to take a long time this country to come about but we've been moving on many positive areas steps in this and we need to keep moving this direction this past the senate the bill has passed the senate in mexico now it's in the house do you anticipate a tough fight a close vote in the house yes i do one thing we're trying to remind people of that for example the democratic national platform encompasses non discrimination based on the basis of suffering patients or try to remind people about that or try to remind people that

their friends their neighbors are homosexuals or bisexual and we don't go into people's bedrooms to determine and that's an interesting concept we really haven't talked much about is the whole bisexuality concept here in our society because people don't talk about it there is a group here in our society that only carries that get the label so we have we need to think about our friends and you think about a society really need to think about the future of our state the quiet like your next visit exxon we just need to maintain and turns of this legislation just a few seconds left is the religious right really coming down hard and then in the lobbies of this body well i would say both sides of the religious movement are coming down his arm went in the senate we're hearing the bill through different news i'm coming on to the senate floor we got many many calls and letters of opposition that may make calls and letters of support and we receive religious support we received really supposition so i would say that it's going to be a close one thank you very much to send an angular

yeah i'm joined now by representative jerry lee all one who is a republican from burma leo county from the far east side they're both sides of the mouth in albuquerque district twenty two because at all when you're opposed to a senate bill nine one which is now in the house senators defended his tall was facing a tough fight fair tell us why you're opposed to this bill wife waved a recognition though a group of people that fought their sex and from everyone else is immoral it's not right then they try and do become a minority group why don't we open up the prostitutes well we opened up to the guy that works of rebels from paul played at night make him a minority class there's three things that qualify a person driver for a minority class and they don't qualify in any one cycle number one though they're deprived

educationally over the private economically the average homosexual or a person or a person sick in these rights make four times the median average income of the person in the mexico over fifty some thousand dollars a year they're highly educated over sixty percent of them have college degrees so on the first criterion they fail the second criteria is that you're not a powerful political force or they have no political clout if you will and dumped onto the shaken the foundation of this capital a brand new thirty five men are renovated capital as saw some of the world trade center and sense that there are the foundation is shaken and i do have a political clout there's just a lot of reasons they don't qualify as a minority have you ever seen a former hispanic performer black odd they don't have distinguishable characteristics are such as immutable characteristic so by gender or national

origin a race so i'm cy and there are over five million former homosexuals and that comprises two to hackers have a population that happen costs a lot of this problem and i think a lot of them want to get caught so out of this problem when i met a former homosexuals bacon on the senate floor the other day i had to see the wanton some of their faces the leave this lifestyle that they were scared that with a peer pressure and they were scared that would be focus problem on your roof is one more group in america that simply is different for or how are you define them in there and they're those are those may be valid definitions of income level or whatever one more group that seeking to bar discrimination against it because of its difference regardless of whether that's essential practice or the color of their skin or whatever why shouldn't there be the safeguards against discrimination what you're what you're voicing is there a sense of their difference why shouldn't they be safeguarded against discrimination because of their difference how does one prove their homosexuality or that

they're lesbian that have distinguished will characteristics with the other minorities and i mention but others say to people are applying for the same job same educational requirements they have the same experience levels roughly we come across to the employer with the same enthusiasm with the same personality that they could handle the job situation quickly once is a normal sexual preference i had i don't wave that's writing legislation will will introduce a preference rather than safeguarding against discrimination it's just open up once i think i might name it may come at a larger class of people that are if you will feel that they don't have the rights what this legislation them or help them you wrote a letter i believe today to the legislature and in colorado congratulating them on their on their action against a bill like this army is there a religious basis for for your opposition it is they're either utterances of jesus christ in the new testament

against homosexuality art's not just noticed a month that i'm old as well but the most it starts in order specifically the new testament did you cite something that jesus i'm not religious fanatic the display when the lord lord that's my life but their serve overseas and the bible verse are more chapters in the bible is nowhere in the bible doesn't condone this type of activity and god made those people to be accepted in the lifestyle then why they condemned throughout states in genesis and leviticus and romans and i'm not i'm not but that's not the basis of the ideas don't want anybody to have special writes i was all that happened in either have the same equal rights i don't know that your homosexual i don't know you don't know that i am but if i would treat you with the same person and kindness and i will treat them with the same courtesy and kindness of my concern is i'm not going to i'm not going to be for the total up all types of sort of the business cycle the suits are

happened the businesses or people when they go to throw somebody out because they don't all quite financially or they haven't paid their rent that a year from now because i'm a lesbian you had no knowledge of that with adobe hundred hours of their business unless they're privileged where you say that there's no discrimination in society against the gay people against gays and lesbians either in housing or an orange job lays store or anywhere else that discrimination just is a fiction in america it was discriminated against them many of these groups are only discriminated against we all have certain people that are certain groups and slap their views against us and i did slap against this is because maybe i live in the heights in albuquerque forces those eleven about my control your homes in the valley that have a huge asset by a bigger than my i can take him places in my district that would be barred from a job or from renting an apartment or or from a promotion because of your sexual preference and i and i'm assuming that you'd be you'd be heterosexual you'd say that way you have to write the family would you be barber those rates person coming up the

past a fight that was fired because they were what we call a straight person and a homosexual business all business is nicholas vogt reasonable when it devoted to defeat this measure in the house i believe so when the vote the way we do and that there's a tremendous arm twisting going on in trades for other votes and feel people would vote their caucus in their backbone and the wishes of their ultimate maker there's folk would have no chance in the house but if they're going to vote or financial pocketbook or other future of old some political careers or whatever they might be rolling out a way i think your genie jerry oh it's b the business community is going to be saddled with a

thought for different cost that i can think of one is a cost to the individual second is to the business through insurance costs the thirties through the state placing in enforcing this legislation and i'm a fourth cost would be the cost of litigation there are no bees that burdens to businesses that respect individual privacy and the record of the two states massachusetts and wisconsin have had the longest record having this legislation is that less than two percent of the charges filed are based on sex orientation without a question or shadow about the legislation creates a special situation in special rights for those of the homosexual persuasion yarnell coders around there is no affirmative action in this legislation and the kind of disk that discrimination that we're talking about does differ somewhat from the discrimination faced by african americans and other minorities a problem has not been getting in the door our

problem has been that we have been forced into denial or forced into hiding and that we're in order to keep our jobs and to keep our housing the gay community wants to be able to marry and have a treaty that legally in the law they want to adopt children they want to get into our school system as a project in california that says there is no difference between the gay early on such a lifestyle and be treated just like the heterosexual community is not a special right to have a job keep a job based americans know nor is it a special right to have housing public accommodations and without discrimination civil rights legislation prevents people from being singled out for discrimination and what it has done is essentially to level the playing field that prejudice has denied the opportunities for the agenda is to legitimize the homosexual and lesbian lifestyle and a foster ii and the rest of the

ninety seven percent that are not of that persuasion why civil rights legislation was passed back in nineteen sixty four was set the horrendous treatment of african americans in this nation and endo what that the government decided was that there are personal prejudices and believe should not affect one's treatment in matters of housing public accommodations and that this is something they select to do it's not something that they're born with this is a choice they make and they're trying to get their choices legitimized uncovered on the human rights act just like the black he was born that way and can't change these people can change what we're trying to say is that the it's natural for people to be gay and that that is an immutable characteristic may not be like race and sex that something that you can see right on the on the surface but it's like left handedness deals with how the brain is wired and the american psychological association american psychiatric association have concluded for many years at this is immutable it is not it is not

pathological and in new research in this in the biological fields are saying that there is a definite relationship the homosexual lifestyle is not natural god has given us a plan in the bible for what is natural and he tells us that they have changed the use of they woman and do have a huge using man instead of a woman and that's just totally wrong religious morality is all spend that a very powerful force an individual's lives and when people have been taught for generations it on sexuality is evil and sinful this has an effect on public policy what we're trying to say is that they're there it's natural for people to be gay collier legislature write in color governor let your feelings be known on this issue so for him for the public to let the legislators know how they feel this is set up there has been a real absence sometimes of leadership and courage or more information if you are

opposed to senate bill ninety one you can call coalition for responsible government at age three six eight two or five if you would like to support senate bill ninety one you can call new mexico lesbian gay political alliance at two seventh five nine seven to one if you would like to express your comments please write at week's end and care of tammany tv eleven thirty university boulevard northeast albuquerque new mexico eight seven one zero to or call to seven seven zero six eight six this is

it's nice to play for a cassette copy of this at week's end program sent thirty five dollars which includes shipping and handling to play in any tv twelve hundred university boulevard northeast albuquerque new mexico eight seven one zero to or call one eight hundred three to eight by six six three ms ba pa

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