The folks who testified on Senate Bill 305 could have saved themselves time and the strain on their vocal chords Tuesday morning. The senators listening to them already have made up their minds.
SB 305 would outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Four members of the Senate Civil Justice Committee support it, and three are against it.
Two members are on the fence—Republicans Steve Stivers and Bill Seitz, neither of whom was present for Tuesday’s testimony. Stivers was on a plane from Washington, D.C., and Seitz was, for whatever reason, sitting on the Statehouse patio chatting with another senator, Tom Niehaus.
The bill’s supporters probably would have been happy to deliver their speeches outside the patio if they’d known Seitz was there. After all, it was a beautiful day.
On the other hand, an endorsement from Seitz might not do much for the bill, anyway. While Seitz would give the legislation a majority of the panel, that matters only if the bill ever comes up for a committee vote. And it might not.
One conspiracy floated by the SB 305’s supporters earlier this week is that the bill is being secretly killed by Stivers. A Columbus Republican, Stivers is running against Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy for what promises to be a tightly contested congressional race in Ohio’s 15th District. The rumor goes that Stivers doesn’t want to annoy his friends in the gay community or his socially conservative allies in the Republican Party; therefore he’d like to avoid a vote altogether.
Stivers said that theory is hogwash and in fact he wants to vote for the bill—though he has serious questions.
“I’m for it in concept,” he said. “I’ve got a concern about people being able to provide themselves the protections by volunteering information in an interview that’s illegal to be asked. So we’re trying to work through those concerns.”
He thinks his apprehension can be quelled by an amendment that would prohibit gays or lesbians from informing potential employers of their sexual orientations. Stivers said he’s optimistic that Equality Ohio, the primary organization behind SB 305, will be open to a satisfactory solution.
And from another blogger, their response is building:
Senators, the gay agenda is radical, militant and well funded. If you pass the gay bill of rights, SB 305, they will flood Ohio businesses with lawsuits and will drive businesses out of the state.
The bill effectively creates a new protected victim group with special rights and privileges. It uses the majesty of the law to vindicate and honor anti-family sexual practices. If you believe that the family consists of a husband, a wife and children, you must also understand that a vote for this bill is an anti-family vote.
Thousands of parents might pull their children out of public schools because SB 305 offers transvestites the right to teach and I suppose that would include teaching while wearing kinky articles of clothing. The kids will be permitted to attend school wearing "sexual-identity" clothing and the classroom might resemble a gay bordello. The school's multicultural carnivals might include a table exhibiting racy sexual-identity behavior and clothing. Why must the public schools become gay-advocacy societies?
The personal freedom of the citizens is outraged by this bill. Our property is no longer our own because the state will instruct us to whom we must sell and rent property. If one fails to sell his property to a transvestite or a sexual exhibitionist he can be taken to court.
This sloppy piece of legislation is written so that various interpretations can be construed. A defenders of SB 305 can creatively construes this bill to create the illusion that it will cause no harm. He can then blithely dismisses objections. However, we can count upon the liberal judges to be aggressive in how they construe of this law — and inflict the greatest possible damage on the family, on business and on society.
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