Date: Thu, 29 Sep 94 10:29:06 EDT From: BoiseBear@aol.com Reprinted from the Thursday, Sept. 29. 1994 [Boise] Idaho Statesman -- Page A-2 ====================================== 87 JURISDICTIONS PROVIDE SOME PROTECTIONS FOR GAYS By Marianne Flagg The Idaho Statesman Troy, Idaho is one of 40 cities and counties nationwide with council or mayoral proclamations banning discrimination in public employment based on sexual orientation. About 87 cities or counties have civil rights ordinances and eight states have such laws passed by their legislatures and signed by the governors, according to a report compiled in February by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Troy, the smallest town on the list, joins such larger cities as Atlanta, Buffalo, Anchorage, Phoenix, Olympia and Milwaukee in offering protection in public employment. Boise hasn't considered such measures. The city's policy doesn't include discrimination protection based on sexual orientation. But, Council President Paula Forney said, "I'm certainly opposed to Proposition One, so this might be the time to bring it up. I'd be willing to float something by the council." However, she had no immediate plan to do anything. Coincidentially, the council at its weekly meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday will consider its annual update on the discrimination policy. If Idahoans approve Proposition One on Nov. 8, it would bar cities and other entities from enacting laws to guarantee civil rights specifically for gays and lesbians. But it is not clear whether the initiative would invalidate city ordinances already on the books, such as Troy's. Cities around the country extend a patchwork of protections to gays. Some -- like those listed above -- provide protection only in the area of public employment. Others protect gays from discrimination in one or more other areas: public accommodation, private employment, education, housing, credit and union practices. Berkeley, Calif., for example, protects gays in all but public accommodations. Portland extends protection in public and private employment, public accommodations and housing. San Francisco protects all areas, as do Hartford, Conn.; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Ames, Iowa; Cambridge, Mass.; Rockville, Md.; and Detroit, among others. Many areas on the list are traditionally liberal enclaves, such as Aspen, Key West, Fla., and the states of Massachusetts, Minnesota and New York. Aside from Atlanta, the deep South isn't represented. Douglas Hattaway, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, said geography alone can't explan why some areas provide protection and other's don't. "They happen as states and cities recognize the process of discrimination, and that happens in different stages around the country," Hattaway said. "It depends on how well- organized a community is to get out the message on anti-gay discrimination." ============================================== For more information: No on 1 Coalition, PO Box 797, Boise, ID, 83701. 208-376-1599 voice, 208-376-1699 fax. NoProp1ID@aol.com Submitted by BoiseBear@aol.com ==============================================