Date:  8 May 1997
From: LEGALinc@aol.com

LOUISIANA ANTI-MARRIAGE BILL DEFEATED A SECOND TIME WITHOUT A
SINGLE VOTE CAST
 
BATON ROUGE -- The Anti-Marriage Bill (SB 37) by Sen. Phil
Short, R-Covington, was soundly defeated again Wednesday
afternoon after it became apparent to its author that
support for it had quickly dwindled during debate.
        The bill, defeated by a slim margin in April, was
brought back up for reconsideration by the Senate prompting
a list of senators to spend nearly an hour debating the
legislation.
        The debate sparked the emotions of senators and sent
lobbying groups like the Christian Coalition scurrying to
urge senators to pass the bill. Monologues were initiated
which ran the gamut from gaybashing to teen suicides to
biblical prophesy to the origins of sexual orientation.
        One legislator, a Republican senator from Metairie
who was absent when the first vote was taken last month,
spoke against the bill as "absolutely unnecessary."
        "I'm absolutely convinced that those people who lead
the alternate lifestyle do so because of genetics," said
Sen. Ken Hollis, R-Metairie. "I don't condone their way of
life, but I'm not gonna sit up here and condemn it and to
vote for a constitutional amendment to bring it to a vote to
divide our people..."
        Hollis said that he had not tried to "run out on the
vote" when it was taken last month but that he had been away
on business. He indicated, though, that it was probably good
that he hadn't been present then because the vote might have
been different.
        One major factor in the decisions of several of the
senators to oppose the bill was the probability of a rise in
hate crimes as a direct result of such legislation being
passed. Many senators recalled murders and "gaybashing" that
had occurred in their districts in the past, fearing an
"acceleration" of such assaults if SB 37 were passed.
        "Not too terrible long ago a gaybashing got a man
killed," said Sen. Lynn Dean, R-Braithwaite. "Come to find
out he was straight, but someone got the idea that he was
gay."
        Dean spoke about New Orleans' first documented hate
crime victim, Joe Balog.  Balog, a tourist visiting New
Orleans from Mississippi, had been murdered a few years ago
while in the French Quarter. His attackers mistakenly took
him for gay because of his location in the French Quarter
and stabbed him repeatedly to death.
        "I know of a terrible fight in my parish a short
time ago because they called one guy a 'faggot,' but he was
straight," Dean continued. "It's time to cut away from that
stuff.
        "They (lesbians and gay men) don't want to have
bricks thrown through their windshields, their tires slashed
and houses set on fire. And history in the last few years
will show each time we bring this up...many of them will be
singled out and they'll be hurt."
        Sen. James Cox, D-Lake Charles, the author of a Hate
Crimes Bill (SB 914), spoke of the need for Hate Crimes laws
because of incidents arising from assaults brought on by
statewide votes on lesbian and gay issues.
        "I think that it could unduly heighten tensions and
concerns," said Cox, "and could conceivably result in people
being singled out for criticism or unnecessarily involved in
(hate crimes)."
        Sen. Ron Bean, R-Shreveport, spoke against the
constitutional amendment, reiterating the stance he had
taken on the bill the first time it received a vote.
        "I see no reason to dig this up and grind it around
in public again," said Bean. "The session before last we had
a hate crimes bill and one of the things we put in it was
'sexual orientation' and that stirred up a lot of
controversy out in the community. And this'll do the same
thing in the long run."
        Finally, when Sen. Ron Landry, D-LaPlace, went to
speak against the bill it appeared that Sen. Short had had
enough. Short requested that SB 37 be voluntarily 'returned
to the calendar' (this would cause no vote to be taken on
the bill, but allow the bill to be brought up later for
another debate and another vote).
        Sen. Dean, however, objected to this occurring,
apparently wanting the bill to be voted on so that it would
be killed a second time and not be brought up again. But
that objection lost the vote and the bill was laid up to
conceivably be resucitated another day.
        With tensions still running high, Sen. Jon Johnson,
D-New Orleans, asked the question that was on the mind of
every senator: "Does he (Short) intend to bring it back up
during the session?"
        "With the bill in the posture of being returned
voluntarily the author has the right to bring the bill up
again," explained acting Senate President Robert Barham,
D-Oak Ridge.
        "Short's bill died without a single round being
fired," said Brian Hartig, lobbyist for Louisiana Electorate
of Gays And Lesbians (LEGAL). "The body just hasn't been
dragged off yet.
        "This is like some bad horror movie: Night of the
Living Dead. The thing's not going to die until its head is
lopped off. The question is: 'When are we going to be able
to do that?' I don't know.
        "In the meantime, call your senators."
 
LEGAL is a statewide, non-profit organization for lesbians and gay men. We
are dedicated to ending discrimination based upon sexual orientation. You can
contact LEGAL by writing to PO Box 70344, New Orleans, LA 70172, calling our
voicemail at 504-365-3105, visiting our web site at
http://members.aol.com/legalinc/ or emailing us at legalinc@aol.com.