Coalition to End Discrimination

The Coalition to End Discrimination (CED - pronounced "seed") was formed on 
May 2, 1993 to pass legislation that would add "sexual orientation" to New 
Hampshire's Civil Rights Law.  This bill would make it illegal to discriminate 
based on someone's perceived sexual orientation in employment, housing and 
public accommodations. There are already exemptions for small businesses, 
religious institutions, and housing with a small number of units built into the
existing Civil Rights law.  This legislation has broad bi-partisan support and 
has been endorsed by a  large number of organizations including the Catholic 
Diocese of Manchester, NOW and the AFL-CIO.

For more information about CED and the civil rights bills, you can call the Gay 
Info Line at 603-224-1686, write to Brendan Denehy BDenehy@keene.edu, the 
moderator of CED, or send mail to:

CED
PO Box 74
Concord NH, 03302-0073.

If you  would like to become a member of CED, just contact us and we will put 
you on our mailing list.  If you would like to give a donation, you can mail it 
to us at the address above.  Donations to CED are NOT tax deductible.

**** NOTE: CED EXISTS SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THIS LAW.  ONCE THIS
**** IS ACCOMPLISHED, CED WILL BE DISOLVED.  CAGLR IS THE PERMANENT, GENERAL-
**** PURPOSE, STATE-WIDE GLBT ORGANIZATION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

History of CED

As New Hampshire's gay and lesbian community has grown and strengthened, we 
have had to overcome many obstacles that have kept us divided and isolated. As 
a community, we have decided to actively work to remove those barriers and to 
foster the growth and strengthening of our community. While there are many 
challenges that face us and much potential that we can currently only envision,
we have decided to focus our efforts and resources on those tasks and projects 
that would most benefit our community.  For this reason, a number of individuals
from across the state gathered together at the CAGLR office on May 2, 1993 to 
begin the process of including sexual orientation into New Hampshire's Civil 
Rights Law. The Civil Rights Law makes it illegal to discriminate against people
based on certain criteria such as race, religion and marital status in 
employment, housing, and public accommodations. Exceptions were allowed for 
small businesses, religious institutions, and housing with a small number of 
units.

By amending the Civil Rights Law to include sexual orientation, the state would
make it illegal to fire someone because of their perceived sexual orientation.
It would also become illegal to refuse to rent an apartment or to provide a 
service (restaurants, gas stations, etc.) to someone because you believe that 
they might be gay or lesbian. These basic civilities that most people take for 
granted is at the root of a great deal of fear and uncertainty in our community.
Virtually all of us at one time or another have been afraid of what might happen
if our supervisors began to suspect that we might be gay or lesbian.  This 
threat continually hangs over many in our community, causing tension and 
self-censorship. If we are to advance as a civilization, we must treat each 
other civily - and we must have a government that encourages such civility.

The bill was first introduced into the New Hampshire House of Representatives 
in 1994 and was called HB1432. It was sent to the House Judiciary Committee 
where a hearing was held and the Committee recommended it's passage into law.  
HB1432 then went to the House floor where it passed by an almost 2 to 1 margin. 
It was then sent to a Senate Committee which also recommended it's passage. In 
the Senate, there was heavy lobbying on both sides and the bill was defeated by 
two votes.

In 1996, the bill was reintroduced into the House as HB1294.  This time, it was 
sent to the Judiciary Committee to be studied. This legal procedure is typically
used for bills that are complex and need to be carefully studied before coming 
up for a vote. A side effect of this course of action is that the bill does not 
actually come up for a vote during that session of the legislature, but must be 
reintroduced into the next legislature where the results of the study will be 
used to help legislators decide whether or not to support the bill. CED 
supported this move because we believed that the study would give us an 
opportunity to document some of the instances of discrimination that have 
occurred in New Hampshire and to educate the public about the need for this 
legislation.  As expected, the committee report highlighted the need for this 
extension of the Civil Rights Law.

In 1997, the bill was again reintroduced as HB421.    It has been passed out of 
the House by a vote of 205-125 and was recommended "ought to pass" by the Senate
Internal Affairs Committee on a 3-2 vote.  The bill now goes to the Senate where
it will be voted upon on Tuesday May 6th.  HB421 is endorsed by a large number 
of organizations including the Catholic Church, NOW, the AFL-CIO, NEA, PFLAG, 
the Concord Monitor and numerous other organizations.  It has broad, bipartisan 
support and stands a very good chance of passage this year.