From: Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 20:30:40 -0500 Subject: LOUISVILLE BILL ADVANCES "END" REPORTED OUT OF COMMITTEE IN LOUISVILLE (Louisville, March 22, 1995). The Employment Non-Discrimination ("END") Ordinance introduced on February 28 before the Louisville Board of Aldermen has been reported out of the Community and Government Relations Committee for consideration by the full board next Tuesday, March 28. The committee heard testimony this afternoon from several witnesses who had been discriminated against in the Louisville area, and reports from others who were unwilling to appear before the committee for fear of being fired from their jobs were also read by friends. Supporters and opponents were then given three minutes each to speak at an open mike for three minutes each. Eight opponents, including four African-American ministers, and six supporters, including two ministers and a lesbian attorney who used to work for the board, were able to speak before the allotted one-hour session was up. The session was the second and final scheduled hearing. Unlike a similar proposal, known as the Fairness Amendment, which was voted down in August 1992, END would cover discrimination in employment only. Most supporters and activists reluctantly agreed with the bill's sponsors that it is the best that can be hoped for in the current political climate. The Fairness Amendment, would have extended protections in the areas of housing or public accommodations as well. A second proposal introduced by Alderman Paul Bather, an African-American, would extend employment protections for city government workers only, but the Fairness Campaign, the political action group that has been pushing for gay rights legislation since the summer of 1991, is supporting the first proposal instead. ###