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Thursday, June 24

HOUSE PANEL KILLS GAY RIGHTS BILL

By Scott MacKay, Journal-Bulletin State House Bureau

Providence, RI  -- The  House Judiciary  Committee yesterday  rejected a
Senate-passed gay-rights bill, promting chants of "shame" by supporters,
who vowed to seek to overturn the  action on the House floor, perhaps as
early as today.

Before  a crowd  of  about  80 supporters  of  the  bill, the  Judiciary
Committee  killed  two  identical  gay-rights  bills  in  9-to-7  votes.

After the  votes, about 25  gay-rights supporters stayed in  the meeting
room  and direct  a chant  of "shame,  shame, shame"  at the  lawmakers.

And,  as  TV  cameras  rolled,   Sen.  Rhoda  Perry,  D-Providence,  who
soponsored  the Senate  bill,  castigated the  committee chairman,  Rep.
Charles  T.  Knowles,  D-Narragansett,   who  voted  against  the  bill.

"I thought you were an honest  man," Perry shouted at Knowles. "You were
the one who lied to me."

"I never said I was going to  vote for this bill," shot back Knowles. "I
didn't promise anyone my vote.  I promised a fair hearing."

The committee recommended killing both the Senate bill and the identical
House  version  sponsored  by  Rep. Francis  A.  Gaschen,  D-Cumberland.

Gaschen, a  Judiciary Committee member,  said he  will move to  have the
full House overturn the committee's  action when the reccomendation goes
to the floor, which Knowles said  could happen as early as today [Note--
in the time since  this article was written, news has  come out that the
bill won't reach the  floor of the House until Tuesday,  June 29, at the
earliest]

Under House rules imposed this year,  a House bill rejected in committee
can still  go to the full  House for a  vote if the sponsor  demands it.
The rules  do not apply to  Senate bills; Perry's bill,  for example, is
dead for this session.

"We're not just going to roll over  and play dead this year," said Julia
Pell, lobbyist for  the Rhode Island Alliance for Gay  and Lesbian Civil
Rights.  "We'll be there."

Pell said she believed a House  floor vote would be close. Few opponents
of the bill showed up at the State House yesterday.

Pell  and  Sen.  William  Fitzpatrick,  D-Cranston,  both  said  Knowles
mislead  them.   And  they  also   charged  that  Rep.   Paul  Archetto,
R-Cranston --  who voted with the  majority-- had assured them  he would
abstain.

Referring  to Archetto,  Fitzpatrick said:  "The last  thing we  need in
Rhode Island is another lying politician."

Archetto, asked for  comment, said he did not give  a "firm committment"
to pell and  Fitzpatrick. And he said that based  on the telephone calls
and letters  he received, he  believes his constituents are  against the
bill.

Archetto  represent's   Cranston's  Arlington  neighborhood,   which  eh
described as an  "Italo-American area that is very  conservative on this
issue."

Perry's bill,  approved by the  Senate last  month, in a  30-to-17 vote,
would  extend  civil rights  protection  to  homosexuals in  employment,
housing, credit and public accomodations.

It would  exempt owner-occupied apartments  of no more than  three units
from  the  housing provisions.  The  Rhode  Island Commission  on  Human
Rights would enforce the law.

[...Details about which specific Senators supported and opposed the bill
deleted...]

Gay-rights legislation  has been a  General Assembly issue for  at least
nine  consecutive  years,  but  it  has  never  managed  to  clear  both
chambers.  Governor  Sundlun  supports   gay  rights  and  would  likely
sign... such  a measure, according  to Barbara Cottam,  his spokeswoman.

Yesterday's committee  meeting was short  and bereft of  serious debate.
Gaschen and Kushner  made brief pleas for the bill,  with Gaschen saying
the full House should get a chance at voting on it.

Russo  said he  decided  to  vote against  it  because  he believed  his
Johnston constituents opposed the bill.

In  a letter  to  Julia  Pell that  he  released  to reporters,  Knowles
detailed  his opposition  to the  measure. He  said he  could support  a
gay-rights  measure  that  supported public  accomodations,  credit  and
housing,  with restrictions,  but did  not want  to extend  civil rights
protections to employment.

"I can  not extend  that support  to employment because  I feel  such an
across-the-board  extension will  establish gays  as a  constitutionally
protected class  on a par with  race, gender, national origin  and other
involuntary types of status," Knowles stated.

He said he  is not convinced that homosexuality is  an hereditary trait.
"Until  we are  presented  with positive  proof  that homosexuality  and
bisexuality are totally  involuntary in nature," he said,  "I choose not
to extend the purview of the  state's protection to employment, for fear
of creating a Pandora's box of spurious litigation."

Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut have gay-rights laws.

Knowles' committee held a hearing June 2 that lasted about six hours and
was attended by scores of supporters and opponents.

The current  Assembly has an  unusually large  number of new  members; a
dozen  senators who  opposed the  bill last  year are  no longer  in the
assembly. Of the  15 first-term senators, 8 voted for  Perry's bill last
month, six against; 1 was absent.

House Speaker John  B. Harwood, D-Pawtucket, and  his chief lieutennant,
Majority Leader  George D.  Caruolo, D-East  Providence, both  said they
generally support  gay, but that  they stayed  neutral on the  issue and
refused entreaties from gay-rights lobbyists  to use their clout to vote
for the bill.

"Abortion and gay  rights are matters of conscience,"  said Caruolo. "We
feel people  should make up  their minds  without being fettered  by the
leadership."