5/7/09

From Sara Van Wormer, Project Coordinator

Below please find media coverage of the Second Parent Adoption Bill (HB 4131) and the latest update on the Kalamazoo Anti-Discrimination Ordinance. In national news, Maine has just announced same-sex marriage rights.

Second parent adoption bill on the move
CARE holds fundraisers, hopes to see bill become law in 2010
by Jessica Carreras
Originally printed 5/7/2009 (Issue 1719 – Between The Lines News)
http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=34926

Proponents of the second parent adoption bill, House Bill 4131, rejoiced last week as the bill began to move forward. However, they admit that there’s still a long way to go – and lots of fundraising, lobbying and education to do.

On April 22, the bill, which would provide full adoption rights to unwed couples – including same-sex couples – was approved by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. The bill passed in an 8-6 vote with all Democrats in favor and all Republicans opposed.

During the last legislative session, the bill died in the House in July and was never taken up by the Senate. But members of Coalition for Adoption Rights, which has been spearheading the effort, said this year will be different.

“I’m fairly certain it will pass this session,” said CARE Vice President Jane Bassett. “The next thing is to work with the leadership in the House to determine a time when it will be brought up for a vote.”

And to raise the necessary funds to continue CARE’s work, which they plan to do with two upcoming fundraisers.

The first is an ongoing Mother’s Day fundraiser in collaboration with Enchanted Florist of Ypsilanti. Any person who buys a $50 azalea plant for Mother’s Day can specify that they are supporting CARE, and 15 percent of the proceeds will go to help their cause.

Then, on 5:30-7:30 p.m. May 13, CARE will host a Spring Beer Tasting Festival at the Arbor Brewing Company in Ann Arbor. It will feature a variety of brews for sampling, plus hors d’oeuvres. A silent auction will also be featured at the event.

Funds will go toward objectives like raising awareness of the need for second parent adoption, and more lobbying to sway the opinions of less supportive representatives.

Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem) sponsored the bill, and said that support of the bill is a matter of common sense.

“I think it’s important for children to have the opportunity to have the security that a two-parent household brings…,” Smith said. “It gives children a tremendous amount of stability and continuity and that is more important to me than anything. We’ve got two willing adults who want to be in the children’s lives and want to make that kind of financial and security commitment to them and we’re putting obstacles in their way. That’s wrong.”

However, while the issue is clear to her, Smith acknowledged that there are still many opponents of the bill in the House. Many hail from more conservative areas, and Smith said they are reluctant to accept that the bill is merely making an already legal process easier – albeit a process many Michigan judges refuse to let unwed parents go through.

For Smith, the next step is seeing where support of the bill stands.

“Right now, I’m working on getting a count so we can get the 56 votes (needed to pass the bill),” Smith explained. “As soon as I know where our soft spots are and where we may need to do some additional lobbying of some of my colleagues and who they are, then I will get those names out to supporters of the legislation and we will start working on the members until we get the 56.

“When I know we have those votes, I will make every effort to have leadership move the bill.”

Smith agreed with Bassett that the bill has a strong chance of passing out of the House in 2009. “I know that we have a moratorium on some kinds of legislation until we can actually get the budget straightened out, but that’s going to be an ongoing process,” Smith said. “I think that once the executive order is out of our way next week, we’ll start looking at more difficult pieces of legislature. I would like to get (second parent adoption) done in the House this year.”

The bigger challenge, however, will be the Senate. Bassett and Smith agreed that the chances of the bill passing in the Senate this year are slim. It’s more likely that the bill will be put on hold until after 2010 midterm elections, when supporters hope that a change in the number of Democratic seats will result in increased support of the bill.

“I think with the make up of the current Senate, we probably don’t have much of a chance…,” Bassett said. “We should end up with a different configuration after the 2010 election, and then we’ll have an opportunity to assess at that point whether or not to push it for a vote in the Senate.”

Rep. Smith, while optimistic about the bill’s chance in the House, was equally skeptical of the current Senate.

Smith commented that the main problem is that some legislators do not believe that gays and lesbians should be parents. “Primarily, (the objections are) the gay/lesbian issue and that children shouldn’t have same-sex parents; that they are better raised in a family with a mother and a father,” Smith said. “There is no research that supports that, but it doesn’t stop people from feeling that way and arguing those counter issues.”

For Smith, it’s just another legal battle – like affirmative action and same-sex marriage – that makes Michigan a less appealing state to both businesses and individuals. “(Second parent adoption) has nothing to do with a marriage or same-sex insurance,” she added. “It has everything to do with the child and isn’t covered by the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, which is another unfortunate thing that we have here in Michigan. It makes us a very unwelcoming, non-inclusive state and we need to change.”

CARE Spring Beer Tasting Festival

5:30 p.m. May 13

Arbor Brewing Company, 114 E. Washington, Ann Arbor

Tickets: $25 adults, $15 ages 20 and under

www.secondparentadoption.org

City Commission panel needs more time for Kalamazoo gay-rights ordinance
by Kathy Jessup | Kalamazoo Gazette
Thursday May 07, 2009, 12:23 AM
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/05/city_commission_panel_needs_mo.html

KALAMAZOO — A Kalamazoo City Commission subcommittee wants one more meeting to hash out the fine print before recommending language to ban local housing and employment discrimination against homosexuals.

Commissioner David Anderson, subcommittee chairman, said Wednesday that critical questions posed by the public during a recent comment period will be answered June 3, before the three commissioners report back to the full commission later in June.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on a timetable that would allow opponents to get the measure on the November ballot as a referendum if the City Commission acts. With an Aug. 25 deadline for submitting ballot questions, city commissioners likely would need to pass the so-called anti-discrimination ordinance by late June or early July to give opponents time to circulate petitions aimed at letting voters decide the issue in November.

The subcommittee has asked City Attorney Clyde Robinson to come to the 5 p.m. June 3 public meeting prepared to clarify issues such as the measure’s effect on exercising religious beliefs, on small business and on restroom designations.

Proponents want the city to ban sexual orientation as a factor in hiring, access to housing and public accommodations.

If adopted here, a Kalamazoo ban on employment and housing discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender individuals would be more broad than current state and federal statutes.

This is Kalamazoo’s second look at such an ordinance. In December, the City Commission unanimously passed its first anti-discrimination ordinance, based on an initial proposal from the Kalamazoo Alliance for Equality, a local gay-rights organization.

However, opponents launched a petition drive challenging the new ordinance and collected enough signatures in December to force the commission to either rescind it or put the measure on a ballot.

Commissioners subsequently rescinded the first ordinance, and members Don Cooney, Stephanie Moore and Anderson were appointed to collect public comment and see if ordinance supporters and opponents could find a middle ground for a new measure. That middle ground has proven elusive, however.

Ordinance supporters say homosexuals should not be denied jobs or housing based on their sexual preferences.

Many opponents say they believe an ordinance would force them to accept a lifestyle that violates their religious beliefs.

Anderson said a new ordinance draft could go to the full commission June 15.

BREAKING: Maine to recognize marriage for same-sex couples
(Issue 1718 – Between The Lines News)
http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=34898

Maine Gov. John Baldacci signed legislation recognizing marriage equality for same-sex couples under state law Wednesday, May 6. Last week the state Senate voted 21-14 and the state House of Representatives voted 89-57 to pass the legislation.

“Just one year ago, a single state allowed same-sex couples to marry. Now, with the historic step taken by Gov. Baldacci and the Maine legislature, five states will provide equal dignity, equal respect and equal rights under state law for same-sex couples by recognizing their freedom to marry, and we hope more will follow soon,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “Congratulations to Gov. John Baldacci, Senator Dennis Damon, and Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree for making sure all loving, committed couples in Maine, and their families, will have equal rights and responsibilities under state law, and congratulations to Equality Maine for the hard work it has done over the years to make today a reality.”

In addition to Maine, four states have recognized marriage for same-sex couples under state law: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont (effective Sept. 1, 2009).

New York recognizes marriages by same-sex couples legally entered into in another jurisdiction. California recognized marriage by same-sex couples between June and November of 2008, before voters approved Proposition 8, which purports to amend the state constitution to prohibit marriage equality. The Proposition 8 vote has been challenged in court; a decision by the state supreme court is expected by June.

Legislatures in New Hampshire and New York are also considering legislation that would permit same-sex couples to marry under state law.

Same-sex couples do not receive federal rights and benefits in any state.

______________________________
Sara Van Wormer, MA, LLP, CAAC
Project Coordinator
Michigan Project for Informed Public Policy