A Service of Rainbow Law

It may be just a blip on the radar screen in light of the ongoing battles to enact same-sex marriage in the big states (New York, California, New Jersey), but every little bit counts.  On Wednesday night, the Delaware legislature finished up work on approving a gay rights bill, according to a report in this morning's BNA Daily Labor Report.  The measure passed the House 26-14 and, on Wednesday night, the Senate 14-5, and was sent on to Governor Jack Markell, a Democrat.  I couldn't find any info on-line about Markell saying whether he would sign it, but I did find a news story from 2007, when Markell was State Treasurer, reporting on his testifying in favor of a pending gay rights bill at that time, so I think it's likely that he remains a supporter.

The bill does NOT include gender identity, just sexual orientation, and in that sense is a retrogression, since most recently adopted gay rights measures have also included gender identity.  There is a big exclusion for religious and religiously-affiliated organizations, but an exception to the exception - that is, the measure does apply to their employment of people in jobs that generated taxable business income.  So, for example, a church that invests in a bowling alley; the bowling alley would not be exempt from the law, just because it is owned by a church, if the income from the bowling alley is "unrelated business income" (unrelated, that is, to the church's purely religious activities).

There is also a provision stating that the law does NOT require employers to provide benefits to unmarried partners of their employees.

With those caveats, however, it is a full-service sexual orientation anti-discrimination measure, extending to employment, housing, public accommodations, etc.  And the legislature rejected various symbolic amendments proffered by the right-wingers that would have loaded it up with nonsense about what school teachers can say and reaffirmations of support for traditional marriage.

Good for Delaware.  I hope the governor signs it promptly, in time for this weekend's 40th Anniversary of Stonewall celebrations.

Read the original article in Leonard Link