HARTFORD — Legislation that adds transgendered people to the protected classes under state anti-discrimination laws passed the House and is headed for the Senate floor.
"I hope this legislation will help those who have suffered discrimination and give them the chance to live free from fear and intimidation,” said state Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, D-New Haven.

Holder-Winfield supports the bill and is vice chair of the Judiciary Committee, one of the panels that held a public hearing on it. 

House Bill 6599, An Act Concerning Discrimination, prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression in employment, public accommodations, the sale or rental of housing, the granting of credit, and other laws over which the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities has jurisdiction.

Language in the bill defines “gender identity or expression” as a person's gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether that identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or sex at birth. 

“This legislation is long overdue,” Holder-Winfield said. “In its essence, it prohibits discrimination and offers people protections of their basic rights to use public accommodations.”

Debate began in the House early Thursday evening and it passed late into the night.

“We shouldn’t discriminate against people just because Mother Nature or God made them differently,” said Rep. Linda Scholfield, D-Simsbury, a health care consultant who provided her fellow lawmakers a detailed explanation of how people can be born with gender assignment issues, such as a mismatched mental gender and physical gender.

Yet some lawmakers said they had concerns that legislation could be abused or have unintended consequences.

House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, said employers and businesses might not understand what it means to be transsexual or transgendered and could unknowingly violate the law and wind up facing a $2,000 penalty and possible jail time. He urged the majority Democrats to somehow fix the bill before the debate ended.

To help address some lawmakers’ concerns, Rep. Gerald Fox, D-Stamford, the co-chairman of the General Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, offered an amendment that allows a court to seek evidence of person’s gender identity issues, such as medical history, to determine if they’ve been discriminated against. The amendment passed on a voice vote.

If it becomes law, then the legislation would make it a class A misdemeanor to deprive someone of rights, privileges or immunities secured or protected by the state or federal laws or constitutions because of the person's gender identity or expression.

Violations would be punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of up to $2,000 or both.

Sixteen states have passed similar legislation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Fwd: Connecticut Joins Agreement To Curb Tobacco Sales to Minor

Editor's Note: This information is a press release. It is shared here unedited.

 

HARTFORD – Attorney General George Jepsen said Connecticut has joined with the attorneys general of 38 other states and the District of Columbia in a multi-state agreement with Circle K Stores Inc. and Mac's Convenience Stores LLC to curb the sale of tobacco products to minors.

 The agreement affects the nearly 3,000 company-owned and franchise stores of Texas-based Circle K, including 10 franchise stores in Connecticut, and more than 1,100 stores of the Delaware-based Mac's Convenience Stores. No Mac's stores are located in Connecticut.

 

"More than 80 percent of regular adult smokers say they began smoking as children," Jepsen said. "The younger a person begins smoking, the more likely it is that he or she will be unable to quit in later life and will suffer a disease attributable to tobacco use."

 

"From a public health perspective, we can't afford it. From a public policy perspective, we have to do whatever we can to make sure existing state laws are followed and tobacco products are kept out of the hands of children and teens," Jepsen said. "This agreement will help to accomplish that goal."

 

Connecticut prohibits the sale of tobacco products to consumers younger than 18. The attorneys general estimate that 690 million packs of cigarettes are sold illegally to children each year and that more than 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco-related illnesses.

The agreement applies to the company-operated stores and on an advisory basis to the franchise operations. It requires comprehensive training of company store employees and franchisees about the health reasons behind the sale restrictions on tobacco products; requires government-issued forms of photo identification for purchasers who appear under the age of 30 and prohibits self-service displays, the use of vending machines and distributions of free samples on store property.

 

In addition, the company will hire an independent company to conduct compliance checks at 500 stores every six months and pay the attorneys general $225,000 for their investigative costs. Connecticut's share of that money has not been determined.

 

Assistant Attorney General Heather J. Wilson represented Jepsen in this matter.

 

The agreement, negotiated by the National Association of Attorneys General Tobacco Retailer's Group, is the 14^th with retailers of tobacco products. Others were reached with companies such as Walgreens, ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid and 7-Eleven.