"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.
No comments:
Post a Comment