Judiciary Subcommittee Sends Civil Rights Bill Forward
The only witness called was Jeff Graham, the executive Director of Georgia Equality, who extended his appreciation to Rep. Golick and the committee for working on civil rights legislation, although he noted there were no protections for women, the elderly, the disabled, and other minorities. He also noted there were 59 cities and counties in Georgia that went further in combating discrimination by passing local ordinances.
Rep. Taylor Bennett of Brookhaven offered an amendment to the bill that would have added protection for “sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or veteran’s status” to the original list of race, religion, and national origin. Committee member Roger Bruce of Atlanta urged adoption of the amendment, noting that some of the newly proposed protected classes in the amendment were not issues when the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, and that the legislature shouldn’t wait another 50 years to fix those things that are issues today.
Nonetheless, the amendment failed by a vote of 6-4. Following the meeting, Rep. Barry Fleming of Harlem, who sits as an ex-officio member of the subcommittee said that the 1964 civil rights act had some very specific definitions and a history that had stood up over time, and that it was important to have Georgia’s civil rights act match as closely as possible. Fleming said that following the federal precedent was the conservative thing to do.
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I will try to put this nicely: The lack of courage is appalling. What is there to be afraid of? For crying out loud, we’re all in this together. We don’t need to throw anyone overboard.
For a little more detail on how the vote on the amendment went down, take a look at the AJC story from Janel Davis and Aaron Gould Sheinin that describes how two votes came from Judiciary members and other from House leadership. Had these three not voted the amendment would have passed.
That being said, everything I’ve heard at the Cap says that this bill is bring primed to pass without any amendments whatsoever. The use of the hawks makes that clear.
Honestly, in this day and age to pass something like this without the amendment is foolish and a waste of time. And this excuse: “1964 civil rights act had some very specific definitions and a history that had stood up over time, and that it was important to have Georgia’s civil rights act match as closely as possible.” is ridiculous. In 1964 there wasn’t a disability rights movement, or a really organized gay rights movement. We are far past 1964 and considering that many of the leaders of that movement who are still alive today are in support of gay rights should tell you all you need to know. Pathetic.
So glad Georgia’s finally catching up to 1964. If only we could lead in 2016 instead.