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Civil Rights Bill Gains Support In Delaware
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
May 16, 2003
11:56 a.m. ET/+5GMT/-3PT
(Dover, Delaware) Delaware governor Ruth Ann Minner is urging state lawmakers to pass legislation extending anti-discrimination protection to gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
The bill is currently in the General Assembly. Last year the House narrowly passed similar legislation but died in a Senate committee.
The sponsor of the bill, Republican William A. Oberle Jr. said he hopes Minner's intervention helps gain support. Oberle said he is close to gaining sufficient votes for House passage and its chances in the Senate look good.
However, he said he is not ready to bring the bill up for a vote.
"I could roll the dice now ... but this is too important legislation," Oberle said. "We're building toward that magic number of 21" votes.
Flanked by legislators, clergy members and human-rights activists, Gov. Minner told a rally the bill provides "not more rights, not fewer rights, just equal rights."
The bill would add sexual orientation to the section of Delaware law that bans discrimination in housing, employment and insurance. Delaware already bans discrimination on the basis of race, age, sex and disability.
"What makes us strong as a nation is our willingness to allow people to live as they choose so long as those choices do not endanger others," Minner said. "That ideal is embodied in the most sacred documents in our nation and it is high time that, when it comes to sexual orientation, that ideal is written into the Delaware Code as well."
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