Lincoln proposal would extend anti-bias shield
Omaha’s WOWT. com reports Lincoln, Neb., could join Omaha in extending antidiscrimination protection to gay and transgender people.
Councilman Carl Eskridge plans to introduce a measure to the council on April 30. He expects there will be a hearing on May 7 and a council vote a week later.
At a news conference April 19, the proposal was backed by several business owners and at least one pastor. The Rev. Karla Cooper said, “It is a divine mandate and imperative to pass the fairness ordinance in the city of Lincoln.”
Similar to an Omaha measure passed recently by its council, the Lincoln measure would bar discrimination against gays and transgender people in housing, employment and public accommodations.
Iowa anti-bullying hotline under consideration
KCRG.com in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, reports a state hotline to combat bullying is under consideration.
The idea follows the recent suicide of a 14-year-old northwest Iowa boy who was bullied after he acknowledged to others that he was gay.
At least two lawmakers are checking into whether a hotline can be set up before the legislative session ends.
Rep. Mary Mascher (D-Iowa City) said she’s been thinking about “how isolating it is for kids who are bullied and are scared.”
Mascher and Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D-Ames) are checking costs and looking into whether an antibullying component could be added to the Iowa Suicide and Crisis Hotlines.
Maine gay marriage opponents unite
Portland’s WMTW.com reports the Christian Civic League of Maine and the National Organization for Marriage say they’ve combined forces to defeat the same-sex marriage referendum proposal on November’s ballot.
The chairman of Protect Marriage Maine, the Rev. Bob Emrich, said it would organize groups of different faiths as well as people with no faith traditions at all in opposition to the ballot initiative. Maine voters defeated a gay-marriage proposal that was on the 2009 ballot.
Christian Civic League executive director Carroll Conley says his group was not a major player in the 2009 campaign, but he believes it can play a major role in the campaign this year.
Paperwork creating Protect Marriage Maine was filed April 20.
Pro-gay marriage activists from 16 organizations have formed the Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition.
— compiled by Larry Nichols