Another legislative session, another attempt to protect gays and lesbians in the workplace.
For nine years, Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, has unsuccessfully sponsored a bill to prohibit Colorado employers from considering sexual orientation when making hiring, firing and promotion decisions.
She was hoping that last year would be different. For the first time in her legislative career, the bill got all the way to the governor’s desk.
And it was vetoed.
This year, Veiga reintroduced the bill but with less fanfare than a year ago. This year, no cross- dressing men testified about workplace discrimination, and only one lawyer spoke on behalf of Senate Bill 81 before it was passed by the Senate business committee Wednesday. It now goes to appropriations review.
In 2005, bolstered by the Democratic takeover of the legislature, Veiga’s bill attracted a parade of supporters and opponents.
Veiga said the lower-profile committee hearing was what she wanted this year.
In a hearing that lasted about a half-hour, Veiga asked her fellow lawmakers to support a bill that would add “sexual orientation” to the list of characteristics that are protected from workplace discrimination.
“I think it is a modest step and one that we need to take,” she said.
The bill is almost exactly like the one Gov. Bill Owens vetoed last year. At that time, Owens said he was concerned that it would expose businesses to an increased number of lawsuits.
Veiga said she hoped that Owens could be convinced that his worries are unwarranted.
Mari Newman, a Denver lawyer who testified on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the number of cases is unlikely to increase; in fact, businesses would have a clear- cut standard to follow.
As an employer, the state of Colorado already protects gays and lesbians from from bias on the job. Last spring, the state department of personnel said state workers had filed about 1,000 claims of discrimination over five years, but none of them alleged discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The only sparks in this year’s committee hearing came from Mark Hotaling, executive director of the Christian Coalition of Colorado, who said the bill was an effort to “force homosexual and transsexual values on every Coloradan.”
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-820-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
