Please Attend Lobby Day Monday January 22, 2001!
Virginians For Justice,
January 21, 2001
Action Alert
Let Your Voice Be Heard!
Join Virginians for Justice as we spend the day educating our elected
officials on issues of concern to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender
citizens and those with HIV/AIDS. Lobby Day 2001 will take place four months
to the day after the anti-gay murder of Danny Overstreet and the shootings of
the other victims in Roanoke. It is a great opportunity for the GLBT and GLBT-supportive
community to come together and ask our elected officials for action. In
addition to hate crimes legislation, VJ also work again on bills addressing
sodomy law reform, anti-discrimination and other pertinent issues.
Lobby Day 2001 Headquarters: The Commonwealth Park Suites Hotel 901 Bank
Street, Downtown Richmond just across Capitol Square from the State Capitol
Building
Lobby Day begins at 9:00 AM with lobby and issue trainings.
Immediate following Lobby Day:
Lobby Day Reception 5:00 until 7:00 p.m.
VJ will host our annual reception where attendees can mingle and meet with
legislators, legislative aides and allies from other organizations. The
reception is also at the Commonwealth Park Suites Hotel. All are welcome to
attend. We have had a record number of legislators and legislative aides
indicate that they will attend - so join us even if you can’t get to Lobby
Day!
Legislative Update and Call to Action
Contact your DELEGATE and SENATOR immediately to ask for their support or
opposition, as indicated below, to any of these bills.
Spread the word to Virginians across the Commonwealth!
As is often the case, little notice is given on committee hearings and
bills as they move quickly through committee activity. Virginians for Justice
asks you to call your legislators as soon as possible!
Information about contacting legislators is found below.
SUPPORT-----House Bill 2441 (HB2441)
Adds sexual orientation to existing Hate Crimes Laws.
UPDATE -----Senate Bill 1005 (SB1005)
Adds sexual orientation to existing Hate Crimes Laws. Passed by
indefinitely(PBI) (Y9-N6) A vote to PBI was a vote in opposition to the bill.
YEAS--Stolle, Saslaw, Trumbo, Quayle, Norment, Williams, Forbes, Mims, Rerras--9.
NAYS--Marsh, Howell, Lucas, Edwards, Reynolds, Puller--6. Please attend Lobby
Day and express thanks to those who voted Nay and educate those who voted Yea.
SUPPORT-----SB815
Prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation. This
legislation is showing signs for moving forward for the first time, so
constituent contact is needed!
SUPPORT-----SB1147
Would allow Fairfax County to change their local ordinances to prohibit
discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, real estate
transactions, employment, public accomodations, credit and education. SB1147
is currently scheduled to be heard on Tuesday January 23. Please attend Lobby
Day to log your support of this bill.
SUPPORT-----SB1226
Would allow Arlington County to enact an ordinance to extend health insurance
benefits to county employee’s spouse or to one other adult who meets
criteria established by the county. This would override the VA Supreme Court’s
2000 decision that overturned Arlington’s benefits policy.
UPDATE -----SB1002
Would require that the Virginia Housing and Development Authority make
loans available to persons living together as a single, non-profit
housekeeping unit. Passed by indefinitely(PBI) (Y8-N5-1A) A vote to PBI was a
vote in opposition to the bill.
YEAS--Stosch, Wampler, Hawkins, Martin, Bolling, Potts, Ruff,
Wagner--8.
NAYS--Marye, Lambert, Miller, Y.B., Maxwell, Byrne--5.
ABSTENTIONS--Houck--1. Please attend Lobby Day and express thanks to
those who voted Nay and educate those who voted Yea.
ASK FOR AMENDMENT -----HB1859
A bill to add age, disability or any other basis prohibited by federal or
state law related to employment discrimination to the VA Public Procurement
Act (gov’t contracts, purchasing, etc.) Ask for "sexual
orientation" to be included.
SUPPORT-----SB824
Establishes a procedure for determining "probably cause" for persons
who have been charged with a crime that mandates HIV testing. This applies
only to those accused whose competency is at issue. VJ believes that this new
procedure could protect the civil rights of the accused and does not endanger
the rights of victims.
UPDATE: This bill passed the Senate (40Y-0N) and has been communciated
to the House. Please attend Lobby Day to communicate support for this bill in
the House of Delegates.
UPDATE-----HB2632
Effectively legalizes consensual adult acts of sodomy. Passed by
indefinitely(PBI) (Y13-N9) A vote to PBI was a vote in opposition to the bill.
This is a particularly harsh defeat - with much anti-gay rhetoric spouted
during and after the hearing.
YEAS--Howell, McClure, McDonnell, Albo, Griffith, Harris, Black, Nixon,
Weatherholtz, Drake, Johnson, Armstrong, Deeds--13.
NAYS--Almand, Rust, McQuigg, Jones, J.C., Melvin, Watts, McEachin,
Moran, Joannou--9.
NOT VOTING--Kilgore--1.
Please attend Lobby Day and express thanks to those who voted Nay and educate
those who voted Yea.
SUPPORT-----HB2309
Similar to HB2632 except that it lowers the penalty for sodomy rather than an
outright legalization. Please call in support of this bill.
SUPPORT-----HJ508
Establishes a joint subcommitte to study the need for a moratorium on
death sentence executions in the Commonwealth.
OPPOSE----- HB2386
This so-called "Religious Freedom Preservation" bill would prohibit
the state from burdening a person’s exercise of religion. If enacted, it
could wreak havoc on civil rights laws, fair housing laws and any other law or
policy that a particular religious group may oppose.
Contacting your legislators:
Please attend Lobby Day. If you cannot, please join us in a virtual Lobby
Day by calling your Senator or Delegate, or sending them an email. Email
addresses are available from the Legislative Information System website.
You may call your Delegate and Senator directly at their office in
Richmond, or call the Virginia Constituent Hotline at 1-800-889-0229 (in
Richmond call 698-1990)
If you do not know who your Delegate and Senator are, the hotline operators
can tell you. Also, you can visit the "Who’s My Legislator"
portion of the General Assembly’s website at http://206.246.254.20/vaonline/v.htm.
VJ’s Legislative Guide 2001, including contact information for
legislators, is available on our website at http://www.visi.net/vj
You may also visit the Legislative Information System website to obtain
information on each bill at http://leg1.state.va.us/lis.htm.
Virginians for Justice
6 N. 6th Street, Suite LL3
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 643-4816
virginians4justice@juno.com
http://www.visi.net/vj
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