Gov. Jack Markell supports a bill that would add gender identity to Delaware’s anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The Delaware Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would add gender identity and expression to the state’s anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws.
The 11-7 vote came after lawmakers debated the measure that Senate Majority Whip Margaret Rose Henry (D-Wilmington) introduced late last month. Senate Bill 97 would specifically ban anti-transgender discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and works contracting and insurance.
Senate President Pro Tempore Patricia Blevins (D-Elsmere) and state Sens. Catherine Cloutier (R-Heatherbrooke,) Bethany Hall-Long (D-Middletown,) Robert Marshall (D-Wilmington,) David McBride (D-Hawk’s Nest,) Harris McDowell III (D-Wilmington,) Karen Peterson (D-Stanton,) Nicole Poore (D-New Castle,) David Sokola (D-Newark) and Bryan Townsend (D-Newark) voted for SB 97.
Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson (R-Milford) and state Sens. Colin Bonini (R-Dover,) Bruce Ennis (D-Smyrna,) Gerald Hocker (R-Ocean View,) David Lawson (R-Marydel,) Ernesto Lopez (R-Lewes) and Robert Venables, Sr., (D-Laurel) voted against the measure. State Sens. Brian Bushweller (D-Dover) and Senate Majority Whip Gregory Lavelle (R-Sharpley) abstained, while Sen. Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown) was absent.
“This bill lets people know that Delaware will welcome you and that, in keeping with our highest ideals as Americans, we will not tolerate discrimination or violence against a person based on their race, color, religion, sexual orientation or now based on their perceived gender,” Henry said after the vote.
Equality Delaware President Lisa Goodman also welcomed SB 97’s passage.
“We are so proud of the 11 senators who voted today to make Delaware a fair and welcoming place for transgender Delawareans,” she told the Washington Blade.
WDDE reported Delaware Family Policy Council President Nicole Theis was among those who testified against SB 97 during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. The public radio station said Theis, who also testified against the same-sex marriage bill that Gov. Jack Markell signed into law last month, told lawmakers the measure would allow criminals to go into bathrooms and locker rooms.
“There’s nothing in this legislation that would prevent a predator who wants to express themselves as a female from having access to all of those public accommodations,” Theis said.
Bonini also accused Deputy Attorney General Patricia Dailey Lewis of lying during her testimony in support of SB 97 after she responded to his hypothetical question about whether he would be arrested if he walked into a TGIFridays bathroom wearing a dress and a wig. Lt. Gov. Matt Denn, who presides over the Senate, and other senators challenged the Dover Republican for interrupting Lewis.
Sixteen states and D.C. have trans-inclusive anti-discrimination laws. Thirteen of those states and the nation’s capital have also added gender identity and expression to their hate crimes statutes.
Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Padilla García last month signed a bill that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in the U.S. commonwealth. The New York Assembly last month once again approved a measure – the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act – that would add trans-specific protections to the state’s non-discrimination and hate crimes laws.
The University of Delaware has also added gender identity and expression to its anti-discrimination policies.
Attorney General Beau Biden and Markell have both publicly backed SB 97.
“We’re very focused in Delaware on making sure the law does not discriminate,” Markell said in a press release. “We’re a very welcoming state and we want people who want to build a good life here.”
The House Administration Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on SB 97 on June 12.
Goodman told the Blade she remains optimistic it has enough votes to pass in the House.
“We are confident that our House will pass the bill, and Gov. Markell is ready to sign it,” she said.
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This whole "Predator in the bathroom" is a red herring. Nowhere across the entire country is there any evidence of this. Not a single one.
Added to this is why must Trans people suffer the violence they will encounter by using what some assume to be their "correct bathroom"? You want people to suffer form well documented violence (yes Trans Women dressed as a woman in a male bathrooms get assaulted frequently, that happens) just because a possible predator or two over the next 50 years may actually sneak into the Woman's room dressed as a woman. This would be the first person to actually carry out this "proposed" rape scenario and it is a remote possibility.
If a rapist is going to go into the woman's room to rape someone they are not going to get dressed up as a woman. That is not the psychology of a rapist.
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There's nothing to stop a rapist from lurking in a women's bathroom without this bill, though there are much better and safer places to target someone. The likelyhood of a m2f transwoman being forced to use a male public bathroom and being assaulted or raped or killed is much, much higher though.
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