JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Since her first year in the Senate, Jolie Justus, D-Audrain County, has filed legislation to change who is protected by the state from discrimination. Currently, in matters of employment, housing and public accommodations, individuals and entities may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, ancestry, age or disability.
But Justus, along with activists from PROMO — the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization — as well as other grassroots organizers, are looking to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected individuals.
Justus, who is openly gay, had her greatest success this year when her bill passed the upper chamber by a 19-11 vote, marking the first time such language has been approved by either body in the 13 years the bill has been filed.
The success was short lived as the passage came on the final day of the legislative session with less than one hour before a constitutionally mandated adjournment of both bodies. The House of Representatives never brought the matter to the floor.
AJ Bockelman, Executive Director of PROMO, told The Missouri Times that the bill was “closer than ever” to becoming law.
“It’s a misnomer that a large swatch of the Republican majority are socially conservative,” Bockelman said, referring to the nine Republican senators that joined the Democrats in approving the measure. “The issue of LGBT equality is being taken up by moderate Republicans in the state.”
One of those individuals, Bockelman said, is Rep. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington. Engler strongly supports the new discrimination protections for LGBT individuals, despite sponsoring legislation in the House previously that sought to ban gay marriage.
“A lot of my constituents share my views,” Engler said. “For the most part they agree that the sanctity of marriage needs to be protected and preserved, but at the same time they think this policy of being able to fire someone for being gay, and that firing being just cause so the person can’t even collect unemployment benefits, they think that policy is wrong for Missouri.”
Bockelman said PROMO believes that legislative language can pass the Missouri legislature to add protections for LGBT individuals, and that the “political winds” will allow the measure to pass sooner rather than later.
“I think it’ll take a few years, but it can definitely happen,” Engler said. “This can be a teaching moment, especially for our church groups. They can take this chance to say, ‘yes, marriage must be protected, but our faith isn’t about persecution or punishment for gay people.’”
Engler said that, with appropriate exemptions for religious institutions, he would continue to strongly support new anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.
Aaron Malin, Executive Director of Missourians for Equality, also is eyeing changes to the law, but his organization is working toward a ballot initiative for the 2014 election cycle. Malin said he believes the voters of the state would approve the new protections by popular vote if their organization can successfully educate the public.
“Right now I think a majority of individuals in the legislature are supportive of the idea that you shouldn’t be terminated for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender,” Malin told The Missouri Times. “But there’s not much political cover for many of these individuals, so there’s a strong indication that this might have to come through the ballot initiative process.”
And while Malin said the process is flexible — his organization has until May 4, 2014 before ballot language is finalized by the Secretary of State’s office for the general election — he said there are still rounds of polling to be done on the issue. But while the ballot process encourages Malin, Bockelman supports the legislative fix sought by Justus.
“I think it’s a stretch to say a majority of Missourians would approve that measure, I think that’s close,” Bockelman said. He also said that ballot initiatives can be uncertain, as the verbiage of the petitions are often challenged in court and subject to lengthy legal battles. A statutory fix, he says, is the most effective way.
“We ultimately believe that going through the legislative process is going to be more concrete and really solidify this policy that most people agree we need,” Bockelman said.
And while they search for different avenues for the change, both organizers stress the urgency and the inevitability of the movement.
“We have testimonials, some of this information is devastating,” Bockelman said. “You’ll hear stories about people being fired once they were outed, or people who were identified as gay in the interview process and had people say ‘I won’t hire a gay person,’ and walk out of the interview.”
Malin, a recent Truman State University graduate, presented last week to the Board of Governors of the school to support adopting new policies allowing for same-sex partners of school employee’s to be eligible to various health benefits. A similar policy was recently adopted at the University of Missouri.
“The public knows individuals who are out,” Bockelman said, referring to polling information suggesting 70 percent of the adult population knows a gay individual. “These are family members, friends, co-workers, and the more exposed people become to the gay community the more sympathetic they become to the idea that they do need some of these basic protections. Nobody should be fired from his or her job for being gay.”
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
