Shame on the state democrats who criminalize our LGBT citizens

[MuseRider]

STATE REPRESENTATIVES CALL FOR CONTINUED CRIMINALIZATION OF GAY AND LESBIAN KANSANS

Topeka, Kans, March 8, 2011 -

State Representatives Jan Pauls (D, Hutchinson), and Lance Kinzer (R, Olathe) said yesterday that being gay or lesbian should remain a crime in Kansas. Pauls made, with Kinzer’s support, the successful motion in the Kansas Legislature’s Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee to keep the criminalization of gay and lesbian relationships on the books. Their action removed key language from HB2321, proposed by the Kansas Judicial Council, which would have resolved inconsistencies in Kansas criminal code, as well as remove unconstitutional laws.

“Jan Pauls was trusted to be a judge before becoming a state representative, and should know better than to support unconstitutional laws, breaking her oath to defend the Constitution,” said Jon Powell, Chair of the Hutchinson Area chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition. “We are fed up with her obvious support of harassment of gays and lesbians. We will not be bullied.”

Although one remains on Kansas’ books, all state laws criminalizing gay and lesbian relationships were struck down by the United States Supreme Court in 2003. Writing for the majority in the case of Lawrence v. Texas, Justice Anthony Kennedy said “if protected conduct is made criminal and the law which does so remains unexamined for its substantive validity, its stigma might remain even if it were not enforceable as drawn for equal protection reasons. When homosexual conduct is made criminal by the law of the State, that declaration in and of itself is an invitation to subject homosexual persons to discrimination both in the public and in the private spheres.”

Disregarding the US Supreme Court, the President of the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association, John Wheeler, said in 2008 that “even to this day, homosexuality is a crime in Kansas." His warning, made to a group of adult college students and caught on video, raised questions about the ability of gay and lesbian Kansans to live free from arrest, and to receive fair trials in our courts.

“Representatives Pauls’ endorsement of an unconstitutional statute that’s used to threaten and discriminate against law-abiding Kansas citizens is an outrage,” said Thomas Witt, state Chairman for the Kansas Equality Coalition. “She took an oath as both judge and state representative to uphold the Constitution. We insist that Representative Kinzer and she be immediately removed as Chair and Ranking Minority from the House Judiciary Committee. Legislators who willfully ignore the Constitution should never be in positions of leadership and responsibility.”

The Hutchinson Chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition is organizing a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness of Representative Pauls’ actions, to take place Thursday, March 17, in downtown Hutchinson. The demonstration will begin at 6pm, and will take place at the intersections of Main and Avenues A and B.

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You can view this on our website at:
http://www.kansasequalitycoalition.org/viewevent.php?e=3616

[MuseRider]

1. We are organized

there will be repercussions. I would appreciate attention given to this far and wide.

[cali]

2. disgusting.

I'm aghast.

[MineralMan]

3. Amazing that such ideas can still have traction anywhere.

I'm so glad I don't live in Kansas...

[bullwinkle428]

4. K&R. Utterly shameful behavior on the part of these legislators.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. Maybe the shariah is already here and enshrined in Kansas law

[gratuitous]

6. Too bad for these bigots the Constitution and the Supreme Court say otherwise

But it's good to know that everything is going so good in Kansas that they have the time and the luxury to propose, debate and maybe pass unconstitutional laws. The rest of the country seems to be preoccupied with so many other things that actually matter to our citizens.

[MuseRider]

8. gratuitious, I am not quite sure

I understand how you meant this. This means a great deal to us here and it is a matter of huge importance what they did yesterday. This was done by a Democrat. It is an outrage and whether or not it means anything to others this is something we must stop.

[gratuitous]

11. Yes, this is of huge importance

However, whether the proposal makes it into law or not, it's unconstitutional and will not survive a court challenge. All this is doing is fomenting hatred and divisiveness among Kansans, every bit as much as a demonstration from our good friends at Westboro Baptist Church and Terrorist Society.

It has been my experience that bigots gotta bigot, and there's no talking them out of their prejudice. It may be that these legislators can be shamed into abandoning their hobbyhorse by reminding them that their colossal waste of time and energy is a needless expense for the people of the state (for some reason, bigots seem more sensitive to charges of fiscal irresponsibility than to a challenge to their human decency).

[MuseRider]

12. I understand better now what you meant

This part is what I am worried about, it is very dangerous. "All this is doing is fomenting hatred and divisiveness among Kansans, every bit as much as a demonstration from our good friends at Westboro Baptist Church and Terrorist Society." Our lobbyist called them out as cowards without the courage of Fred Phelps (because he will at least say what he means) in a previous attempt to exempt our state from local protections for our LGBT citizens, to actually take that power from the cities themselves all disguised as a religious freedom act. There are too many instances of harassment and bullying by local law enforcement already and bringing this up and reinforcing it will lead to more. This part of the law was already in place, all we were doing was getting it taken off the books because it is unconstitutional. This act by Ms. Pauls was a shot at the community that the state will continue to call our LGBT citizens criminals even if the Feds won't let us hunt them down.

Yes, bigots will bigot but we are tasked with making certain that they are represented as such to the public. If we do not make noise this will slip by unnoticed by all but a few of us working these issues. They must be held accountable for their actions.

[Zephie]

7. Vile. I'd make a "we're not in Kansas anymore" joke, but it seems like

The surreal is just normal these days.

[VoteProgressive]

9. I live in lawrence, this state is as red as Oklahoma almost.

[MuseRider]

10. It would help if the Democrats

were not hiding behind their chairs. I have rarely seen such mealy mouthed cowardice as I have seen since Lord Of All Brownback took office. We have little help here, nobody will stand up except.....wait for it.....a few of the rare but still seen moderate Republicans.

[hfojvt]

17. are you talking about cowardice on GLBT issues?

Or on everything? I have not even been reading the newsletters from my people.

But it is not just that Brownback won, it was the way the caucus was decimated. We lost Shirley Palmer, Tom Hawk, Tony Brown, Steve Lucas, Marti Crow - and that's just in the 2nd district.

[MuseRider]

18. I think they are being cowards on all levels hfojvt.

My concern these days is, of course, focused on GLBT issues. The cowardice of the RW adding very targeted but disguised anti gay pieces into bills with misleading names like "The Religious Freedom Restoration Act", is bad enough but having a Democratic Congresswoman add back in a piece of law criminalizing the GLBT citizens of Kansas is disgusting AND she tried several lame excuses for her behavior rather than just saying why she really did it. We know why she did it, she has not been shy about it to us. She does not want to be known as a bigot but she does not want to be thought of as someone who would support equality for our GLBT citizens. So she equivocates.

The main concern is that democratic leadership put her in the position she is in and they will not talk about this nor have they made any steps to censure her or remove her from her leadership position. They want us to go away quietly and not challenge them. They do not apparently care that she is not within the democratic platform and that this law is unconstitutional. It is unenforceable but still acted on with a "whoops, we did not know you could not arrest or harass gay people for being gay in Kansas". Of all the things there are to fight this one is the most heinous and the Democrats along with the Republicans apparently do not care how dangerous it is to a part of their citizenry, as long as they don't have to talk about "gay stuff".

We lost some good people, we also lost some amazing moderate Republicans. I know this is not a popular thing to say here but as you know here in Kansas we have to depend on them to help us move through legislation and they are becoming more dependable than the Democrats, but there are so few left. I do want to add that we do have some very courageous Democrats as well, there are not a lot of them but they do stand up. It is hard to hear them but it is good to know they are there even though their voices seem to be ignored both on the floor and in our media.

I think the democratic caucus decimated itself. What a mess.

[MuseRider]

13. Going to kick this once

Even though this is in Kansas, the state everyone expects to be like this I have to kick it up at least once. This was a Dem that did this and the party is supporting her in her decision to do this. They would like us to go away and let them just do this quietly. That is not an option. I was hoping for more interest but as usual there are other things catching attention :) Please rec if you read this, if we can't get rid of Dems in high party positions who don't even follow the platform of the party let alone decency OR the constitution then we really are in trouble here.

[LiberalAndProud]

14. More of our Democratic principals in motion?

Perhaps I would say more if this were not Democratic Underground. Let it suffice to say that I will never vote for the woman. Beyond that, what's to be done?

[TriMera]

15. k&r. n/t

[Name removed]

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