Senator’s mock amendment prompts emotional discrimination debate

The debate on the Senate floor over a bill that would expand the prohibition of sexual orientation-based discrimination became personal and emotional this morning after a senator offered a rhetorical amendment to ban discrimination against short people.

Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, withdrew the stunt amendment after arguing that there is no need for the bill because he has not seen evidence that gays and lesbians are discriminated against when seeking a job or a home.

“What I’m talking about is economic discrimination, political discrimination, employment discrimination,” Brophy said. “I find no pattern of any of those.”

Brophy’s comments outraged Democrats, who took turns at the lectern denouncing his argument with angry and sometimes shaking voices.

“It must be nice,” said Sen. Jennifer Veiga, a Denver Democrat who is sponsoring the bill and who is gay, “as a white male to sit back and mock the real discrimination that occurs in our society, especially on the basis of sexual orientation.”

Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, came close to tears when recalling the ugly fights surrounding the state’s Amendment 2, which prohibited laws protecting gays and lesbians and which the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned.

Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, spoke about his son, who is gay and who moved to Oregon to be a prosecutor several years ago because he felt Colorado was not accepting of him.

“I’m hoping, with the passage of this bill, he can come home and feel comfortable in this state,” Tapia said.

And Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, said he was disgusted by Brophy’s amendment.

“Discrimination is a practice that has gone on in this country too long,” Groff said. “It is the birth defect of this country. And I think it’s time we deal with that.”

Veiga’s bill, Senate Bill 200, would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, places of public accommodation, consumer credit, labor unions and school enrollment, among other areas. Such protections already exist for race, gender and other areas.

Last year, Gov. Bill Ritter signed into law a measure that bans workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Several other Republicans argued against the bill. Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, said it would impinge on private companies’ freedom to choose who it hires and on people’s freedom to choose who they associate with. Mitchell said the evidence of discrimination against gays and lesbians in hiring and other decisions is thin.

“We should let people work out their own … associations and their own relationships and government should butt out,” Mitchell said.

“We live in a free society,” he added later. “And to override that freedom, we have to have a strong showing.”

Veiga said reports show such evidence of discrimination. And Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, said the legislature shouldn’t wait for overwhelming evidence to act.

“Sen. Mitchell makes an interesting argument, that government can’t do this until the suffering is apparent to all,” he said.

The bill passed on a voice vote. It still needs a final vote in the Senate before heading to the House.

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