By Ray Stern | Arizona Republic
A bipartisan effort to outlaw discrimination against gay and transgender people in Arizona won’t advance at the state Capitol this year.
While it won support from some prominent Republicans and Democrats, leaders in the state’s business community, local LGBTQ organizations and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it also united unlikely opponents.
The national Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona opposed it, aligning them with the socially conservative Center for Arizona Policy and Alliance Defending Freedom legal organization.
The liberal organizations said the bill wouldn’t go far enough to prevent discrimination, while the conservatives said it goes much too far, opening up the possibility of unfair lawsuits and transgender girls playing in women’s sports.
That opposition meant that some of the most conservative and liberal members of the Legislature also found fault with the bill, dooming hopes of a compromise effort.
But don’t call it a failure, supporters say.
On Thursday, roughly 100 people attended a four-hour information-only hearing at the state House. It was the first time an anti-discrimination bill received any kind of consideration at the Capitol.
That in itself is a historic occasion in itself and worth celebrating, said Michael Soto, chief executive officer of the pro-LGBTQ group Equality Arizona.
“Having this mingling of the minds and having that shift in tone, that’s what really mattered with this bill,” said Soto, who helped write the bill. “It creates a precedent for moving forward at the federal level and hopefully for someday becoming law here in Arizona.”
Advocates agreed when they began this year’s effort that the anti-discrimination bill wouldn’t be put out for a vote, said House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, who sponsored the bill along with Rep. Amish Shah, D-Phoenix.”I think it’s a step in the right direction,” Bowers said of the hearing. “It’s not where (supporters) want to be. Ultimately, it’s not where I want to be. But I’m moving the ball.”
Bowers said at the meeting that the bill wouldn’t return this year. He and other advocates of the bill are hopeful for another try next year.
What the proposal would do
