State Bills on the Right Side of History

Last week you may have read my article about some politicians trying to drag us back to a time when some people were viewed as lesser and treated accordingly by the law. This week, let’s look at the good those we put in charge can do to make things a little better for us all.

Let’s start with some good news from Georgia: Earlier this month, Governor Nathan Deal spoke but out against and may eventually veto a bill to allow religious-based discrimination against same-sex couples. Deal, breaking ranks with his fellow conservatives, said, “We do not have a belief — in my way of looking at religion — that says we have to discriminate against anybody. If you were to apply those standards to the teaching of Jesus, I don’t think they fit.”

South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard vetoed a bill earlier this month that would have required transgender students to use the bathrooms associated with their birth sex. Daugaard was afraid that the legislation would leave the state open to liability issues and that the bill “does not address any pressing issue.” For the record, there are unisex bathrooms throughout the world, and gender-specific bathrooms are a fairly recent social construct.

October 2015 saw California Governor Jerry Brown sign a bill into law that would protect transgender youths who are placed in foster care. It requires that potential caregivers be screened to ensure that they are supportive of transgender rights so that these already at-risk kids can find a safe home (a similar law is already on the books in New York City). And this isn’t the only trans-friendly law passed last year in California: It is now illegal to discriminate against transgendered persons during jury selection processes, as well as against potential jurors for reasons of age, disability, ethnicity or “genetic information.”

We talked last week about conversion therapy, and the way some states are still A-OK with minors being subjected to it. California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have laws banning the practice already, but fifteen other states are considering following suit, including Arizona, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida and Iowa. Bit of a damper though: Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland and Virginia all failed to pass laws banning the treatment. 

Six states currently have laws on the books or precedent-setting rulings by judges allowing for death with dignity, also known as “right to die” states. California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington all allow terminally ill citizens the right to request doctor-assisted suicide, usually in the form of self-administered medications. Though each state has different rules for how this right might be practiced, they all grant suffering patients the right to choose. There are no federal laws specifically condoning or permitting the act, but many states consider euthanasia a felony. Up to fifteen more states are debating the practice this year, including Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

I’ll admit that I’m cheating a bit with my own rules here, because this last one is national: late in 2015, a bill was approved by the House Judiciary Committee to eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing laws. The three strikes law would be gone, and would be replaced with a maximum 25 year sentence. Opponents worry that these kinds of laws would grant early release to violent offenders, but this bill specifically addresses the issue and ensures that would not happen. This bill would help reduce our outrageous prison overpopulation; many of those imprisoned were convicted of low-level drug crimes. One caveat: This bill does raise sentencing ceilings for certain non-violent crimes. Colorado introduced a similar bill earlier this year, one that would allow judges greater discretion in sentencing: They can take extenuating circumstances into consideration when deciding appropriate punitive measures.

Let this article be a reminder that being politically active does not need to be restrained to protesting unfair laws; it is equally important to throw your support behind measures that protect the disenfranchised, offer a fair chance for everyone, and allow the people to live their lives unencumbered by unnecessary or harmful legislation. And in the spirit of last week’s article, here’s another reward for making it through this with me:

Photos:

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