Gay rights statement OK'd

Common Council urged to assess need for expanded law

By JOSEPH DITS
Tribune Staff Writer
1/21/05

SOUTH BEND -- The South Bend Human Rights Commission passed a "position statement" Wednesday on a proposal to expand a city ordinance to also protect gays, bisexuals and transgendered people.

It isn't a full endorsement for such an ordinance.

Rather, it encourages the South Bend Common Council to investigate the possibility that city residents are suffering discrimination based on their sexual orientation. It further nudges the council to come up with a "remedy."

One thing must be clear: The commission doesn't create or vote on ordinances. That's the Common Council's job.

In fact, the proposal to introduce the change to the current ordinance came from Common Council member Charlotte Pfeifer, D-2nd.

Pfeifer has held public meetings to see if there is enough discrimination to warrant the change. She said she doesn't have enough information yet to decide if she'll introduce the change for a vote in the Common Council. For now, she is relying on research help from the group South Bend Equality.

The Human Rights Commission is a group of volunteers who meet monthly to decide, based on the city's human rights ordinance and the staff's investigation, whether complaints of discrimination merit some kind of action.

The commission merely wanted to express its view to the council in the form of a statement.

The commission's words represent a compromise. And that reflects the group's diversity.

Some members would support such a change to the ordinance.

At least two have said they cannot support it because of their religious beliefs. Both have said that, in their Christian churches, the gay lifestyle is considered sinful.

Here is the statement:

"The South Bend Human Rights Commission is an agency of the City of South Bend, Indiana, committed to fair and equal treatment of all human beings. It is the responsibility and duty of the Human Rights Commission to make sure that no human being is mistreated based on status, without making value or moral judgments.

"Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered (G,L,B&T) persons have experienced mistreatment based on their G,L,B&T status. The South Bend Human Rights Commission supports and encourages the South Bend Common Council to hear from the general public, to explore, investigate and to determine the degree to which G,L,B&T persons have been treated adversely within the City of South Bend due to their G,L,B&T status. The South Bend Human Rights Commission further encourages the South Bend Common Council, working cooperatively with the South Bend Human Rights Commission, to create an appropriate remedy."

It passed by a vote of six to one. The six were Raphael "Ray" Thomas Sr., GlendaRae Hernandez, Gail McGuire, Isabel Gonzalez, Bridget Hardy and Bernice Freeman.
Commissioner William Eagan cast the only "no" vote. He wanted to see a stronger statement endorsing protection for sexual orientation.

"I don't think there was real meat to this," he said of the statement.
One commissioner, Ed Henry, was absent.

Commissioner Gonzalez said: "I see this as a seed, and we will grow from this. It doesn't mean we can't be out in the community listening to the community and educating the community."

South Bend resident Rhonda Redman, who is gay, attended the meeting and said at the end: "If the commission is taking a baby step, at least it is a step forward. I'd like to thank the commissioners for finding its way through this."