Anchorage Hears Gay Rights Bill

As a noisy anti-gay crowd outside waved signs saying "Truth is not hate!," the Anchorage, Alaska city Assembly heard public arguments on their proposed bill to outlaw discrimination against gays for housing, employment, and finance. Opponents were dressed in red, which has become the signature color for anti-gay hate.

Allison Mendel, an attorney, told the Assembly, "I want to be able to put my wedding picture on my desk just like you do without being fired for doing it." She said she's had other attorneys, "on the record in court cases accuse me of having particular opinions in a case because I'm a lesbian and therefore I should not be listened to." "Clients tell me horrible stories ...(about being) fired because someone thought they were gay whether they were or not," she said. Others, including former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, opposed the proposal, reminding Assembly members that Alaska voters have come down against same-sex marriage in a 1990s constitutional amendment. Stan Roach, pastor of the Independent Baptist Church, likened the ordinance to the early days of legal abortion, which he said started in cases of rape and threats to a woman's life and expanded. "That's what this sexual orientation is going to do," he said. "It's going to grow. ..."God made man and God made woman, and I've seen some people tonight, I don't know what they are," Roach said.

The hearing went on until 11pm, by which time 88 of the over 200 people in line to speak at the podium had gotten a turn.