Gay Rights Bill Still in Limbo

Although the Massachusetts Senate yesterday rejected a motion to discharge the proposed Gay Rights Bill from committee--which would expedite the final vote--legislators said the record number of senators that approved the motion indicates support for the bill is strong.

State senators elected not to pull the 15-year-old legislation, which aims to protect homosexuals from discrimination, from committee by a vote of 23 to 11.

The vote set a precedent for the Senate as motions to discharge a bill from a Senate committee rarely garner support, often receiving only a single vote from the sponsor of the discharge, legislators said.

If the vote had passed, the bill would have been moved immediately to the Senate floor where it would be debated and voted on, rather than being delayed further in a committee.

"The vote is a definite message to Senate leaders that they must enforce the will of the majority of the Senate, and that is to decide on this matter," said State Sen. Royal L. Bolling's (D-Boston) Legislative Aide Anthony S. Rust. Bolling last week proposed to discharge the bill from the Third Reading Committee during the last formal Senate session, Rust said.

State senators voted to move the bill to the Third Reading Committee, one of the final steps to passing a proposed bill, two weeks ago by a vote of 20 to 15, and the bill has been in the committee since.

The motion did not receive the two-thirds vote necessary for discharging and Bolling said he intends to call for the bill's discharge at every formal session of the Senate this year, Rust said.

Bolling has already filed for the bill to be heard in the 1988 legislative calendar, in case it does not meet the 1987 deadline, his aide said.

The Senator proposed the discharge because he was concerned the bill would not pass committee before the 1987 legislative deadline because of "frivolous" attempts to stall it, Rust said, referring to more than 50 proposed amendments and the 12 approved amendments to the bill.

A bill can be reviewed in committee for up to 45 days, and in this case, the Gay Rights Bill could remain in committee beyond January 5, 1988--the deadline for all 1987 legislation. If it is not sent out of committee before this date, the bill will automatically be removed from further consideration.

Rust said Bolling also proposed the measure because State Sen. Arthur J. Lewis (D-Boston), chairman of the Third Reading Committee, is the leading Senate opponent of the bill, and has publicly said he will keep the bill in his committee for the entire 45-day period to prevent its passage.

Sen. Lewis' Legislative Aide, Thomas P. Lewis, said the senator opposes the bill because "he does not believe that [homosexuals] should come under the civil rights act because he disagrees with their argument that they are a 'separate class' of people because of their sexual preference."

Lewis said the senator believes there are clear distinctions between the civil rights of "those groups who have endured a long history of overt discrimination in housing and emplyment because of their race, religion, sex or handicap," and those who face problems because of their sexual orientation.

The committee, designed to review the bill for typographical and legal errors, includes two other members, State Sen. Robert C. Buell (R-Boxford) and State Sen. Anna P. Buckley (D-Brockton), both opponents of the Gay Rights proposal.

Bolling made the motion yesterday to discharge the bill again, and Senators will vote on the measure at the next formal Senate session.