Congress has moved two pieces of legislation that affect the GLBT community. The Bush administration's faith-based initiative has been shorn of its most controversial provisions, while the essence of the 'RAVE Act,' which many believe threatens dance clubs, was slipped into another measure.
A compromise in the Senate, negotiated between Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Rick Santorum, R-Penn., stripped out the most controversial provisions of the faith-based initiative. That language would have allowed religious groups to discriminate against people, including gays and lesbians, in hiring for social programs funded with federal dollars.
Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) , said they opposed the measure passed by the House in 2001 because it would 'force many Americans to publicly subsidize their own discrimination.' That measure had passed only after moderate Republicans won assurances that the discriminatory sections would be removed in conference.
Now, Winnie Stachelberg, HRC's political director, praised the Senators and the administration for addressing those concerns. The remaining legislation essentially adds a number of tax incentives to encourage charitable contributions. It passed the Senate just before their Easter recess.
Last year, controversy erupted over the Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy ( RAVE ) Act, introduced by Senator Joe Biden, D-Dela. It sped through the Senate Judiciary Committee, then under Democratic control, without a hearing.
The congressional 'findings' read like a contemporary update of reefer madness, noting with horror that 'many rave promoters facilitate and profit from flagrant drug use at rave parties or events by selling over-priced bottles of water,' as well as neon glow sticks, massage oil, and menthol nasal inhalers 'to enhance the effects of the drugs.'
This year Biden changed the name of the bill, stripped out its more inflammatory language, and attached it, without a hearing or vote, to the AMBER Alert bill that deals with child abductions. It passed the Senate on April 10.
'It gives heightened powers and discretion to prosecutors, who may use it to target events they personally don't likesuch as Hip-Hop events and gay and lesbian fundraisers,' warned the Drug Policy Alliance.
The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) said the measure 'threatens free speech,' in a letter opposing the Act that they sent to members of Congress.
'If it becomes law, property owners may be too afraid to rent or lease their space for events rightly or wrongly perceived as attracting drug usersessentially any event that attracts a young crowd. Out of fear of massive fines and prison sentences, law-abiding business owners may stop hosting raves and other musical events, driving them further underground and away from public health and safety regulations.'
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