Shame On You North Dakota...No Equal Rights For North Dakotans

April 6, 2009

Friday, the North Dakota House of Representatives voted down Senate Bill 2278 54-34, thus stopping the addition of sexual orientation and transgendered persons to the groups protected by the state's Human Rights Act from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

House members argued the bill down, stating that its supposed consequences were not in the best interest of the state and that there are more pressing laws North Dakota needs to worry about.

This bill was previously passed by the Senate but with the negative vote, North Dakota will become one of 30 states that still do not have laws barring discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Nearby Iowa, however, is defying the Midwestern odds by legalizing gay marriage for partners.

Iowa joins Massachusetts and Connecticut as the only states that permit gay marriage after the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower-court ruling that rejected a state law restricting marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

There is still some controversy surrounding the decision and opponents may try to enact residency requirements for marriage so that homosexuals across the country could not travel to Iowa and wed. However, the county attorney who defended the law said they were not going to seek a rehearing; the only course of action that could be taken would be a state constitutional amendment, which wouldn't get on the ballot until 2012.