The 50 Spot: Despite Legislative Setbacks, Common Ground Initiative Moves Forward

With all the controversy over the Mormon Church's involvement in helping to pass Proposition 8 in California, Equality Utah launched a campaign known as the Common Ground Initiative, which sought to take the Mormon Church up on its stated belief that "the church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights."  But despite that statement of support for very limited LGBT rights, conservative legislators shot and killed part of Equality Utah's legislative agenda for 2009.  But the group is still pressing ahead.  Elsewhere in today's 50 spot we've got Georgia on our mind, the next battle over LGBT rights in Colorado, and an expansion of health care benefits to same-sex partners of state employees in Maryland.

Utah: Equality Utah has launched a multimedia effort to rally support around its campaign known as the Common Ground Initiative, a series of four bills being pushed in the Utah legislature that would expand equal rights ever so gently in the Beehive state.  According to the Salt Lake Tribune, "The first of the four bills in Equality Utah's initiative wilted before a legislative committee last week on Day Two of the 2009 session. Opponents argued that offering any legal recognition to same-sex couples, including the right to sue when a breadwinner suffers a wrongful death, could lead to a court decision legalizing gay marriage."  Equality Utah's multi-media campaign, which includes full-page newspaper ads and billboards across Interstate 15 are meant to push back at legislators, and urge them to pass bills that would create a statewide domestic partner registry, outlaw employment and housing discrimination against LGBT people, and repeal Utah's ban on civil unions.

Georgia:  Gay News Blog has the scoop on this.  A hate crimes bill that's inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity has been introduced in Georgia's House of Representatives.  The bill, H.B. 111, was put forward be State Rep. Pedro Martin (D-Duluth), would expand the state's hate crimes definition to include race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and national origin.  In 2004, Georgia's hate crimes law was struck down for being too vague.

Colorado:  State Rep. Mark Ferrandino is really stepping up to the plate for LGBT rights.  Earlier this year he pledged to support a bill that would extend state employee benefits to same-sex partners, and now he's pledging to introduce a bill that would make it easier to list unmarried partners as designated beneficiaries for things like worker's compensation.  We like to call these initiatives the nuts and bolts of equal rights, and when it comes to these, nobody is pushing harder in Colorado that Rep. Ferrandino.

Maryland: We like this one a lot, because it shows that despite the collective budget crisis hitting nearly every pocket of the country, LGBT rights initiatives can still be championed.  Case in point, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is proposing to extend health care benefits to the same-sex partners of state employees.  Why do this amidst a budget crisis?  Well, because it's the right thing to do, because Gov. O'Malley promised he would do it in his campaign, and because in dire economic times, it's best to make sure that everyone has access to health insurance.