Gay rights activists are pushing to get prohibitions against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity added to the Kansas Act Against Discrimination and so you just know that the Religious Right is out in force to oppose it because gays, I don’t know, have money or something:
Judy Smith, state director of Concerned Women for America, spoke against the bill, saying that civil rights should be used to protect people with visible and unchangeable characteristics. She said homosexuality is a chosen behavior.
Smith also argued that homosexuals aren’t politically powerless and generally earn more than heterosexuals.
Elsewhere, Smith was quoted as saying the addition was unnecessary because homosexuality is a “changable behavior” … but she has nothing on state Rep. Dennis Pyle when it comes to making wild claims about what would happen if this bill passed:
Sen. Dennis Pyle, R-Hiawatha, said he was concerned the additional layer of legal language might encourage homosexuals to engage in sex with animals.
“Would that protect bestiality?” he asked.
[Pedro] Irigonegaray [counsel to the Kansas Equality Coalition] said proposed amendments to the discrimination statute wouldn’t promote any type of criminal conduct. He said the suggestion that gays and lesbians were tied to bestiality was “unfounded” and “very hurtful.”
