by Jill Switzer
March 5, 2007 Stonewall Democrats Northern Nevada Guest Speaker:
Assemblyman David R. Parks
David Parks was “outed” over 20 years ago in the Las Vegas Sun, after he was fired from his job with the City of Las Vegas for “being gay and dying of AIDS”; this assumption by his employer, based on the fact that he was working on AIDS/HIV issues in his spare time.
When he was first asked to run for State Assembly (Clark County District 41) in 1997, everyone wondered if he could be the first openly gay elected official in the State of Nevada. Ten years later, he’s still there, doing his part to make Nevada a better place to live for all of us. He serves as Chair of the Select Committee on Corrections, Parole and Probation; as Vice Chair of the Taxation Committee; and is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, as well as a subcommittee of that committee.
Assemblyman Parks addressed the March 5th meeting of the Stonewall Democrats of Northern Nevada, giving the twenty or so people in attendance a current legislative update, as well as an interesting history of progress made on LGBT issues in Nevada:
1993 – The sodomy law, which was intended to outlaw homosexual sex rather than heterosexual, was repealed.
1995 – The Hate Crimes Bill, championed by Assemblywoman Jan Evans, was passed.
1999 – The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, with critical assistance from the ACLU, was signed by then-Governor Kenny Guinn. Unfortunately, in order for it to pass, transgender had to be removed from the language of the bill.
2001 – The Safe and Respectful Learning Environment bill was passed. Authored by Assemblyman Parks, it outlined an anti-bullying strategy for public schools, but it had no real “teeth.”
2003 – Assemblyman Parks tried to strengthen the above law, but was met by strong opposition from Janine Hansen and the Eagle Forum.
2003 – Through the Health and Human Services Committee, Parks led a successful bill to expand rights for hospital visitation and end of life decision-making. LGBT partners can now fill out a downloadable form, which hospital personnel must honor.
2005 – Assembly Bill 5, proposed by Parks, was passed. Codifying a policy of nondiscrimination in public accommodation, it was prompted by situations similar to one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, where two LGBT couples were dining in an expensive restaurant when they got harassed by a large group of people seated close by. Rather than moving either group or reprimanding the harassers, management asked the LGBT couples to leave!
2005 – Parks, with the help of Dr. Joe Hardy, was finally able to pass a bill strengthening his anti-bullying legislation. By law, incidents of harassment/bullying intimidation by all school staff, volunteers or students are to be reported to the Attorney General’s office.
Currently, Assemblyman Parks has two bills in the works: Bill Draft Resolutions 1052 and 1057. BDR 1052 aims at defining repercussions for violating the Nondiscrimination in Public Accommodations law. BDR 1057 will try to update outdated statutes (created around 1989) relating to HIV/AIDS issues. He is also keeping his eye on bills introduced by other members of the Assembly and Senate on which he may be able to add a friendly amendment. He has not seen any bills introduced so far this session that appear to be harmful to the LGBT community.
Parks explained that once a bill is introduced in either house of the legislature, it is referred to a committee, where it is reviewed, possibly reworded and amended. It goes back to the floor for a vote, and if passed, it goes to the second house where it goes through the same process. Parks emphasized that it’s important for citizens to contact committee members either to support or oppose a bill being reviewed. He said the best means of contact is via e-mail, identifying yourself as a constituent. Another option is to lobby (either as individuals or an organized group) lawmakers who are not in support of a bill of interest, but possibly persuadable. If a person has particular knowledge or expertise on a proposed bill, they can go so far as to testify before the reviewing committee.
Assemblyman Parks provided the group with copies of the 2007-2008 Guide to the Nevada State Legislature. All of the information in the booklet, as well as frequent updates on the progress of the legislative session, including the ability to track individual bills, can be found at www.leg.state.nv.us.
After some discussion regarding issues that need to be addressed in upcoming sessions, when the climate will hopefully be more LGBT-friendly (such as clearly defining the term “spouse”; including sexual identity and expression in ENDA; and a Reciprocal Beneficiary Bill, which would allow local government entities to provide domestic partner benefits), Assemblyman Parks ended his presentation by mentioning that he will soon fall victim to term limits unless that statute is overturned. I think our community, and all Nevadans, would lose a faithful and hard-working public servant – unless he could be persuaded to fight the odds, once again, and run for another office?
