On the Lege

He may be no Warren Chisum, but Arlington Rep. Kent Grusendorf would never be mistaken as any kind of friend to gays. So it was all the more surprising when, facing a roomful of some 70 supporters of two bills that would prohibit discrimination against gay public school teachers and students, the dour Republican found himself blurting out that "we need to find some place to fix" the current employment non-discrimination law to include sexual orientation.

Grusendorf's remark came in response to comments by a Houston member of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, who said that his daughter was unable to get unemployment benefits after being fired from her job as an engineer because she was gay. Grusendorf's surprise at discovering that sexual orientation constitutes cause for severance under current law was in many ways an indication of just how arcane the anti-discrimination law in Texas has become -- to date, no bill to protect gays from employment or any other kind of discrimination has ever made it into law.

The school-related bills, debated in the Public Education Committee last week, face similarly long odds in a legislative session peppered with bills to decrease -- not augment -- the rights of lesbians and gays. The bills' sponsor, Dallas Democrat Harryette Ehrhardt, acknowledgedthat the legislation is "controversial" even among the left-of-center legislators who reliably support such bills. And the lack of testimony in opposition to the legislation (with the exception of a token Texas Eagle Forum member, whose testimony was skewered by committee chairman Rep. Paul Sadler, D-Henderson, when she mentioned the "homosexual agenda" about a dozen times too many) may have itself been evidence that more was going on behind the scenes.

A "committee alert" put out by the Texas Conservative Coalition, the 70-member group formerly headed by Chisum and currently led by anti-abortion zealot Frank J. Corte Jr., R-San Antonio, recommended that conservative legislators oppose the bill on the grounds that it is "morally questionable because of the effects on society of a homosexual lifestyle," adding that "the future ramifications of such a precedent cannot even be imagined." But Ehrhardt pointed out that the concept behind the legislation, however controversial it may be in Texas, is hardly unprecedented nationwide. Gay students and teachers in both California and Oklahoma have won discrimination suits against school districts, and even the Dallas Independent School District includes sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination code.--E.C.B.

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A Plan for Rehab

Both homeless advocates and those with little sympathy for street people seem to agree that a lack of adequate rehabilitation services is at the root of the problem keeping many people on the streets. But a bill introduced earlier this month would permit municipalities to establish a tax to fund a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. Ironically, the optional tax would be levied on alcohol,the substance that for many homeless men and women is the key to the revolving door of displacement.

HB 3611, written by Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, and introduced by Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, would enable Texas cities to add a small tax on gross alcohol sales in bars, restaurants, and hotels in order to fund the construction and upkeep of rehabilitation programs. A municipality would be given the option of imposing the tax based on its need of such programs. Each community would decide the amount of the tax, which would be no more than three cents per drink on average, according to the legislation. If a business fails to report the tax, the municipality would have the power to impose penalties, such as interest charges, on the business.

The idea for the bill originated in Austin, where the lack of detox and rehabilitation facilities remains a roadblock in efforts to assist the city's homeless population. Currently, Austin has only seven beds -- all located at the Austin Resource Center (ARC) -- that can be used for detox and rehabilitation for the homeless.

If approved, the bill would address some of the funding gaps in the mayor's Initiative for the Homeless. The plan, released last year, set aside only $400,000 for rehabilitation programs, all of which would have to be contracted out of existing facilities due to lack of funding.

Austin Mayor Pro Tem Jackie Goodman believes that HB 3611 has the approval of most of the city councilmembers and Mayor Kirk Watson. Goodman says the chief reason the city is lacking any substantial detox and rehabilitation programs is because of the price and the lack of state and federal funding. Rehabilitation doesn't come just through detox, she said, but from the availability of follow-up programs that help people find jobs and homes and integrate back into society.

"It's part and parcel of what we're trying to do for the homeless," said Goodman of the rehabilitation services this funding could make possible. "This [legislation] is one mechanism I think we can use to funnel money into an area where it's desperately needed."

Richard Troxell, director of House the Homeless, who worked closely with Naishtat to draft the legislation, said the city's business community, which complains about the presence of the homeless downtown, should get behind this legislation. "If the business community in Austin says they want to help, this is how," he said. "This way we can treat the whole person, heal the whole individual, and break this cycle," said Troxell. "If this goes through, the city should run to pass this." --B.M.

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Not Vouching for It

Religious leaders from across Texas gathered at the Capitol Wednesday, March 31, to denounce SB 10, aka "the voucher bill" sponsored by Sen. Teel Bivins, R-Amarillo, that would give children in Texas' six most populous counties a chance to enroll in private schools at the expense of their public school district. The bill narrowly passed the Senate Education Committee last week.

"I don't know what our legislators are thinking," said Rev. J. Charles Merrill of Austin's University United Methodist Church. Merrill is among the more than 100 leaders from many denominations who signed a statement of opposition to school voucher programs like the one that would be piloted under SB 10. The gathering was organized by the Texas Faith Network, a coalition of 500 faith leaders organized as a counter to the conservative religious right. The clergy members said Wednesday it was important to dispel the notion that the religious community is uniformly in support of school voucher programs because church-run parochial schools may benefit financially from such programs.

"We fully support families sending their children to religious schools," said Msgr. Lonnie Reyes, of Austin's St. Julia Catholic Church. "But not at taxpayer expense. We know that for tax dollars to be used for religious purposes without state control would be a serious mismanagement of taxpayer money."

Merrill, whose five children attended AISD schools, and his colleagues said that SB 10 and similar legislation would hurt public schools, which play a critical role in the lives of their churches' parishioners. "People need to know that bills like this one really strike at the heart of democracy, our public schools," said Merrill. "We've got to have a strong public school system to make strong Americans." --L.T.