Amendment Would Allow Non-Discrimination Bill To Become Law ‘When Hell Freezes Over’

A Republican state lawmaker offered an amendment to a non-discrimination bill that includes a unique effective date.

Freshman GOP State Representative Harlan Edmonds of Cheyenne, Wyoming, offered an amendment to a simple non-discrimination bill last week, and got a swift comeuppance from the Republican leadership.

House Labor, Health and Social Services Chairwoman Rep. Elaine Harvey kicked Rep. Edmonds out of the chamber and refused to allow him to vote on legislation that would protect LGBT people from discrimination in the Equality State.

Rep. Edmonds also injected comments about pedophilia into the debate, prompting Harvey to announce, “We said civility would prevail.”

The bill, which has already passed the Senate, advanced by a 6-2 vote without Edmonds’ amendment, and is expected to receive a vote from the full Wyoming House this week.

The Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune reports the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne and the Wyoming Pastor’s Network are opposed to the bill, claiming it does not provide enough exemptions to religious organizations. 

Rep. Edmonds is the founder of a PAC that calls itself Conservative Republicans of Wyoming, or CROW, which he may find himself eating.

 

Image by wstera2 via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: NY Daily News