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Action Alert!

The lobbying actions below can be done by anyone who can communicate with lawmakers by email, phone, letter or in person. Resolved actions are in this color print; actions pending and needing your help are in red. Below the actions are the email addresses of the Delaware legislators, then a how-to on lobbying, and finally how to contact Delaware's US senators and representative.

Pending: What can you do to promote marriage equality?

Same-gender marriage is of paramount importance in our struggle for legal and social equality.  Read a short discussion of it here, and find further resources on our Marriage page.  In Delaware you can educate and lobby your state senator and state representative (see their e-addresses below).  You can also ask Delaware clergy members you know to sign the Revised Spiritual Leaders' Statement on the Of The Spirit page. Finally, you can sign this petition supporting same-gender marriage in Delaware, and pass it on.

(Note: in Delaware some believe that civil unions must precede same-gender civil marriage. While civil unions cannot provide the legal equality of civil marriage, they are a step in the right direction and in our view should be supported until same-gender civil marriage can be obtained in Delaware.)

Thankfully died in committee: S.B. 293, Sen. Venables' latest masterpiece

S.B. 293 would have required parents or guardians to be informed at least 48 hours in advance when “human sexuality issues, sexual acts, profanity, violence, drugs and/or alcohol” are discussed in Delaware schools so parents have the option of exempting their children.  It died in the Delaware Senate's Education Committee.

Chiefly this bill was about Sen. Venables’ unfounded fear of and obsession with same-gender sexuality.  It is reminiscent of his attempt to add an amendment to S.B. 121, the sexual orientation antidiscrimination bill, to forbid the discussion of sexuality outright in Delaware schools.  That amendment was soundly defeated. Click for official info here.

S.B. 121, the sexual orientation antidiscrimination bill:  passed & signed into law

This law prohibits discrimination against Delawareans on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations, and insurance. It unfortunately did not cover transgenders: please educate the lawmakers to protect gender identity and expression. S.B. 121 without amendments passed by large margins in both chambers, capping an 11-year-4-month process starting with H.B. 466 in 1998.  Click for official information here.

•This petition supported H.B. 5 (previous name of S.B.121).

•The Episcopal Diocese of Delaware supported H.B. 5 (previous name of S.B. 121):

Title:  Support for House Bill 5 to End Discrimination in the State of Delaware on the Basis of Sexual Orientation

Submitted by:  The Rev. Earl Beshears, Rector of St. Paul's, Georgetown; The Rev. Canon Dr. Mark Harris, Associate Priest of St. Peter's, Lewes; Mr. Donald Matthews, Delegate of St. Peter's, Lewes & Member of the Standing Committee; The Rev. Rita Nelson, Retired Clergy, Diocese of Delaware; The Rev. Jeffrey Ross, Rector of St. Peter's, Lewes.

WHEREAS, the Delaware General Assembly is currently considering House Bill #5 AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 6, 9, 18, 19, 25 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT, PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTING, HOUSING, EQUAL ACCOMMODATIONS AND THE INSURANCE BUSINESS,

WHEREAS, the Baptismal Covenant of The Book of Common Prayer calls upon all Christians "to strive for peace and justice among all people and respect the dignity of every human being" (page 305),

RESOLVED, that the 224th Convention of the Diocese of Delaware, meeting at Christ Church, Christiana Hundred on March 27 & 28, 2009, calls upon the state legislature to pass House Bill #5 and urges Governor Jack Markell to sign it into law, and

RESOLVED, that the Diocese of Delaware calls upon the Governor and Legislature to work for equal rights for all citizens regardless of their sexual orientation.

Tabled by sponsors: H.S. 1 for H.B. 10, granting same-gender domestic partner benefits for state employees

Employees of labor unions would have also been covered.  It was voted out of the House Appropriations Committee but was tabled by the sponsors for lack of votes. Click for official information here. This bill will be reintroduced Jan. 2011. Please educate the representatives and senators on the underlying principles and need for such legislation.

S.B. 84, the de facto parenting bill:  passed & signed into law

This law allows second-parent adoption consideration for those, including same-gender partners, who have functioned as a parent to a given child.  Although Delaware courts had considered de facto parenting in adoptions since 2001, the practice was struck down in early 2009, endangering even already-existing adoptions.  Click for official information here.

H.B. 112:  passed & signed into law

This bill allows an adult, competent patient in a hospital or nursing home to receive visits from anyone s/he wishes (read, including same-gender partner), and requires such institutions to honor advanced health-care directives.  It was approved by the House (36 yes, 0 no, 5 absent), unanimously passed in the Senate & was signed by the Governor.  See the official bill and more details here.

S.B. 27 thankfully died the death it deserved

This was a bill to change Delaware's constitution to ban same-gender marriage in Delaware (even though Delaware already has enacted anti-gay-marriage legislation.)  Know your enemies:  the sponsors were Sens. Robert Venables, Thurman Adams, Colin Bonini, Bruce Ennis, Gary Simpson, and Representatives Robert Walls, Gerald Hocker, Daniel Short, John Atkins, Clifford Lee, George Carey and David Wilson.  The bill was voted out of committee 3-2 with Sens. Venables, Ennis and George Bunting voting for (anti-gay) and Sens. Liane Sorenson and Michael Katz against (gay-supportive); it then failed in the full Senate (9 yes, 11 no, 1 not voting).  The nine who voted anti-gay were:  Sens. Adams, Bonini, Bunting, Cook, DeLuca, Ennis, Marshall, Simpson and Venables.  See the official bill and more info here .

Emailing your Delaware legislators

Do you want to inform your state senator and representative about any aspect of the gross inequality of LGBT Delawareans?  Here are the e-addresses of your public servants:

Lobbying:  What it is & How to do it

Simply put, lobbying is seeking to influence a legislator or other public figure regarding a particular issue or bill.  Lobbying is tremendously important in Delaware due to Delaware's small size.  Any lobbying effort done here goes alot farther than in more populous states, for with about 800,000 residents in Delaware, we each can have potentially more personal and direct relationships with our public figures.  

Bridges we can build with governmental decision-makers may be on the basis of political party, employment, business or religion.  That is, do you share their political party, work with them, do business with them or share their religious affiliation?  Perhaps you are related to them, are neighbors with them or contributed to them or their political party.  Any of these common areas should be briefly identified when communicating with the lawmakers or other officials.

When visiting with your lawmaker at Legislative Hall in Dover here are some tips:

(a)  Call for an appointment.

(b) Dress the part.  Blue jeans, cut-offs or T-shirts could send a    message of disrespect.  Generally accepted office attire is appropriate.

(c)  Take a driver's license or other picture ID to pass security.

(d)  Identify yourself as a constituent of that legislator if you are; if not, identify yourself as a concerned Delawarean.  

(e)  Cite the bill number and where the bill is currently located, i.e., what committee or which chamber has it.  Give your reasons for supporting the bill.

(f)  Be polite no matter how uninformed or overtly bigoted the lawmaker may be.

(g)  Keep focused on the issue.  Do not allow the lawmaker to dwell on unrelated smokescreens but return to what is germane to the bill.

(h)  Tell the officeholder you will continue to be in dialog with her/him about this bill, and then do so.

When lobbying by phone or by email/post/fax, above items (d) through (h) apply.

Whom should you lobby?  Start with your own representative and senator.  Then contact the committee members of the committee to which the bill is assigned.  Then contact any legislator with whom you have a personal, political, professional or religious connection.  Even those lawmakers who are supportive of your bill or issue should be encouraged in their position, lest they waver!  Legislators' e-addresses are above; other contact information for each member of the General Assembly and other elected officials is at www.delaware.gov.

Remember that if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender you are an expert on what it means to live under discrimination in Delaware.  If you do not belong to a sexual minority but are progressive you will also be able to enlighten some of our officeholders.  Personal experience goes far when lobbying:  tell your story, have it in written form and leave it with the lawmaker or other official as a handout.   You may want to use the Revised Spiritual Leaders' Statement in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights or you may want to use other materials.  

In conclusion, we have often seen patient and persistent lobbying and education change minds in the Delaware General Assembly toward the direction of greater equality for the 80,000 of us Delawareans who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.  Have at it!

Contact Delaware's federal legislators through their official websites:

Sen. Thomas Carper:  www.carper.senate.gov 

Sen. Edward Kaufman:  www.kaufman.senate.gov 

Rep. Michael Castle:  www.house.gov/castle

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© 2004-2010 Mr. Douglas Marshall-Steele