I know what you're thinking.
Really.
I swear.
You're thinking that Nevada's adulterous dolt of a Governor, Jim "Hi, I'm, hiccup, the Governor. Need a walk to your car?" Gibbons couldn't go any lower.
Actually, no one would think that.
No.
One.
After doing all he can to make sure that our educational system makes the deep south look like Harvard.
And Yale.
Combined.
Himbo has decided that in addition to that pesky learnin', you also can do without your civil rights.
How's that back of the bus thingy going for you?
You're about to find out.
Soon.
UNLESS.
You demand your representatives stop Zirconia Jim from decimating yet another feature of our state, Civil Rights.
Check out the following and get on your "Internets" and demand that your rep stop ole frisky pants in his tracks.
Now.
One of many things on the chopping block at this week's special session is NERC, Nevada's Equal Rights Commission. Governor Gibbons has proposed that this agency - responsible for enforcement of Nevada's civil rights and anti-discrimination laws be eliminated entirely. This proposal is not acceptable. It would have dire consequences for civil rights across the board, especially for LGBT rights.
* Eliminating NERC would make the passage of SB207, the bill that provided protection against discrimination in places of public accommodation based on sexual orientation, meaningless. SB207 provided that NERC had authority to investigate and pursue these complaints - without NERC, there is no enforcement mechanism and no relief for victims of anti-gay discrimination.
* It would also be meaningless to try to pass the new state protections for Transgender people and women we'd all like to see, because there would be no state agency to enforce them. LGBT rights are not enshrined in federal law, so the parallel federal agency, the EEOC, cannot enforce employment and public accommodation protections.
* This is not just a severe danger for LGBT rights: NERC extends important resources that the EEOC is simply too overburdened to grant to Nevadans who have claims that include sex discrimination in employment, or racial discrimination in places of public accommodation. For example, the EEOC provides mediation services and factual investigation. In terms of mediation in particular, this is a critical informal method of resolving employment and public accommodation discrimination claims - frequently without going to state court. The elimination of NERC would undoubtedly lead to more filings in state court - which of course should be weighed in any serious cost savings analysis.
The ACLU believes that NERC serves a truly important place in our state, as an expression of our state's public policy against discrimination in employment and places of public acommodation. Getting NERC into place was the result of years of civil rights advocacy; we can't let things move backwards.
NERC sends the message to Nevadans -- and visitors to Nevada -- that this is a state that values all its citizens and vistors. Please join with us in calling on legislators to resist attempts to balance the budget at the expense of our civil rights. Call or email your legislators now!
Here is contact information for some of the Nevada Legislature's leaders:
Steven Horsford, Senate Majority Leader: shorsford@sen.state.nv.us
Bill Raggio, Senate Minority Leader: wraggio@sen.state.nv.us
Barbara Buckley, Speaker of the Nevada State Assembly: barbara@barbarabuckley.com
John Oceguera, Assembly Majority Floor Leader: joceguera@asm.state.nv.us
Heidi Gansert, Assembly Minority Leader: hgansert@asm.state.nv.us
And here's a link that you can use to figure out who your legisltors are: http://mapserve.leg.state.nv.us/website/lcb/viewer.htm
