Senate Bill 121, sponsored by Sen. David Sokola, D-Newark, adds sexual orientation to a list of prohibited discrimination that already applies to housing, employment, contracting and public accommodations. SB 121 marks the sixth time in the past decade that legislators have attempted to add sexual orientation to nondiscrimination laws in Delaware.

In April, hundreds of protestors gathered in front of Legislative Hall both for and against two measures concerning gay rights. One bill that would limit marriage to men and women failed, but so did another measure that added sexual orientation to existing laws. In June, the Senate introduced its own version of the nondiscrimination measure. “This bill has been debated in the House several times and twice in a full debate in the Senate,” said Sen. Patricia Blevins, D-Wilmington, at a Wednesday, June 17 hearing. Blevins is chairwoman of the Senate Insurance Committee.

“The bill will be released today,” she said, before the measure was released from committee with a 5-0 vote. Foes of the bill, including Millsboro resident Shaun Fink, say passing the measure would open doors to teaching homosexuality in schools – a charge Blevins says is untrue. “Any school curriculum that exists now, well, this bill has no effect – for or against – school curriculum,” said Sokola.

Fink said passing the measure would lead to the courts setting policy over instruction. He is concerned the bill will force public school teachers to teach that gender is irrelevant.

“Really, my biggest concern is the education aspect of the bill. I’m against the whole issue of teaching children that gender doesn’t matter,” said Fink, who testified at the hearing. Before the hearing, Blevins said the bill does nothing of the sort.

Mike Von Reider, a former U.S. Air Force officer, is a lifelong gay Dover resident, who has been with his partner for 30 years. He said opponents are using religion as a bludgeon to kill the measure.

Von Reider is also a state employee working with the judicial branch of government. “I support SB 121 because it’s important to finally recognize any kind of discrimination is anti-ethical to civil society,” he said.

Charles Campbell-King, who also works for the state, represents the state’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. He said there are at least 75 state workers living alternative lifestyles who need to be protected.

Nicole Theis, executive director of Delaware Family Policy Council, based in Seaford, describes herself as a Christian who is pro-family and not anti-gay. She said her organization aims to strengthen families, lower divorce rates and focus on traditional roles of one man and one woman as mother and father in the family. She is opposed to the measure because she said it creates a protected class.

At the hearing, she called alternative lifestyles unhealthy and unsafe. Further, she testified that educational materials favoring alternative lifestyles would creep into Delaware classrooms as they have in Massachusetts, New York and Maryland – states that have passed similar laws.

Bob Marks, who heads the Delaware Liberty Fund, testified that 435 of 500 Fortune 500 companies already have company policies prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians. “The fear of losing jobs results in two lives for many of us,” he said. In March, House Bill 5 was introduced by House Majority Leader Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, and passed in the House 26-14.

Also in March, the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware passed a resolution urging lawmakers to support the House bill. In April, HB 5 lacked support and died in the Senate Executive Committee.

Rebecca Ryan, a 20-year-old Swarthmore College student, described herself at the recent Senate hearing as a bisexual woman of Hispanic and Irish heritage. She said younger people favor expanding discrimination laws to include gay men and lesbians.

“I think the job of a legislator is to ensure people’s rights and not deny people’s rights,” she testified. A full state Senate vote is expected Tuesday, June 23. Gov. Jack Markell’s communications director Joe Rogalsky said if the bill passes in the Senate, the House is expected to vote on the measure by Thursday, June 25.