Is the right of a person to rent a room, buy a house or find a hotel room without the fear that their sexual orientation or gender identity may be held against them the same as the plight of a person driving the Confederate Flag-emblazoned General Lee from the “Dukes of Hazzard”?
Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, made that case today in the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee.
The committee was wrapping up its work on House Bill 99—a bill by Anchorage Democratic Rep. Jennie Armstrong that seeks to protect Alaskans from being denied access to housing or public accommodations based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression—when McCabe offered an amendment that would effectively gut the bill.
McCabe argued that because the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County—the 2020 landmark case establishing employment protections for sexual orientation and gender identity—only deals specifically with employment, the Legislature shouldn’t afford the LGBTQ community protections when it comes to housing or public accommodations like restaurants and hotels. Instead, it would leave the legislation simply reinforcing what the U.S. Supreme Court already ruled is protected.
He went on to argue that discrimination against conservatives was a much larger problem in his world, suggesting they consider adding politics as a protected class to the legislation.
“I’ve heard many, many, many more stories—I’m not in the LGBTQ community, so I haven’t heard the same stories you have, but I am very politically active, and I’ve heard many stories of people being discriminated against,” he said to Rep. Armstrong while debating his proposed amendment. “Homeowners’ associations not even allowing them to fly the American Flag or a Gadsden Flag in their yard, people being harassed because they have a Confederate Flag in the back of their truck or a Gadsden Flag, or something like that.”
He also brought up the General Lee, the orange 1969 Dodge Charger emblazoned with a Confederate Flag, driven in the television series “The Dukes of Hazzard” as something conservatives are discriminated over.
His underlying amendment to erase the wider protections and the suggestion that a person’s politics be made a protected class for employment, housing and public accommodations found little traction among his fellow legislators.
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, pointed out that there’s a big difference between who someone is and what they believe.
“Immutable characteristics and political expression are clearly distinct from one another,” she said. “I do feel compelled to protect classes of people with immutable characteristics. I don’t support this amendment.”
Rep. Armstrong, the bill’s sponsor, also argued that just because the U.S. Supreme Court ruling focused on employment didn’t mean the Legislature can’t address housing and public accommodations. The legislation has already attracted a wave of near-unanimously positive testimony, with many personal stories of discrimination already running rampant in Alaska.
“It is the job of Alaska to protect Alaskans, not the federal government,” she said. “We do not need to wait for them to tell us that people should be treated equally in our state. More than half of the states in the U.S. already have these protections, and I’d love to see Alaska next.”
A handful of cities in Alaska, like Anchorage and Juneau, have implemented anti-discrimination measures related to housing. Still, it remains legal to deny someone housing because of their sexual orientation and gender identity in much of Alaska. The Human Rights Commission temporarily extended such protections on its own following the Bostock ruling but quietly dropped that work at the prompting of Attorney General Treg Taylor as Gov. Mike Dunleavy was facing criticisms that he wasn’t conservative enough.
The fact that the Human Rights Commission had been actively taking and investigating such complaints for nearly a year appeared to factor into bipartisan opposition to Rep. McCabe’s amendment. Moderate Kenai Republican Rep. Justin Ruffridge ultimately opposed the amendment, saying it was important for people to have a venue to hear their concerns on these matters. He also worried that removing the protections for housing and public accommodations would invite further discrimination.
“This bill only affects those decisions by the Human Rights Commission and therefore, I think, is headed in the right direction to provide an outlet for people to at least have their voice be heard, and their case be heard,” he said. “For those reasons, I’m concerned the amendment does narrow that view and, in some cases, I think would actually codify the ability for people to either be discriminated against or not have an outlet for that. For those reasons, I don’t think I’ll be supporting the amendment.”
The amendment failed on a 4N-2Y vote with only far-right Reps. McCabe and Anchorage Republican Tom McKay voted in favor of the measure. Reps. Himschoot, Ruffridge, Anchorage Democrat Donna Mears and Bethel Democrat C.J. McCormick voted against the measure. The vote to advance the legislation out of the committee was 4Y-2N, with the votes aligning the same way.
The legislation now heads to the deeply conservative House Judiciary Committee, its final stop before a possible vote on the House floor.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.