This year Arkansas witnessed a flurry of legislative activity, which, in itself, is not extraordinary. But this session, we received nationwide attention for the sheer volume of anti-LGBTQ proposals our lawmakers raised.
Eleven anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced, up from two in the Legislature's previous session. These bills ran the gamut from legislation aimed at restricting facility access for transgender Arkansans to measures attempting to strip away the hard-won marriage rights of same-sex couples.
Even though many of these anti-LGBTQ bills pushed different policy outcomes, they all had one thing in common: They targeted the LGBTQ community in Arkansas for discrimination.
For a few disturbing weeks, it looked as if Arkansas was poised to pass the largest number of anti-LGBTQ bills in the country. Discriminatory proposals were flying through committees and legislative chambers. They included anti-trans measures, and others that would allow health-care providers a license to discriminate based on religious beliefs--basically allowing providers to turn away LGBTQ patients because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, or because of their HIV status or reproductive health needs.
Thankfully, they all failed to become law.
Despite a Republican supermajority in both chambers, our community was able to form a bipartisan coalition to successfully oppose these harmful measures. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were able to beat back these offensive, unnecessary bills and stop attacks on the LGBTQ community.
Additionally, Gov. Asa Hutchinson declared early on in the session that anti-LGBTQ bills were not needed in Arkansas. He recognized the chaos and turmoil that flowed from the passage of the discriminatory HB2 law in North Carolina, and clearly had no interest in taking Arkansas down that road. This helped set the tone of his party's priorities this session, allowing space for Republican lawmakers to speak out against bills targeting the LGBTQ community. The hospitality industry also forcefully expressed its opposition to North Carolina-style anti-transgender measures, citing the catastrophic damage HB2 inflicted on their sector.
Our success hinged on the strong coalition we forged with partner organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Arkansas Transgender Equality Coalition (ArTEC) and Stonewall Democrats, to name a few. We were thrilled to work with them, and to join lawmakers--both Republican and Democrat--who also worked alongside the Human Rights Campaign.
This could also not have been possible without the efforts of businesses in Arkansas, including Wal-Mart and Tyson Foods, which have made equality part of their business models--something with which lawmakers are becoming more familiar.
Arkansas has a troubled past when it comes to discrimination--a past that many do not want to repeat. Know this: The LGBTQ community appreciates the work our partner organizations, legislators and businesses undertook in this difficult year to ensure that Arkansas would not move backward when it comes to LGBTQ rights.
We now continue our work to pass legislation to provide greater protections and dignity for LGBTQ Arkansans. We still are the only state in the nation that does not allow married same-sex couples who conceive through insemination or surrogacy to have both their names listed on birth certificates.
And we still lack statewide nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people. That means a same-sex couple could get married on Saturday and be fired on Monday, simply for being LGBTQ. A transgender woman could be denied housing at an apartment complex because of her gender identity. And if a lesbian couple were assaulted because they dared to hold hands in public, they would not be protected under the state's existing hate-crimes laws.
These are real problems that affect the lives of LGBTQ Arkansans, not fabricated like the "issues" anti-LGBTQ lawmakers raise. This legislative session, we stopped an assault on the rights and dignity of LGBTQ Arkansans. In the future, we must be allowed to pursue our fundamental freedom and the promise of fairness.
And to move forward, we have to stop fighting the battles of our past.
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Kendra R. Johnson is the state director for the Human Rights Campaign in Arkansas.
Editorial on 05/20/2017