Right of Conscience bill fails in Senate committee

By Rob Howard
Associate Editor

Anti-LGBTQ activists in the Oklahoma Senate and House didn’t fare well at committee hearings at the State Capitol Tuesday morning.

First up was Sen. Joseph Silk’s “Right of Conscience Act,” in a Judiciary Committee hearing. Silk’s bill would have allowed individuals to discriminate against LGBTQ people based on their “sincerely held religious beliefs or conscience of the individual regarding marriage, lifestyle or behavior.” Sen. Silk insisted, under intense questioning from Republican colleagues, that his bill was “not about discriminating against anybody.”

Sen. Roger Thompson (R-Okmulgee) asked Silk if “conscience should be the guide in all things” and “Is it possible a person’s conscience could be wrong.” Silk’s response was that his bill considered that when it said the act didn’t protect an act if “such act or omission threatens or endangers the life, health, safety or business establishment of another person,” ignoring the fact that there could be economic, mental and other harms that could be visited upon a person.

Sen. Silk was questioned about the bill’s intent by several Senators, who said that homosexuals, marijuana users, and others are not protected classes under state law, so how could the government force someone to serve somebody whose lifestyle they disagreed with. Silk’s answer to that was to say that under accommodation protection laws, someone might possibly be forced to do something. He said, however, that he knew of no such case in the state.

Senators John Sparks (D-Norman) and Kay Floyd (D-Oklahoma City) asked what the legal basis would be for compelling a caterer to serve alcohol, for instance. Silk attempted to present his bill as “proactive,” saying he didn’t know of any cases in Oklahoma, but wanted to be prepared if there ever were any.

After discussion, the committee by rollcall voted not to recommend the bill by a 5-4 vote, and the bill failed in committee. Voting to kill the bill were Senators Kay Floyd (D-Oklahoma City), John Sparks (D-Norman, Roger Thompson (R-Okmulgee), Corey Brooks R-Washington), and A. J. Griffin (R-Guthrie).

The second bill considered by the Judiciary Committee was SB 898, by Sen. Josh Brecheen, that would have expanded protections for the “practice, observance, and exercise of religion,” and effectively allowed discrimination against LGBTQ people. But after the defeat of SB 1328, the bill was “laid over at the author’s request.” This means it can be considered in the future, but Troy Stevenson, Executive Director of Freedom Oklahoma commented that, “They don’t lay a bill over if they know they can win.”

The third anti-LGBTQ bill of the day was HB 2428, authored by Rep. Sally Kern who has a long record of proposing anti-LGBTQ legislation. The bill would have allowed discrimination against same-sex couples who wanted to be foster parents. Kern’s bill was also “laid over at the author’s request,” meaning Kern is able to count votes and knew she couldn’t win.

The Gayly – February 9, 2016 @ 12:15 p.m.