A House panel was asked yesterday to extend to homosexuals the civil rights protections granted to many minority groups.
Gays, lesbians and members of their families recalled for the Commerce and Government Matters Committee examples of discrimination in the workplace, in housing and in health care. They asked the committee to support House Bill 213, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
"Enacting this legislation does not mean you're condoning homosexuality," said Del. Sheila E. Hixson, D-Montgomery, the bill's chief sponsor.
"This group is not seeking anyone's approval -- just that their civil rights are protected."
But not everyone agreed that those protections are warranted.
Conrae Fortlage, a Howard County resident and a member of Concerned Women for America, said the bill would improperly give homosexuals minority status.
"We cannot give special rights for sexual behavior," Mrs. Fortlage said. "What about people who say they like children? Where will this stop?"
The House Judiciary Committee has defeated similar legislation the last three years. This is the first year it was assigned to Commerce and Government Matters.
Higher courts to rule on surrogate contracts
The Senate yesterday left the door open for infertile couples who want to hire a surrogate mother to bring a child to term.
The senators defeated, 21 to 24, a proposal that would have made surrogate parent contracts void and unenforceable in Maryland.
Circuit judges in Howard and Montgomery counties have issued contradictory opinions in the last two years, one ruling such contracts are enforceable here and another not. The Senate's action yesterday effectively leaves resolution of the question to higher courts.
Drivers must heed buses' blinking lights
The House of Delegates voted unanimously yesterday to prohibit motorists in Baltimore City from passing a stopped school bus operating its flashing warning lights.
Baltimore is the only Maryland jurisdiction where motorists are not required to stop for school buses loading and unloading students.
House Bill 15 was introduced after a car struck B. J. Appel, 10, a student at Hamilton Elementary Middle School, as he got off the school bus one day last September. He received eight stiches.
3' The measure now goes to the Senate.
Rallying together