http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=70413
Christian group sues governor over discrimination order By BETH DeFALCO Associated Press Writer 07/30/2003 PHOENIX (AP) -- Three Republican legislators and a Christian group challenged an executive order barring employment discrimination based on sexual orientation in some state agencies. The group that filed the challenge in the Arizona Supreme Court argues Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano overstepped her authority and is legislating through executive order. "The governor has demonstrated that her style of leadership is not by example, but by legislation," said Rep. John Allen, a Scottsdale Republican and one of three state legislators involved in the suit, filed by the Scottsdale-based Alliance Defense Fund. Napolitano announced the executive order last month at an event held by the Arizona Human Rights Fund, a gay and lesbian advocacy group. The order applies only to state agencies under her control. It does not apply to private employers, state universities or state agencies under the control of the Legislature or the courts. The group argues the governor reached into legislative authority by setting employment policy and, in effect, made new law. Tim Nelson, Napolitano's general counsel, says the executive order does not make new law because it only applies to those agencies under the governor's authority. "Going back almost 30 years, the governor has issued orders related to employment in the executive branch," he said. Paul Eckstein, a constitutional attorney in Phoenix who isn't involved in the case, called the lawsuit "frivolous" and said Napolitano is likely to win. "She's perfectly justified," he said. "She has control over hiring in executive departments." The Alliance Defense Fund describes itself on its Web site as a "unique Christian legal organization that works to protect and defend traditional family values, religious freedom and the sanctity of life." Rep. Andy Biggs and Sen. Thayer Verschoor, both R-Gilbert, also are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Kathie Gummere, spokeswoman for the Arizona Human Rights Fund, said it was no surprise that the Alliance Defense Fund filed the case. "They file these suits everywhere, they're anti-gay," Gummere said. In addition to fighting the executive order, the group filed a brief last week to intervene with a state Court of Appeals case by two Phoenix men trying to get a marriage license. Arizona laws ban homosexual marriages. Last year, the Alliance Defense Fund helped overturn a Philadelphia law that recognized same-sex "life partnerships," granting benefits to same-sex partners of city employees. A state court ruled that the 1998 city ordinance usurped the power of the state to regulate marriage. Arizona lawmakers have defeated legislation several times that would have included sexual orientation in anti-discrimination laws, including three bills in 2001 and another proposal that died in the House last year. "If you eliminate the executive order," Gummere said, "you're saying you do want people to be discriminated against based on sexual orientation." ------ Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history. -- Pat Robertson _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
