Opponents of gay rights bill await outcome of hearing

Kris Hill

Monday, April 16, 2001 | 10:25 a.m.

Opponents of a bill that would extend a handful of marriage rights to unmarried couples will find out today if their efforts to kill the bill in committee were successful.

Assembly Bill 496 is scheduled to be discussed in a Judiciary Committee work session today. Like any other bill still in committee today, if it isn't passed on to the full house by day's end, it will die.

The bill, sponsored by David Parks, D-Las Vegas, would allow couples to enter into a "reciprocal beneficiary" relationship. A number of rights related to health care, wills, inheritance and funeral arrangements would be extended by the bill, if it passes.

Last week the committee's vice chairman, Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, said that some parts of the bill could be tacked on to other health care bills already being considered by the Assembly if the bill doesn't make it out of committee.

"I don't know if there is a whole lot of support for this bill on the committee at this time," he said after a hearing Tuesday.

A crowd of people packed a conference room Tuesday at the Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas for the teleconferenced hearing, with 324 showing up to oppose the bill, while 26 were there to support it, legislative staff said.

Members of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, a group that opposed an initiative to ban gay marriage, which passed with 70 percent of the vote last fall, were encouraged to write letters rather than attend the meeting, Liz Moore, Southern Nevada coordinator for the alliance, said.

"We put most of our emphasis on getting people to submit written comment on the bill ... because we were aware of the time limits," Moore said.

Speakers on both sides were given two minutes each to testify.

It was unclear how many letters or e-mails were sent in support of the bill to members of the Judiciary Committee.