Senators, testifiers praise anti-discrimination bill

Senators in the Committee on Government Operations and Consumer Protection spoke Wednesday in enthusiastic support of a bill to ensure discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited by the V.I. Code.

Proposed by Sen. Janelle Sarauw, Bill No. 34-0271 seeks to amend the local Civil Rights Act “to include discrimination based on sexual orientation as an unlawful discriminatory practice.”

Sen. Alma Francis Heyliger asked whether the bill is necessary, given that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited by existing gender discrimination laws.

Sarauw agreed that the Supreme Court did issue such a ruling, “but the perfect example is Roe v. Wade,” the court decision that had guaranteed access to abortion healthcare on the federal level, which was subsequently struck down by the court’s conservative justices.

When that happened, “we already had tenets in the Code that protected women, so we didn’t have to hurry as a body and rush through a bill,” Sarauw said. “So, while we have a civil rights case now, anything can happen in America. And the Virgin Islands really must codify the equal protection of all its citizens.”

Sarauw also emphasized that the bill doesn’t affect faith-based organizations, and she doesn’t want anyone “to run with the narrative that we are forcing churches to do anything.”

Sarauw is the Legislature’s only openly LGBTQ+ member.

“We use sexual orientation as a weapon and we weaponize it and create the craziest memes, and that’s pertaining not only to me, but we do it in and out of election season, we do it to people, period,” Sarauw said.

As a result, many may be in denial about their identity for fear of discrimination, and “I find specifically with our men that, because we have this level of toxic masculinity in our community, those patterns of behavior, they think 10 times about reporting. We see the same thing in cases of abuse, these are under the radar because people are fearful of reporting and not receiving a level of justice,” Sarauw said.

The Labor and Personnel Departments have systems are in place to report discrimination based on sexual orientation, but Sarauw said many facing harassment do not file such reports.

“Because it’s not reported does not mean it does not happen,” Sarauw said.

Several testifiers said the bill is a necessary step toward ensuring that all Virgin Islanders can live free from discrimination.