Meretz MK postpones gay rights bill to seek support

Mk Nitzan Horowitz delays bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation to allow LGBT groups to lobby.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Gay pride in Israel (Jerusalem) 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Gay pride in Israel (Jerusalem) 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) delayed a vote on his bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation on Sunday, so that advocacy groups for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) community can convince ministers to approve the legislation.
The Meretz lawmaker explained that gay groups in other political parties asked him to wait two weeks before submitting the bill to a ministerial vote, so they have more time to convince the ministers and MKs to vote in its favor.
“As the leader of the gay community’s battle in the Knesset, I commend gay groups in other parties for their cooperation,” Horowitz said. “Meretz is the only party that consistently acted to promote the interests of the gay community, and the time has come for other parties to recognize these interests of hundreds of thousands of citizens that face discrimination because of their sexual orientation and gender identification.”
The bill, which Horowitz planned to bring to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, would require that sexual orientation and gender identification be added to any existing law forbidding discrimination for other reasons.
Many existing laws, including the Equal Opportunity in Employment Law, already include this prohibition.
As such, separate bills to change each law would not be necessary, and it would apply to all future laws prohibiting discrimination, even if sexual orientation is not specifically mentioned.