Thursday, 17 May 2001

BATON ROUGE-An employment non-discrimination bill that includes sexual orientation passed a state Senate committee on May 10, marking the first time in state history that a legislative committee okayed such a measure, according to gay civil rights advocates.

Mike Hollis (left) drew statewide attention when his father, state Sen. Ken Hollis (R-Metairie), told a legislative committee hearing last week that his son is gay and that's why he's voting for an employment non-discrimination bill that includes gays.

The measure passed on the swing vote of Republican state Sen. Ken Hollis, a candidate for governor in 2003 who delivered an emotional speech last week about his 29-year-old gay son.

But Senate Bill 862, one of three workplace discrimination bills that were pending in the legislature, was stripped of protection for gender identity over concerns that the phrase was "too vague."

The bill's passage is still considered a partial victory for gay civil rights, said Chris Daigle, co-chair LAGPAC, the statewide gay lobby group.

"We are very disappointed that gender identity was amended out of our bill," Daigle said. "But now we have to work very hard to get the bill out of the Senate, through the House, and to the Governor's desk."

The committee vote did not fall along party lines. State Senators Noble E. Ellington (D-Winnsboro) and Kenneth Smith (D-Winnfield) voted against the measure, while Charles Jones (D-Monroe), the committee chairman, and Lynn B. Dean (R-Braithwaite) joined Hollis is approving it.

The two other workplace bills, sponsored by Dean, won't be taken up by the committee since the other proposal passed last week, gay activists said.

Family Values

For Mike Hollis, the past several days have been colored by seeing important pieces of his life dissected for consumption in the public arena.

"I have to admit, it has all been a little odd," Hollis said. "I knew this was going to happen, but still, I did not know what to expect. We've been getting a lot of calls; it's been pretty hectic."

Hollis' world turned upside down when his father, the Republican state senator, provided one of the most dramatic moments in this year's legislative session. Ken Hollis revealed said he would vote for the workplace discrimination bill that includes gays because his son is gay and he understood, perhaps better than most, why such issues matter.

"He didn't ask for [his homosexuality]," Hollis said of his son. "He didn't order it from Wal-Mart. He was born that way."

Before the committee and a crowded gallery of spectators, Hollis went on to describe the day his son called him from a job he held at a Louisiana college.

"I'm afraid they've found out, and I'm going to be fired," his son told him.

In a hearing that was dominated by passionate testimonials given by advocates on both sides of the legislation, Hollis' tear-filled remarks corresponded with the stories told by several young people who said their sexual orientation threatened their job security.

Mike Hollis is now concerned that his father's remarks may haunt him in the upcoming campaign for governor.

"I am worried that he is going to pay a price for this," Mike Hollis said. "But I know my father. He could not do for a political reason something he did not believe in. That's just the way he is."

A political pundit also said Hollis' testimony could play a role in his upcoming campaign.

"Any time a candidate for a state wide race in Louisiana is not perceived as being conservative or from the center, he is going to have trouble," said Bernie Pinsonat, a pollster with Southern Media & Opinion Research. "It's all a matter of perception, and that can be a very powerful thing."

After the hearing, Mike Hollis filled in for a legislative aide and answered the phones in his father's capitol office.

"None of [the callers], of course, knew who I was," Mike Hollis said. "I just wrote down their names and comments and thanked them for calling."

Mike Hollis was offered a job as director of student affairs at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, where he had graduated and served as president of the student government association.

"I saw the Ruston job as a great opportunity, but I also knew that people in other areas of the state feel differently about things, and I wondered what would happen if any of the students there found out."

The students did and Hollis was able to trace the origin of a harassing phone call, but was concerned that if he reported the incident, he would be fired from the school when they learned he is gay.

"I wondered if by going to the administration, whether or not I would somehow or other get fired," Mike Hollis said. "And I should not have had those feelings. There should have been no question about what I needed to do," he said.

Hollis eventually left his job at Louisiana Tech, and now works in the employee benefits brokerage firm that his father owns in Metairie.

Gay activists are already working on securing the 20 votes needed to pass the bill out of the Senate, where floor action could come as early as next week, LAGPAC Executive Director Melinda Shelton said.

-Mike Fleming contributed to this report.