State Rep. Karla Drenner, the only openly gay member of the General Assembly, said she remains worried that lawmakers could attempt to ban gay people from adopting children. (Photo by R.O. Youngblood)
Budget woes likely to trump social issues in ’09 session Gay rights advocates focus on HIV funding, anti-bullying bill
Splitting
a
shrinking
pot
of
state
revenue
will
likely
dominate
the
Georgia
General
Assembly’s
2009
legislative
session,
and
gay
advocates
hope
to
avoid
cuts
to
HIV-related
services
where
they
can
and
make
sure
cuts
are
proportional
where
they
cannot.
A
number
of
Atlanta-area
lawmakers
expect
cutting
an
anticipated
$2
billion
from
Georgia’s
$20
billion
budget
and
likely
constitutional
amendments
addressing
trauma
funding
and
transportation
to
dominate
the
session,
which
gets
underway
Jan.
12.
“The
budget
will
be
more
a
focus
this
year
than
in
any
other
legislative
session
that
I
have
been
a
participant
in,”
Rep.
Mike
Jacobs
(R-Atlanta)
said.
Jeff
Graham,
executive
director
of
Georgia
Equality,
the
state’s
largest
gay
political
group,
said
one
HIV-related
program
already
slated
for
cuts
is
the
AIDS
Drug
Assistance
Program,
which
provides
funding
of
last
resort
to
help
pay
for
HIV
medications.
“I
don’t
believe
that
there
are
any
programs
that
will
avoid
scrutiny
and
the
ADAP
program
is
one
where
the
cuts
have
already
been
proposed
by
the
Department
of
Human
resources,”
Graham
said.
Graham
said
120
to
130
subscribers
to
ADAP
could
face
interruptions
in
their
service
if
the
cuts
go
through.
“I
think
Democrats’
job
in
the
budget
is
to
make
sure
that
difficult
times
in
the
budget
are
not
unfairly
visited
upon
the
most
vulnerable
people,”
said
House
Minority
Whip
Rep.
Rob
Teilhet
(D-Smyrna).
“We
don’t
want
the
budget
balanced
on
the
backs
of
children
and
low
income
people,
people
who
are
in
need.
That’s
going
to
be
the
natural
reaction
of
the
majority,
if
you
need
to
cut
$2
billion,
just
cut
it
out
of
education
and
health
care
and
call
it
day.”
Last
year’s
budget
battle
dragged
on
far
into
the
session,
exacerbated
by
friction
among
Republican
leaders.
Rep.
Karla
Drenner
(D-Avondale
Estates)
expects
a
similar
fight
in
2009.
“I
look
for
the
same
sort
of
long
drawn
out
bullshit
that
we
went
through
last
year,”
Drenner
said.
“Nothing
healed
that
rift
between
[Lt.
Gov.
Casey]
Cagle
and
[Speaker
of
the
House
Glenn]
Richardson;
that
friction
is
still
there.”
GUARDING
GAY
ADOPTION
With
the
anticipated
battle
over
the
budget
and
without
major
state-level
elections
on
the
ballot
in
2009,
many
legislators
believe
bills
dealing
with
social
issues
like
gay
adoption
could
have
a
hard
time
moving
forward.
But
Drenner,
the
first
and
only
openly
gay
member
of
the
state
legislature,
said
gay
rights
advocates
can’t
let
down
their
guard.
“I
think
that
you
never
know,
and
if
you
believe
that
there
won’t
be
any
opportunities
for
that,
it
is
short
sighted,”
she
said.
“There
are
other
conservative
members
where
the
intention
might
not
be
to
ban
adoption,
but
there’s
always
people
like
[Rep.]
James
Mills
(R-Gainesville),
or
one
of
the
pastors,
who
might
use
that
as
a
vehicle.”
In
the
2007-2008
session,
there
was
one
adoption
bill
filed;
it
was
not
aimed
toward
gays.
At
the
time,
House
Rules
Committee
Chairman
Rep.
Earl
Ehrhart
(R-Powder
Springs)
said
he
had
no
desire
to
allow
an
adoption
bill
out
of
his
committee
because
of
the
various
privacy
issues
that
could
be
tacked
on
to
any
adoption
legislation.
Still,
Rep.
Kathy
Ashe
(D-West
Midtown)
said
it
is
entirely
possible
that
the
Republican
leadership
will
support
a
social
bill
as
way
to
distract
the
state
during
the
budget
crisis.
“In
times
like
a
bad
economy,
I
always
worry
that
people
seek
diversions
to
keep
us
distracted
from
the
real
issues,
and
sometimes
those
are
social
issues,
be
they
abortion
bans,
or
be
they
adoption
bans,”
Ashe
said.
Teilhet
said
there
is
concern
of
a
bill
coming
that
could
feed
into
the
2010
race
for
governor.
“I’ve
been
trying
to
figure
out
what
the
next
wedge
is
going
to
be,
there
is
usually
one
per
election
cycle,
one
or
two,
and
I
don’t
know
what
the
next
one
will
be,”
Teilhet
said.
“There
will
be
some
death
penalty
things
as
a
result
of
the
Brian
Nichols
case,
but
I’ve
not
heard
of
anything
particular
to
the
gay
community
like
adoption.
Anytime
there
is
an
adoption
bill
the
threat
of
that
is
raised.”
‘RELIGIOUS
VIEWPOINTS’
LEGISLATION
PROPOSED
Although
none
of
the
legislators
Southern
Voice
contacted
for
this
article
knew
of
any
lawmaker
seeking
support
for
bill
to
ban
gay
adoption,
one
social
issue
that
might
garner
some
attention
this
year
is
the
Religious
Viewpoints
Antidiscrimination
Act,
authored
by
veteran
lawmaker
Rep.
Tom
Rice
(R-Norcross).
The
act
aims
to
protect
religious
speech
in
schools
by
requiring
student-led
forums
before
any
school
event,
including
athletic
games
and
morning
announcements.
Rice
is
a
veteran
lawmaker
who
serves
on
several
important
committees
like
Ways
&
Means,
and
typically
...
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