Senators score zeros; only 2 in House manage scores of 100 while only 4 others score above 70

Eddie Bernice Johnson, left, and Sheila Lee Jackson, right.

The Human Rights Campaign has updated its annual congressional scorecard to reflect how U.S. senators and representatives voted in the 109th Congress on specific legislation dealing with LGBT issues.

Allison Herwitt, legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign, called the scorecard a "vital tool for rating members of Congress on votes important to our community in the last legislative session."

Both senators from Texas John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison scored a zero on the HRC test. Hutchison and Cornyn are both Republicans. The two also got zeroes on the HRC Scorecard in the 107th and the 108th Congresses.

Senators were scored based on their votes on four votes taken in the Senate, and co-sponsorship of three bills.

The votes were on: the federal marriage amendment to change the Constitution to prohibit recognition of same-sex marriage, which HRC opposed; confirmations on Judge William Pryor to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, both of which HRC opposed; and the Lautenberg Amendment to the Child Custody Protection Act which would have created a federal funding stream for states to teach comprehensive sex education, which HRC supported.

The bills HRC wanted the senators to co-sponsor were: the Early Treatment for HIV Act which would offer states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to low-income HIV-positive persons as "categorically needy"; the Uniting American Families Act which would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide same-sex partners of U.S. citizens and lawful residents the same immigration benefits afforded to legal spouses of U.S. residents; and the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2005 which would expand federal jurisdiction to reach serious violent hate crimes perpetuated because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability of the victim.

Scores in the House of Representatives were based on members' votes on the Federal Marriage Amendment; the Conyers Amendment to the Child Safety Act that would have added provisions of the Law Enforcement Enhancement Act  supported by HRC to the bill; and the Local Law Enforcement Prevention Act; as well as on whether members were willing to cosponsor the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would have removed the ban on gay and lesbian servicemembers, and the United American Families Act,
Only two of Texas' representatives both Democrats posted perfect scores of 100: Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas and Sheila Lee Jackson of Houston. Johnson and Jackson both also scored 100 in the 108th and the 107th Congresses.

Only four others, all Democrats, scored about 70 on the Human Rights Campaign's scorecard. They were Reps. Al Green of Houston who scored 75; Charles Gonzalez of San Antonio who scored 88; Lloyd Doggett of Austin who scored 75; and Gene Green of Houston who scored 75.

Gene Green's score represents an increase over his HRC score of 66 in the 108th Congress, but is lower than his score of 83 in the 107th Congress. Doggett's score of 75 represents a steady drop over the last three sessions, from a score of 100 in the 107th Congress to an 88 in the 108th Congress.

Gonzalez scored an 88 in the 108th Congress and a 100 in the 107th Congress. The 109th Congress was Al Green's first in which he was scored by the Human Rights Campaign.

Among other Congress members from Texas, Republican Ron Paul scored 38; Democrat Ruben Hinojosa scored 40; Democrat Silvestre Reyes scored 63; Democrat Chet Edwards scored 25; Democrat Solomon Ortiz scored 25; and Democrat Henry Cuellar scored 25.

The other 19 Texas Congress members all Republicans posted zeroes on the HRC Scorecard. Paul was, in fact, the only Texas Republican in either the Senate or the House not to score a zero.

Herwitt said that 11 members of the U.S. Senate 10 Democrats and 1 Republican scored perfect 100s in the 109th Congress. Johnson and Jackson were among 96 House members 92 Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent who had perfect scores.

Herwitt also noted that the scorecard for the 109th Congress reflected the defeat, for the second time, of the Federal Marriage Amendment.

In the Senate, the 49-to-48 votes failed to muster the simple majority of 67 votes necessary for passage of the amendment. In addition, she said, seven Republicans voted against the amendment this year including two who had voted to move the amendment forward in 2004.

Following the vote in the Senate, the House also again rejected the amendment by a vote of 236 to 187. Although the House vote fell mainly along pary lines, 27 Republicans did vote against it,. Herwitt said.

The Nov. 7 mid-term election is less than two weeks away, and Herwitt said, "We encourage all GLBT individuals and straight supporters to take a careful look and known where your representative stands on issues of equality and fairness."

E-mail nash@dallasvoice.com





This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, October 27, 2006.