SUMMARY: A bill that would have repealed civil rights protections for GLBT citizens in Minnesota was withdrawn from the state Senate on Friday after widespread criticism.

A bill that would have repealed civil rights protections for GLBT citizens in Minnesota was withdrawn from the state Senate on Friday after widespread criticism.

The bill, SF 545, was sponsored in the Senate by Michael Jungbauer, R-East Bethel, and considered on Friday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It would have eliminated references to sexual orientation and gender identity -- in place since 1993 -- in the state's nondiscrimination laws.

"After most members of the Senate Judiciary Committee had identified the numerous flaws in SF 545, it was apparent that the proposal was doomed," said Monica Meyer, public policy director for OutFront Minnesota, the state's leading direct service and public policy agency for the state's GLBT community.

"As a result, Sen. Jungbauer wisely retreated from his efforts to eviscerate the Minnesota Human Rights Act," she added.

According to OutFront Minnesota, Sen. Jungbauer tried to substitute the original text of the bill to a proposal that would allow people to ignore the current law based on religious beliefs. Subsequent attempts to change the language even further eventually sunk the measure.

On Thursday, state Rep. Arlon Lindner, R-Corcoran, who is sponsoring the House version of the bill, tried to get a similar hearing. But Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, would not let the bill advance "in its current form," according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Lindner is also at the center of a congressional ethics complaint for his remarks denying that gays were killed during the Holocaust.

Legislation to repeal health benefits for same-sex partners of state employees was introduced last month, and hearings are pending.

Copyright © 1995-1999 PlanetOut Corporation. All Copyright & Trademark Rights Reserved.