Apr 17, 2009   | COMMENTS     

WASHINGTON — The newest openly gay member of Congress is considering introducing an omnibus LGBT rights bill in the U.S. House.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) told the Blade in a phone interview that he’s looking at the possibility of introducing such legislation, but hasn’t made any decision “about what that would contain and what the timeline would be for doing it.”

Polis said he’s “very interested” in the concept of introducing a bill with “several aspects of the equality agenda.” He noted that he believes other lawmakers would be interested in introducing the bill.

The nonprofit donors group eQualityGiving.org last month proposed that Congress tackle omnibus legislation that would include language regarding hate crimes, employment non-discrimination and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” as well as language from other LGBT rights-related bills.

The group’s proposed measure would also contain a clause requiring the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships legalized by states.

Polis emphasized that no bill has been introduced and no decisions have been made about the provisions the bill might contain.

He said if the omnibus measure contained language related to marriage rights, though, “it’s a more difficult battle.”

“If any member of Congress introduces it,” Polis said, “it’s likely to be more [of an] important symbol in the fight, but hopefully wouldn’t prevent separate legislation that has majority support from moving forward.”

Juan Ahonen-Jover of eQualityGiving.org, said “it’s wonderful” that Polis is considering omnibus legislation.

“We think, as Martin Luther King said, that a right delayed is a right denied,” he said. “So therefore, it’s very important that we take leadership to introduce equality in all of our federal legislation.”