From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-beyer/employment-non-discrimination-act-transgender_b_3186793.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices
Dana Beyer
05/01/2013
Last week the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, known as ENDA, was introduced in the Senate (S.815) and the House. This bill, in its current form (with the exception of trans inclusion, first offered in 2007), has been considered in every Congress, with one exception, since 1994, and originally was introduced in more comprehensive form back in 1974 by Congresswoman Bella Abzug. While today’s bill is limited only to employment protections, this has been, and continues to be, the signature federal LGBT civil rights bill.
Contrary to the beliefs of the vast majority of Americans, including, reportedly, at least one senator, it is perfectly legal to fire or refuse to hire gender-conforming gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Given that ENDA has not come up for a Senate vote since 1996, it’s hard to believe that a Senator would believe it had already passed, but that most Americans, who as Americans strongly oppose discrimination as a core moral imperative, believe it should be law is not a surprise. Look at the progress we’ve made in this country, particularly under the Obama administration — how could it possibly be legal to discriminate? And now that a majority of Americans support marriage equality, does it really make any sense that gay persons can get married but can be refused a job, or denied housing, or be discriminated against in a restaurant or movie theatre?
One ironic little twist is that while transgender and gender non-conforming persons are currently protected under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the majority of gay persons who happen to be perceived as gender-conforming are not yet covered. The irony derives from the particular difficulty the trans community has had historically being considered along with the gay community for anti-discrimination protections, a difficulty which exploded around ENDA in 2007. Since then, every bill has been trans-inclusive, and with last year’s Macy decision, the trans community leap-frogged the gay community in obtaining employment protections. Those protections apply in the 50 states, the federal government, and the federal contractor workspace.
That is the state of LGBT discrimination in this country today, and why ENDA has been reintroduced. One more irony is that the vast majority of federal contractors and Fortune 500 companies already protect LGBT persons. Very recently it was reported that 98 percent of the Fortune 50 protect gay workers and 88 percent protect trans workers. Sixty percent of small businesses already have gender identity protections, and, unsurprisingly, 63 percent of small business owners support ENDA. And Congress has still not passed ENDA.
Continue reading at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-beyer/employment-non-discrimination-act-transgender_b_3186793.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices
