A Ban on Discrimination Against Gay Employees Is Likely
But whether to include protections for transgendered persons will be a sticking point.
By Martha Lynn Craver, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter
July 16, 2009
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Odds are good that Congress will pass a bill to ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation. It will expand current federal employment law, which bars bias on the basis of a worker’s race, religion, gender, national origin, age or disability.
The legislation will not apply to small businesses with fewer than 15 employees, the military or religious organizations. The House is likely to act by fall and the Senate by the end of the year. President Obama is sure to sign it.
Less certain is whether the final legislation will also include a ban on discrimination of transgendered persons, which is more controversial. The antidiscrimination bill, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), does include such gender identity protections, but employer groups are concerned about that provision. For example, the Society for Human Resource Management says that while it will support sexual orientation discrimination protection, it will not support gender identity protections.
Hundreds of companies already have enacted policies protecting gay and transgendered workers. According to the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a gay rights organization, 85% of Fortune 500 companies have implemented nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation, and more than one-third have policies that include gender identity.
In 29 states, it’s legal to fire or to refuse to hire someone for being gay. In 38 states, there is no prohibition on employers that discriminate against transgendered workers.
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Reader Comments (6)
Posted by: Joe at 07/15/2009 06:02:48 PM
This falls into the category of who cares. Seems to be a law to protect something that is not a problem. I am not gay but have relatives and friends who are and they have no issues with it at work. Waste of time.
Posted by: Yewbee at 07/16/2009 12:47:07 PM
Back when morals were in style, homosexuality was considered perversion. Now, it's a non-issue...now that morals don't matter anymore
Posted by: Steve at 07/16/2009 07:55:16 PM
It's simple management: if you have the opportunity to use a productive resource profitably, you don't arbitrarily dump it. I disagree that it's a waste of time: the LGBT community needs such affirmation, even if it just affirms something that's already in effect, and there will always be the benighted employer who would rather go out of business than overcome his bigotry.
Posted by: Dan at 07/18/2009 01:58:44 PM
Why is this such a big issue? I am tired of hearing the equality of gays and lesbians with there gender identity problem. I don't want to be told by congress, or the law that I must accept their lifestyle, and personally I don't care what their lifestyle is, unless they interfere with ours. I'm not homophobic, not a bible thumper, just a person that does not agree to have something so perverse at representing itself as an acceptable part of our culture, that wants to imbed itself in society as being normal. Are pedophiles, prostitutes, beastiality, and rapists normal? I cannot believe such a law saw the light of day. They have identity problems with gender, not equality. They want legal recognition, for what?, so they can impose themselves openly? Is this moral, ethical. It is not a matter to be taken lightly. Think about it.
Posted by: AGH at 07/20/2009 01:02:00 AM
Disagree it's a waste of time - doesn't hurt to ensure all people are afforded basic civil rights...and "moralit"y has nothing to do with being gay/lesbian...so sick of people who know nothing about which they comment, judge, talk about...
Posted by: Zoe Brain at 07/21/2009 06:49:04 AM
From the Williams Institute: * 15 to 57% of transgender employees reported that they experienced employment discrimination on the job. * In six separate studies conducted between 1996 and 2006, 20% to 57% of transgender respondents reported having experienced employment discrimination at some point in their life. * Between 13 and 56 percent of the transgender respondents to those six studies were fired from their jobs, and between 13 and 47 percent of transgender respondents were denied employment. * Based on their gender identity alone, between 22 and 31 percent of transgender respondents were harassed at work and 19 percent were denied promotions. Transgender individuals also report high rates of unemployment and very low earnings: * Between 6 and 60 percent of transgender respondents reported being unemployed. * Between 22 and 64 percent of the employed transgender population earns less than $25,000 per year. This is despite this particular minority group having 25% with graduate or post-graduate degrees. A survey in the NE states showed 35% were unemployed, 25% part-time employed, and for those in fulltime employment, average salary was $15,000. Figures for gays and lesbians are nowhere near as bad, but perhaps double the usual unemployment rate. For trans people, it's 12 times.