LeftOut

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act
It’s about more than job security
by Daryl Moore

Last month, a Senate committee approved the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation. The bill prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, wages, and other conditions of employment. It does not apply to religious organizations, the military, or to businesses with fewer than 15 employees. It is modeled largely after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race and gender and provides remedies for those who are discriminated against.

Today, a person’s sexual orientation is a permissible reason to hire or fire someone in 38 states. Only 12 states outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation. (Texas is not one of them.)

Still, the head of the Log Cabin Republicans–Rich Tafel–hinted recently that we don’t need ENDA. He said he doesn’t believe the passage of ENDA will really benefit many gays and lesbians since not that many gays and lesbians get fired these days because of their orientation. Apparently, in Mr. Tafel’s rose-colored world, homophobia in the workplace has almost disappeared. Gays and lesbians are treated equally on the job. And they enjoy the same job security as their heterosexual counterparts.

What an idiot. Did it ever occur to Mr. Tafel that the reason many gays and lesbians have not lost their jobs is because they are closeted at work? They don’t invite their partners to company parties or functions. They don’t have pictures of their partners on their desks. They don’t talk about their partners in the office.

While most employers simply presume that their employees are all straight, we have done little to rebut that presumption. That is because it has not been professionally expedient to be out at work. If we’re out, we can lose our jobs.

So, while straight workers stand around the coffeemaker on Monday mornings and detail their weekend activities, many of us simply listen. While single straight men whisper about the "rack on the new receptionist," we do not whisper back "Have you checked out the package on the new mailroom clerk?" In short, to protect ourselves and our jobs, we avoid talking about our personal lives while others speak freely. Or worse, we lie.

Contrary to Mr. Tafel’s conclusion, ENDA has tremendous potential to change our lives. Not because it will prevent us from being fired, but because it will permit us to be honest.

ENDA is not a watershed moment for gay and lesbian equality. It will not end discrimination in the workplace. But, it might result in a lesbian’s placing her life partner’s picture on her desk. Or, it might give a young gay male the courage to say "no thank you" to a straight male coworker’s invitation to a bachelor party at a topless bar.

To Mr. Tafel–the openly gay leader of a paid political lobby–this might not seem like a lot. To gays and lesbians who are sick of lying about their orientation, it might make all the difference in the world.