Today
the Human Rights Campaign – the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender civil rights organization – applauded the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for holding a hearing on
a critical piece of workplace fairness legislation, the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
“The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is critical so that Americans
have a fair shake in the workplace today and so that no young person
must choose between being who they are and striving for their strongest
aspirations for the future,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “ENDA must
be passed because, for too many LGBT people in this country, that dream
remains out of reach.”
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act would address discrimination in
the workplace by making it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or refuse to
promote an employee based on the person’s sexual orientation or gender
identity. Currently such protections exist in only 21 states and DC for
sexual orientation and 16 states and DC for gender identity.
This morning’s hearing features testimony from M. V. Lee Badgett ,
Research Director of the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law
and Public Policy at UCLA and Director of the Center for Public Policy
and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; Kylar
Broadus, Founder, Trans People of Color Coalition; Samuel Bagenstos ,
Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School; Ken Charles, Vice
President of Diversity and Inclusion, General Mills, Inc. Additionally,
Craig Parshal of the National Religious Broadcasters Association will
be the only witness to speak in opposition to ENDA.
“We thank Chairman Harkin and Senators Merkley, Kirk, Casey and Collins
for their leadership on fair workplaces,” added Griffin.
Americans overwhelmingly support LGBT workplace non-discrimination
laws. According to a November 2011 poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner
Research for HRC, 77 percent of voters support protecting LGBT people
from discrimination in employment. The support for employment
protections defies conventional political wisdom, reaching across party
and ideological lines. Seventy percent of self-identified Republicans
and 67 percent of conservatives support anti-discrimination laws.
Support is strong even among groups who tend to be less supportive of
LGBT issues, such as seniors (69 percent among voters over age 65),
those with a high school degree or less (68 percent), observant
Christians (77 percent), born-again Christians (74 percent), and
residents of the Deep South (72 percent).
