Push to End Anti-Gay
Discrimination
By SAM HANANEL, AP
from houstonchronical.com from the Web, September 14, 2007
WASHINGTON — For Rep. Emanuel
Cleaver, workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians is just as
reprehensible as bias against blacks and women.
That's why the Kansas City, Mo., Democrat is a leading proponent of a House bill
that would prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender
identity.
The measure has been introduced in some form or another since 1994, but
supporters believe it could gain more traction this year with Democrats in
control of Congress. A House panel is expected to send the bill to the
full House for a vote later this month.
Cleaver, an ordained minister who still preaches every Sunday at St. James
United Methodist Church in Kansas City, drew on his religious training at a
recent hearing where he testified in support of the bill.
"An individual's sexual orientation has nothing, absolutely no connection with
my God's issued mandate to minister to their needs, including their right to
barrier-free access to employment," Cleaver told a House panel.
Opponents of the bill, such as the Washington-based conservative Christian group
Family Research Council, say Congress should not grant "special rights" to
homosexuals that would "force private businesses to abandon their moral
principles."
"We simply don't accept the premise that sexual orientation or gender identity
are characteristics that are comparable to race or sex and therefore deserving
of special protection under the law," said Peter Sprigg, the Family Research
Council's vice president for policy.
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia currently have laws banning job
discrimination based on sexual orientation. Missouri and Kansas are among the 31
states where it remains legal to fire or refuse to hire an employee who is gay.
The House bill -- the Employment Nondiscrimination Act -- is modeled after a
portion of the landmark federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits job
discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
The measure would make it illegal for businesses with 15 or more employees to
make decisions about hiring, firing, promoting or paying an employee based on
sexual orientation or gender identity. Churches and the military would be
exempt.
Supporters of the measure, such as Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., are already
predicting the ban will win passage in the House later this year, but they are
less optimistic about prospects in the narrowly divided Senate.
The anti-discrimination measure already has 167 co-sponsors, including Cleaver
and Reps. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo. and Russ Carnahan, D-Mo. Kansas Rep. Dennis
Moore, a Democrat from Lenexa, has also signed on to the bill. Just a
handful of Republicans have backed the measure.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plans to introduce a similar measure in the Senate
later this month.
While Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has not seen the specifics of the bill, she
said she has been "very supportive in the past and I would continue to be
supportive of any legislation that ferrets out discrimination."
Missouri's senior senator, Republican Kit Bond, said he would examine the bill
"if and when" it comes before the Senate.
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights
group, said the bill is about putting gays and lesbians "on the same footing as
everyone else." He points to support from more than 180 civil rights,
religious, labor and women's rights groups, as well as major corporations such
as Citibank and Microsoft.
But Sprigg said the issue is not job discrimination, but whether private
businesses will be forced by law "to legitimize homosexual behavior."
Sprigg said the bill's religious exemption is too narrow and would not include
religious schools or religious nonprofit and social service organizations that
don't condone homosexuality.
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