Business, Civil Rights Leaders Voice Support for ENDA
Feature Story by Celeste Berry - 3/4/2002
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) opened the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act by stating adamantly, “We are long overdue in providing this basic protection to America’s workforce.”The act, better known as ENDA, is designed to provide a comprehensive federal prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Currently, federal law provides protections on the basis of color, gender, religion, and disability to employees, and the protection provided by ENDA is seen as the next logical step towards complete fairness in the workplace.
Senator Kennedy was joined by many of his colleagues in support of this bill. Stating, “This bill will extend the principles of opportunity to all peoples. . . and put an end to insidious discrimination in the workplace,” Senator Jeffords (I-VT) articulated his wish for the bill to quickly be heard on the Senate floor. Echoing these statements, junior Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) remarked, “This protection is simply the right thing to do.”
In addition to describing what the bill was indented to provide, the senators also made clear what the bill would not do. Senator Clinton continued, “This bill guarantees fair employment practices to all. It does not confer special rights unto any community.” She and Senator Kennedy explained that ENDA does not apply to: employers with fewer than fifteen employees, the armed services, religious organizations, nonprofits, or voluntary membership associations, such as the Boy Scouts. The senators explained that while critics of ENDA assert that it is a piece of “radically gay agenda” disguised as a civil rights bill, claims like this have no merit. “This bill simply proscribes discrimination…it is not as dramatic or revolutionary a step that many [of its critics] have advocated it is,” Senator Clinton repeated to the committee.
The majority of Americans agree. Sixty-one percent of people polled strongly support the bill. Many businesses champion the bill as well; a myriad have already implemented something similar in their company policies. Statistics show that a staggering 86 percent of Fortune 50 companies and 60 percent of Fortune 500s have a policy prohibiting the discrimination of employees based on sexual preference included in their guidelines.
Civil rights organizations have been urging passage of the bill for years. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and the Human Rights Campaign have also launched a website, www.equalityatwork.org, to help inform the public about ENDA. “As our nation enters a new century when our survival depends upon the contributions of every American, the United States Congress should send a strong signal that merit and hard work--not bias and stereotypes-- are what counts in job opportunities and the workplace in America,” said Wade Henderson, executive director of the LCCR.
Charles Gifford, president and CEO of FleetBoston Financial Corp, appeared as a witness to testify in favor of the bill. He stated that their commitment to all their 450,000 employees is the same--“to create an environment where everybody can excel.” Gifford testified to the committee that when employees are afraid to express themselves for fear of discrimination, they are less productive workers; a consequence that negatively affects the company as a whole.
Lucy Billingsley, co-founder of The Billingsley Company, a small business with thirty employees also testified about the beneficial effects of ENDA. She stated that, “Prejudice in the workplace does not just hurt the victim; it also establishes a corporate culture of secrecy that lowers the contentment and productivity of all workers.”
Another witness was Larry Lane who worked as a manager for the New York division of Collins and Aikman Floorcoverings where he says he experienced first hand the prejudice that ENDA targets. Two weeks after he “confessed” that he was gay, Lane was told by his supervisors that “his job was in jeopardy” because he “just didn’t fit in the company” anymore. Having received only positive feedback in the past concerning his work performance, Lane was stunned. He filed suit under the New York City anti-discrimination statute, and is awaiting trial. In his testimony, Lane stated he was fortunate that he lived in one of the few cities that had an anti-discrimination law, for if he had not, he would have had no recourse to this blatant disregard of his civil rights.
Senator Kennedy hopes to have the bill heard on the Senate floor by March.
