Bush Appointee Criticized for Distorting GLBT Anti-Discrimination Information
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 3/31/2004
A Bush administration appointee is under fire from civil rights groups for removing information regarding federal discrimination protections for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders.President Bush's new appointee to the Office of Special Council, Scott J. Bloch, removed sexual orientation anti-discrimination language from the OSC's website, OSC training slides, and an OSC brochure titled "Your Rights as a Federal Employee."
Bloch defended his action by claiming uncertainty in the legal interpretation of the provision between sexual "conduct" and sexual orientation, however the 1978 Civil Service Act prohibits discrimination against federal employees and applicants on the basis of off-duty conduct that does not affect job performance. Although the statute does not refer to sexual orientation specifically, it has long been interpreted to include sexual orientation. In 1998, Executive Order 13087 affirmed that.
"Put quite simply, the OSC is undermining policies that were implemented during the Reagan administration, and then claiming that these protections have only been recently added," said Human Rights Campaign President Cheryl Jacques. "This looks and feels like a thinly veiled attack on gay Americans that is being shoddily covered up by the OSC."
Bloch's predecessor at OSC, Elaine Kaplan, said that the removal of the reference to "sex orientation" contradicts the OSC's mission, which is to investigate and prosecute discrimination that occurs in the federal work place.
In an open letter to Bloch, Kaplan called Bloch's claim "demonstrably inaccurate" and continued to say, "I cannot imagine where you derived this understanding of the basis for OSC's pre-existing policy regarding sexual orientation discrimination complaints."
In an interview with the Federal Times, Kaplan said, "it basically suggests that if you're discriminated against because you're gay, that may not be illegal."
Civil rights groups attest that the removal of sexual orientation discrimination provisions from federal employee guidelines will allow federal employers to discriminate against employees based on their sexual orientation.
