Civilrights.org

Executive Summary

Hardworking Americans should not be kept from supporting their families and making a positive contribution to the economic life of our nation because of characteristics that have no bearing on their ability to do their job. Many workers have to make a choice of hiding who they are at work in order to support their families at home. It remains legal in 30 states to fire or refuse to hire someone simply because of his or her sexual orientation, and in 38 states to do so solely based on an individual's gender identity. Recently introduced federal legislation, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007 (ENDA), prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in most workplaces.

If enacted, ENDA would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in all aspects of employment, including hiring, termination, promotion, compensation, and most terms and conditions of employment. The bill would also protect workers from retaliation. ENDA would take its place among the other similar federal civil rights statutes that ensure civic equality for American workers, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), by including sexual orientation and gender identity among the federal employment discrimination protections currently provided to Americans based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age and disability. ENDA is an important step toward ensuring fairness on the job for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender employees (LGBT), and it is critical that Congress pass this legislation in order to expand the protection of anti-discrimination laws to more Americans.

Banning workplace discrimination enjoys strong support in the country. In 1996, ENDA came within one vote of passage in the Senate. In 2002, a bipartisan majority of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee voted to send the measure to the floor. Since then, year after year, support for ENDA's simple message of workplace equality has grown. A May 2007 poll conducted by Gallup found that 89% of Americans believe that gay men and lesbians should have equal rights in the workplace. Some of corporate America's most successful businesses have seen the wisdom in preventing arbitrary discrimination within their ranks. Eighty-eight percent of Fortune 500 companies have included sexual orientation in their workplace nondiscrimination policies and a quarter of them also prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. In addition, currently, 20 states and the District of Columbia prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, and 12 states and the District of Columbia prohibit workplace discrimination based on gender identity. According to a 2002 U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) report, these important protections have not led to a flood of litigation, but rather have provided appropriate remedies to a modest number of discrimination cases.

ENDA represents a measured and pragmatic response to prejudice and discrimination. The time has long since come for Congress to end this injustice for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans and pass ENDA.