Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Omar G. Encarnación, writing in Foreign Affairs, argues that the recent advance in ensuring same-sex couples can marry in the United States is much more modest progress on LGBT rights than one would think: "the United States lacks not only federal legislation protecting same-sex marriage but also federal laws banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, better known as ENDA -- a law intended to prevent antigay discrimination in the workplace -- has languished in Congress since it was first introduced in 1974." He notes that conservative parties in countries like Argentina, Chile, France, Portugal, Spain, and Uruguay, have supported same-sex civil unions as an alternative to marriage. Pope Francis supported such a measure when he was archbishop in Buenos Aires, making "the Republican position on gay rights to the right of the pope." The U.S. Constitution also does not lend itself to a "bold court rulings in favor of gay rights," Encarnación argues. "By and large, the U.S. Constitution remains faithful to its eighteenth-century foundations, which includes a very narrow view of social rights."
 

Legislation to ban employment discrimination against LGBT Americans is stalled in Congress. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has cleared the way for President Barack Obama to protect LGBT federal contractors through executive action, Huffington Post reports. While backers of the legislation would prefer for the legislation to pass, they also would like to see the president protect as many people as possible as his authority allows for. "Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) noted that Obama taking executive action on the issue would be in line with his recent promise to be more aggressive using his own authority where Congress is deadlocked," The Post further reports.

CBS reports: "With the support of every member of the Democratic caucus and some Republicans, the Senate on Monday voted to move forward with the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would prohibit discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity." That means the full Senate is very likely to pass the bill.

But the bill's prognosis in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is not so good. Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner came out against the legislation Monday.

The prognosis is good for the bipartisan passage in the U.S. Senate of legislation that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, the Associated Press reports. However, it is unclear if the legislation would even be taken up in the House of Representatives.

The bill has bipartisan support. "In a sign of the times, the anti-bias legislation has traditional proponents such as the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay and lesbian advocacy group, plus the backing of a relatively new group, the American Unity Fund. That organization has the financial support of big-name Republican donors — hedge fund billionaires Paul Singer, Cliff Asness, Dan Loeb and Seth Klarman — and former GOP lawmakers Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Tom Reynolds of New York," the AP also reports.

Employees who are lesbian, bisexual, gay or transgendered do not have any federal protection from being discriminated against by their employers. The Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate is going to take up a bill that would bar employment discrimination against Americans who are LGBT. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act "would prohibit discrimination by nonreligious entities against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity," The Washington Post reported. The bill, however, has been introduced several times in past legislative sessions and not gotten anywhere.