Employment Non-Discrimination Act Passes U.S. Senate Committee


Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee Passes Bill, 15 to 7

What is ENDA?

In thirty-three states that don’t have legislation prohibiting discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, it is perfectly legal to fire a LGBT employee solely due to their sexual orientation and gender identity, characteristics completely irrelevant to job performance. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act would finally put in place uniform and comprehensive protections for the LGBT workforce in all fifty states.

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) submitted to the Committee letters from over one hundred businesses and over 140 religious organizations endorsing ENDA.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is legislation that would provide protections in the workplace for LGBT employees.  According to the Williams Institute at UCLA Law, it is estimated that the number of LGBT employees are as follows: seven million in the private sector; one million state and local employees, and 200,000 employees of the federal government. Thirty percent of state and local LGBT employees live in California and New York.

Who is Exempt From ENDA

The current version of the bill #S815 prohibits private employers with more than fifteen employees from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Exempt from the legislation are non-profit membership-only clubs, except labor unions, and religious organizations.

Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois is the co-sponsor of the bill along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Senator Harkin is the Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.  

How the Bipartisan Vote Split:

Only Republicans at the hearing were Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Kirk (R-Il.).  Every Democrat except Casey (Pa) and Hagan (D-NC) were at the ENDA hearing. The Republicans who voted no were  Lamar Alexander, Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Rand Paul (Ky), Pat Roberts (Kansas) and Tim Scott (S.C.)  Republican Senators Orrin Hatch, Mark Kirk, and Lisa Murowski voted yes to the passage of ENDA.

History of ENDA

The full Senate may take up the bill in the fall of 2013.  Enda hasn’t had a vote on the House or Senate Floor since November 2007, when it passed the House by 235-184.  It has been introduced in every session of Congress except one since 1994.  Representative Jared Polis, Democrat of  Colorado introduced the bill in the House and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Or) introduced it in the Senate.

Comments About the Vote on July 10, 2013

Senator Harkin:  “This is a great day, not only for the Committee, but also for America.  It is time, long, past time to prohibit workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Senator Mark Kirk: “ The bill is necessary so gay Americans won’t have that potential cloud of discrimination over them.”

The White House Press Secretary Jay Carney: “We look forward to the full Senate’s consideration of ENDA, and continue to urge the House to move forward on this bill that upholds America’s core values of fairness and equality.”

Senator Orrin Hatch:” I voted for it because it prohibits discrimination that should not occur in the workplace.”

President Obama wants to sign the legislation and is urging quick passage of ENDA.

 

The Kids Are Alright : Teens with Lesbian Mothers Fare Well

Williams Institute’s 26-Year Study Proves Conservatives Wrong

Conservatives who believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman ( DOMA) and that children should not be raised by homosexuals, now have proof that the modern family they fear actually works.

Teens Are Well-Adjusted

The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at UCLA Law is an independent research think tank.  Their 26-year-old study of families headed by lesbians shows that lesbian’s teen children had high school GPAs in the A- to B+ range, and nearly all planned on attending four-year colleges.

Good Parenting Skills

The Principal Investigator of the study, Nanette Gartrell, MD, distinguished visiting scholar at the Williams Institute, reported that these kids were planned and the mothers were very engaged in parenting.  Almost all of the 78 adolescents in the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the longest-running and largest prospective investigation of U.S. lesbian mothers and their children, reported their mothers as good role models.

“They teach me to be accepting of all people on this earth, no matter what differences they may have,” wrote one of 38 adolescent boys in the study.

Ease with Heterosexual Friends

The NLLFS  examines the social, psychological and emotional development of the children as well as the dynamics of planned lesbian families. In the study, “Adolescents with Lesbian Mothers Describe Their Own Lives,” initiated by Dr. Gartrell in 1986, the teens were asked questions about academics, extracurricular activities, friendships, family interactions, role models, health problems, wellbeing, and aspirations.

The 17-year-olds reported many close friends, mostly heterosexual, and of the same age.  Most of the teens felt comfortable bringing friends home to same-sex parents, informing their friends about their mother’s lesbianism and confiding in their mothers. For the full study, visit http://bit.ly/Rtrhri.

Prior Studies

The same group of teenagers tracked in prior studies demonstrated more competencies and fewer behavioral problems than an age-matched normative sample of American youth.  Studies found that family closeness helped counteract negative effects of homophobic stigmatization that adolescents with lesbian mothers experienced.

The Williams Institute found in another earlier study of young children of first-time adoptive parents that the children of same-gender parents were less gender stereotyped in their play behavior than the children of heterosexual parents.