[News] [USA] Gay Rights And The Workplace: Was This Election The Tipping Point?

[Stephanie Stevens]

AOL, USA


Gay Rights And The Workplace: Was This Election The Tipping Point?

By Dan Fastenberg

Posted Nov 13th 2012 @ 7:20AM


One of the most striking results of Election 2012 was that gay
marriage initiatives were passed by popular referenda in three states
(Maine, Maryland and Washington).

And voters in a fourth state, Minnesota, rejected a constitutional ban
on same sex marriage. At the same time, the first openly gay senator
was elected to the U.S. Senate, Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin.

But many hurdles remain, beyond the 41 states in which same-sex
marriage still isn't allowed. As far as gay workers are concerned, the
issue can be even more fundamental than government recognition of
relationships -- it's legal to fire a worker for being gay in 29
states.

Significantly, not all movement on gay-related issues
<http://americablog.com/2012/11/chad-griffin-hrc-lgbt-gay-election.html>
is towards the expansion of new rights, as several localities
throughout the country are moving to roll back progress. So it's in
fact a matter of two steps forward, one back. "These results speak to
a nationwide urgency to do more," Chad Griffin, the president of the
Human Rights Commission, said after the election.

Steps Backward

Several local votes have recently sent the gay rights
<http://politicalfiber.com/featured/11/07/five-ways-2012-election-results-will-affect-kansans/>
movement backwards.

In two Kansas localities, Salina and Hutchinson, voters nixed
anti-discrimination ordinances that were already on the books. Both
ordinances would have outlawed discrimination in employment, based on
sexual orientation. Both votes passed by comfortable majorities. In
the case of Salina, the issue cannot be brought up again before the
city commission for another decade. Kansas state law prohibits
discrimination based on sexual orientation in public employment, but
there are no statewide anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBT
workers.

And just weeks before the election, the city of Boca Raton, Fla., was
revealed to have opted out of Palm Beach County's equal employment
provisions <http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-10-22/news/fl-boca-human-rights-20121011_1_gender-identity-civil-rights-anti-discrimination-policy>
back in Jan. 2011. Boca Mayor Susan Whelchel insisted the move was a
way to protect home rule, because the town indeed does "follow state
and federal law." But Assistant Manager of Boca Mike Woika compared
LGBT rights to pet lovers' rights
<http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/news/local-news/7421-boca-raton-officials-compare-lgbt-equality-to-canine-rights-a-bad-hair.html>
. "What's to keep other groups from wanting to be protected?" he said,
according to South Florida Gay News. "How about me? I'm a pet lover...
Someone who has dogs should not be discriminated against either."

The decision to opt out, which was initially presented to residents as
a "housekeeping item," only came to light when the city lost out on a
$250,000 contract to handle hazardous waste, as the county will not do
business with any party that doesn't adhere to to its
anti-discrimination policy. In the end, the city signed a contract
saying they will not discriminate against LGBT employees
<http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/news/local-news/7781-media-reports-about-boca-raton-protecting-gays-are-misleading.html>
to secure the contract. But according to South Florida Gay News, it's
unclear whether the final agreement results in any actual legal
precedent protecting gay residents in the area.

Towards Equality In The Workplace

Near the top of the national agenda for gay rights advocates: To
convince President Barack Obama to sign an executive order banning
employment discrimination against LGBT people
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-badash/what-americas-top-lgbt-leaders-think-obama-must-do-next_b_2094040.html>
working in the federal government and for government contractors. He
passed on doing so earlier this year ahead of the November vote.

Another top priority is the passage of the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act
<http://www.aclu.org/hiv-aids_lgbt-rights/employment-non-discrimination-act>
(ENDA), which would be a safeguard for gays in the 29 states where
they can still be fired for their identity. (ENDA would also make
illegal discrimination for transgendered Americans, who can still be
fired for their identity in 34 states.) ENDA has been proposed every
year <http://www.dailyiowan.com/2012/11/02/Metro/30688.html> in
Congress since 1974, with the exception of 1994, to no avail.

For activists, equality at the altar, which Obama came out in favor of
in May, is simply not enough. "Obama should demonstrate conviction and
make it clear routinely that LGBT people deserve full equality in
every aspect of American life," Herndon Graddick, president of the Gay
and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD), told the
Huffington Post

The National Mood

But whatever does happen to laws affecting gay rights in the
workplace, gay marriage continues to be the true bellwether for the
gay rights revolution. And since the last national election cycle,
support for gay marriage throughout the nation has grown nine
percentage points, according to surveys conducted by the Pew Research
Center. In 2008, 39 percent of America supported making gay marriage
legal. The figure now stands at 48 percent.

Support for gay marriage, which is just on the verge of becoming a
majority viewpoint in the country, is at odds with the legal framework
in many states in the nation. Over the past 15 years, 30 states have
prohibited gay marriage by popular vote. Views vary widely by region;
62 percent support gay marriage in New England, while the figure
stands at 35 percent in the "central South," which includes the states
of Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

Love, Marriage And The Labor Market

The legalization of gay marriage also has proven to have a positive
impact on the labor market, beyond even short-term economic gains for
states that now have more weddings on their hands. (New York City's
economy <http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/11/08/offbeat-jobs-ballot-initiatives-that-actually-passed/>
saw a boost of $260 million in the year after legalizing gay
marriage.)

In reacting to same-sex marriage in Maryland, Ronald J. Daniels, the
president of Johns Hopkins University, the state's largest employer,
told the Baltimore Sun that in his previous job as the provost of the
University of Pennsylvania, he saw the school was able to attract
talent from the state of Wisconsin when that state voted down the
extension of health care benefits for same-sex domestic partners in
2005.

And so for him, the Maryland law
<http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-11-10/business/bs-bz-same-sex-marriage-business-20121110_1_marriage-law-marriage-equality-top-employer>
provides "a strong economic benefit for the state in having a
progressive, humane and just legal environment so we can attract
people, talent and creativity to Maryland and keep them within the
state."


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