If Congress passes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA – HR 2015), stories like the following could become commonplace across America:
— A transgender podiatrist sued St. Luke’s Hospital of Allentown, Pa., claiming she was fired because “she” had stopped being a “he.” Terms of a court settlement were not disclosed, but the hospital said it agreed to add “gender identity and expression” to its patient bill of rights and educate hospital staff on gender identity and sexual orientation issues.
— A California software maker paid a settlement and legal fees totaling more than $1 million because the company did not promote a man who had come to work dressed as a woman. It did not matter that the company did not even know the “woman” was a man. The “victim” sued under California’s “sexual orientation” law. To cover for the settlement costs, eight employees were laid off, with the number eventually growing to 20.
ENDA would “strike at the very heart of our American liberties,” said Doug Napier, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. It’s especially threatening to businesses that are already “regulated to death,” Napier said. “And now we’re going to tell you who you can hire and who you can’t fire, based on a category of protection that is not based on an immutable characteristic, but a choice of lifestyle.”
Tom Strohbar, an expert in stockholder interests in Dayton, Ohio, said the workplace is the wrong place for this issue, where it is inappropriate – even illegal – for employers to inquire about workers’ sexual activities or orientation.
“Really, what they should be asking employees is that when they come to work, they don’t talk about their personal sexual interests and activities,” Strohbar told Family News in Focus. “And if they don’t talk about these things, the issue is completely moot. We don’t need the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.”
A magazine-publishing executive said his company has an anti-discrimination policy, but passage of ENDA would give rise to unfounded lawsuits.
“People may come to apply for a job here in editing or production or selling or whatever, and if they didn’t get the job, they might hit us with a lawsuit, saying we discriminated against them,” said Vern Nelson, co-owner of Nelson Publishing Inc., in Sarasota, Fla. “We pick the best person for the job. It’s all about the ability they have to do the job and their experience and fulfilling the job requirements.”
TAKE ACTION
Contact your U.S. representative and ask him or her to oppose ENDA. It's especially important for lawmakers to hear from Christian business owners and associations. You may send a message more easily than ever through our new CitizenLink Action Center.
