Homosexual Employment Bill - ENDA

[Shammu]

House Passes Ban on Job Discrimination Against Gays
Thursday , November 08, 2007

WASHINGTON —
The House on Wednesday approved the first federal ban on job discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

Passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act came despite protests from some gay rights supporters that the bill does not protect transgender workers. That term covers transsexuals, cross-dressers and others whose outward appearance does not match their gender at birth.

The measure would make it illegal for employers to make decisions about hiring, firing, promoting or paying an employee based on sexual orientation. It would exempt churches and the military.

After the 235-184 vote, supporters are expecting a tough fight in the narrowly divided Senate, where Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy plans to introduce a similar version.

A veto from President Bush is expected if the proposal does pass the Senate. The White House has cited constitutional concerns and said the proposal could trample religious rights.

Backers of the House bill proclaimed it a major civil rights advance for gays. "Bigotry and homophobia are sentiments that should never be allowed to permeate the American workplace," said House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C.

The decision by Democratic leaders to exclude protections based on gender identity created sharp divisions in the party and among gay rights activists.

Republicans, meanwhile, said the bill could undermine the rights of people who oppose homosexuality for religious reasons and lead to an onslaught of dubious discrimination lawsuits.

"This is, frankly, a trial lawyer's dream," said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn.

Protections for transgender workers were in the original bill. But Democratic leaders found they would lose support from moderate and conservative Democrats by including transgender employees in the final bill.

"That's a bridge too far," said Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va. "It's better to take it one step at a time."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, however, said excluding transgender workers was shortsighted.

"As we have seen in many states, the failure to include the transgender community in civil rights legislation from the beginning makes it more difficult to extend protections later," said Nadler, D-N.Y.

Rep. Barney Frank, one of two openly gay members of Congress and an important supporter of the bill, urged colleagues not to let the dispute over transgender workers doom an important gain in civil rights.

Frank, D-Mass., said he hoped the bill would send a message to "millions of Americans who are gay and lesbian that they are not bad people, that it is not legitimate to fire them simply because of who they are."

He also pledged to continue to fight for a bill to protect transgender workers.

Job discrimination based on factors such as race, gender and religion are banned under federal law. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have laws against sexual-orientation discrimination.

Only nine states specifically protect transgender people from discrimination: New Jersey, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New Mexico, California, Illinois, Maine, Hawaii, Washington. The District of Columbia has a similar law.

By January, laws also will be in effect in Iowa, Vermont, Colorado and Oregon.

House Passes Ban on Job Discrimination Against Gays

[Shammu]

Churches and the military are exempt (for now) but I wonder how long it's going to be before someone tries to force Churches, the Boy Scouts and other groups to hire gays.

Lawyers and especially judges constantly push the boundaries, you get a judge in there with an agenda and laws are twisted.

It would eventually back fire on them though, people won't want to go through the hassle on walking on eggshells with employees that are sue happy. If you have two qualified applicants and one is gay, they'll go for the non gay just to avoid the risk of being sued for not promoting fast enough, not giving a good enough raise, etc etc etc.

[HisDaughter]

Cries of Intolerance as Evangelical Leader Appointed to Rights Body
By Kevin McCandless
CNSNews.com Correspondent
November 16, 2007

London (CNSNews.com) - Homosexual activists and secularists have raised an outcry over the appointment of a prominent evangelical pastor to Britain's official human rights commission.

The critics charge that the appointment by the government of the Rev. Joel Edwards, head of the Evangelical Alliance, to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will endanger homosexual rights.

According to a statement from the Evangelical Alliance, Edwards will serve as a commissioner to the EHRC, acting as a public voice for the 16-member body that works to eliminate discrimination in the United Kingdom.

The Jamaican-born Edwards has been general director of the alliance since 1997. The group is by far the largest umbrella organization for the estimated two million British evangelical Christians.

Edwards has been lauded for his community work and for reaching out to other faith groups, but the alliance often has been accused of homophobia.

Its longstanding policy is to repudiate homophobia insofar as it denotes an irrational fear or hatred of homosexuals. However, it doesn't accept that rejecting homosexual relations on biblical grounds is in itself homophobic. It urges homosexual and lesbian Christians to lead celibate lives.

Jay Herrick, chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association, called the decision on Edwards one of the "most dizzyingly daft and dangerous public appointments ever."

He said in a statement that Edwards likes to pose as a moderate. "Don't be fooled. His troops of fundamentalists are lining up behind him, whooping with glee."

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said Thursday that appointing someone who was so opposed to both homosexual and abortion rights would seriously damage the commission's reputation.

Although the British government has given faith groups more weight in policy making in recent years, he said, the appointment was a total surprise.

"It came completely out of the blue," he said. "We don't object to Christians per se on the commission but [we do] to someone who has been so vehemently against the rights of the homosexual."

Edwards used the opportunity of a joint address on religious tolerance earlier this week with Britain's chief rabbi to respond to the criticism.

He said the roots of tolerance in Britain are biblically inspired and that to remove religious conviction from public life would be "as sensible as removing the engines from an aircraft in flight."

"A tolerance which calls for the removal of conviction is no tolerance at all," Edwards said. "If modern day politics seeks to silence or exclude voices, be they religious, gay or atheist, then a key pillar of an open society will have been destroyed and we will be the poorer for it."

In its statement on the appointment, the Evangelical Alliance said there would be "many points of tension and challenge" for Edwards in the upcoming months but that it was a fantastic opportunity for him and the wider evangelical community.

"Just as the commission will need to find ways to accommodate Joel's unabashed evangelical identity, Joel will also have to find ways to work with those on the commission he may disagree with," it said.

Another of the members of the commission, Ben Summerskill, is chief executive of Stonewall, a leading homosexual rights advocacy group.

An EHRC spokeswoman said on Thursday that Edwards brings expertise to the body both as a religious leader and a senior figure in the black community. She said the commission would continue upholding the law, particularly those that deal with sexual discrimination.

[Shammu]

Homosexual activists and secularists have raised an outcry over the appointment of a prominent evangelical pastor to Britain's official human rights commission.

What are they afraid of, the Truth??

"We don't object to Christians per se on the commission but [we do] to someone who has been so vehemently against the rights of the homosexual."

Thats because gays are a abomination in the eyes of God.

Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.