ENDA Hearing Testimony

Links in pdf:

• Hon. Stuart J. Ishimaru, Acting Chairman, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• William Eskridge, John A. Garver Professor of Jurisprudence, Yale Law School
• Vandy Beth Glenn who was fired from her Georgia state legislative job when she told her supervisor she was transitioning from male to female
• Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, The Religious Action Center
• Brad Sears, Executive Director, Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law

Minority witness testimony:

• Camille Olson, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP
• Craig Parshall, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, National Religious Broadcasters Association

HRC President Joe Solmonese’s written testimony is available here as well as after the jump:

Written Statement of Joe Solmonese, President, Human Rights Campaign
To the Committee on Education and Labor, United States House of Representatives
September 23, 2009

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

My name is Joe Solmonese, and I am the President of the Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all. On behalf of our over 750,000 members and supporters nationwide, I am honored to submit this statement in support of H.R. 3017, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (“ENDA”).

Work is central to all of our lives. Our jobs enable us to support our families, develop our talents, contribute to our communities and our country, and realize our dreams. We all share the challenges of an economic downturn. But for far too many hardworking LGBT people, those pressures are intensified by the fear that they can be denied job opportunities, fired or otherwise be discriminated against just because of who they are. LGBT Americans, like everyone else, want their success to reflect their skills, ambition, and dedication. But this modest goal is not a reality for many LGBT people. In 29 states, it is still legal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation, and in 38 states, it is legal to fire someone because of their gender identity.

Because an employer in these states may legally fire, refuse to hire, or fail to promote an employee based upon sexual orientation or gender identity, LGBT people are at a great disadvantage in the workplace. For instance, studies show that sexual orientation has a negative impact on earnings among individuals with similar education and background. A 2007 survey of these studies found that gay men earn from 10% to 22% less than heterosexual men with the same education, experience, race, occupation, and geographic location.

Across this country, lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees must avoid simple actions that their heterosexual coworkers take for granted—placing a family picture on a desk; describing weekend plans over lunch; commuting to work with a partner; wearing a ring. For a transgender employee, the challenge is even greater. A person could have to forego living in her true gender at all, whether on or off of the job, in order to stay employed.

It is time for a federal law that would make it illegal to fire a LGBT person just because of who they are. ENDA will bring the value of meritocracy to a community that has had to do without it for too long.

ENDA is a narrow, focused piece of legislation modeled after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark legislation which protects individuals against employment discrimination on the bases of race and color, as well as national origin, sex, and religion. Title VII is a longstanding, respected employment statute with which employers, employees, courts and the American people are very familiar. By following this model, ENDA provides a clear roadmap to employers and employees as to their obligations and available remedies under the law, and treats the issue of discrimination against LGBT people in the same way as other victims of workplace bias. ENDA does not create any “special rights.” It simply extends to all Americans basic employment protection from discrimination based on irrational prejudice.

Support for this legislation is strong. Polls demonstrate overwhelming public support for the principle of equal job opportunities for lesbian and gay Americans (89% in a May 2008 Gallup poll). Six in 10 Americans specifically support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (Hart Research poll, January-February 2007), including majorities of white (58%), African-American (61%), and Latino (56%) voters, as well as self-described Democrats (70%), independents (55%), and Republican women (52%).

America’s top corporations and small businesses know, in order to remain competitive, they must recruit and retain the best possible talent, including members of the LGBT community. As of September 2009, 434 (87%) of the Fortune 500 companies have implemented nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation. Two hundred and seven (41%) of those companies also cover gender identity in their policies—up from only 3 in 2000. Currently, 60 large corporations and 57 small businesses have joined the Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness in support of ENDA. Among this group of corporations from a wide range of geography and industry are: BP America, Citigroup, Coors Brewing, Ernst & Young, General Mills, General Motors, Kaiser Permanente, Marriot International, Microsoft, Nike and Time Warner. These companies understand that fairness and diversity are good for business.

The civil rights community also stands behind the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a coalition of over 180 civil rights, religious, labor, and women’s rights organizations, has endorsed ENDA. In addition, such well known leaders of the civil rights movement as Coretta Scott King and Rep. John Lewis have spoken out in support of ENDA in the past.

Some of ENDA’s critics would like to misrepresent it as inconsistent with religious liberties. However, many communities of faith also support fairness. Numerous Christian and Jewish organizations and denominations, including The Interfaith Alliance; Union for Reform Judaism; United Church of Christ; and the United Methodist Church have taken a strong stand against discrimination.

ENDA, like other civil rights laws, is sensitive to religious organizations and contains a very broad religious exemption. The Act exempts the same religious entities that are exempt from the religious discrimination provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As a result, houses of worship, parochial and similar religious schools and missions, as well as positions at other entities owned by or closely affiliated with a religious organization are not subject to ENDA’s prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In short, ENDA in no way interferes with a religious entity’s ability to follow its beliefs in making employment decisions.

We are a country predicated on equality. And over the years, we have embraced a more inclusive vision of what that means. In the past five decades, Congress and the President have recognized that race, sex, national origin, religion, age and disability are irrelevant to the ability of a person to do a job and have enacted laws to address discrimination based on those characteristics.

These civil rights laws have improved job opportunity for millions of Americans, raising standards of living and providing hope of a better future for each successive generation. Yet, there remains no federal law protecting LGBT people from being fired from a job, being denied a promotion, or experiencing harassment at work simply because of who they are. The time has come for Congress to finally act and ensure that discrimination has no place in the American workplace.