Gay Rights Issue Won’t Go Away

Only a few days ago, it looked as if the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would be able to move through the Senate and on to the White House for President Clinton’s expected signature. Supporters of ENDA, which explicitly prohibited job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, pointed to polls strongly supporting their cause. One conducted earlier this year for Newsweek, for example, said that 84% of Americans surveyed thought gay men and lesbians deserve the same treatment in employment as everyone else.

Colleagues of the bill’s chief sponsor, Edward Kennedy, said they had 49 of the 100 senators on board and expected support from a 50th member, David Pryor (D-Ark.), who opposed an earlier legislative ban on gays in the military. Thus the vote would be 50 to 50 and Vice President Al Gore would break the tie with a “yes.”

Suddenly, Pryor was called away to the bedside of his ailing son. The result of that fluke was that this sensible and fair bill was defeated in a hair-thin vote of 49 to 50.

Though some legitimate concerns were raised during the writing of ENDA, all significant ones were addressed in the final legislation. By exempting religious institutions, the act respected their rights. And by excluding the armed forces, it assuaged the military’s concern that the act would somehow invalidate its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on homosexuals, an already questionable rule.

In view of the close vote, it would be a mistake to deem ENDA dead. California already has a law prohibiting sexual discrimination on the job. But it is one of only nine states to offer such protection, and that’s far from enough.

Take the case of Ernest Dillon, a gay postal worker in Michigan who was taunted, ostracized and beaten unconscious by co-workers. When Dillon brought the matter up to his supervisors, they told him not to waste their time. In a subsequent lawsuit, a federal court rejected his complaint because discrimination based on sexual orientation is not covered under federal law.

It is time for that to change.