Think Humanely

This country makes the claim ad nauseam that we are a beacon of liberty and civil rights. If this is true then the rest of the world must be a terribly dark place.

In a country whose founding document and law of the land considered African-Americans to only constitute 3/5ths of a person, bigotry is still widespread. ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, awaiting passage in the United States Senate, seeks to remedy this by providing the same protections based on race, sex, religion, national origin, and age to sexual orientation and gender identity. If made into law, one’s sexual preference and gender identity can no longer be used as a basis for hiring, firing, compensating, or promoting.

No doubt there are those who think such protections are unnecessary. One such individual is Mark Fahleson, chairman of the Republican Party of Nebraska. In testimony to Congress in 2007, Fahleson had the audacity to ask, “is a broad, new federal remedy […] necessary at this time?” He ambiguously claims, “several states and municipalities have enacted local regulatory schemes addressing sexual orientation and/or transgender discrimination in the workplace.” And being the good Republican that he is, he goes on to argue that “it appears the free market and local regulators are already addressing the issues raised by this legislation.”

If only intellectual dishonesty was grounds for perjury charges. Fahleson neglects to mention that there are currently nineteen states that have absolutely no statewide protection for LGBT employees, including Nebraska. Another four only have sexual orientation protections for state employees. These numbers were even higher in 2007 when he testified. Today a meager twelve states provide protection for all LGBT workers. Also, the idea that that free market should be used to handle civil rights issues is not only appalling but historically idiotic. Free markets didn’t grant women citizenship. It didn’t grant women suffrage. Free markets didn’t free slaves or pass the Civil Rights Act. Free markets should concern the price of goods, not human lives.

In 2007 the ACLU issued a report detailing some of the human suffering that is often forgotten when discussing this issue. Diane Schroer was a US Army Special Forces officer who served her country for a quarter of a century. She was hired to work for a library but the offer was quickly rescinded when she informed her boss that she was transgender. Janice Rye was fired from her job at an oil change service center. Management was heard saying “we won’t let that lesbo-bitch get that job.” Alex Gorinsky and Jacinda Meyer both excelled at work. Gorinsky earned raises and positive reviews for five years. Meyer had earned a raise after only nine months on the job. Both were fired; Gorinsky after bringing his partner to a Christmas party and Meyer after her boss learned that she was a lesbian.

These are not isolated cases. Even in San Francisco, often depicted in the media as some liberal utopia, hate towards the LGBT community is real. A young woman was attacked by two adults and two teenagers after they saw the rainbow sticker on her car. They struck her over the head and began assaulting her. When they saw someone coming, they forced her in the car, where they gang-raped her on the way to an abandoned building. Once there, the rape continued. All the while they yelled anti-lesbian slurs. Where was the free market that night, when that poor woman was viciously assaulted again and again, for no other reason than that she loved women rather than men?

Discrimination. Prejudice. Hate. All are alive and well in this country. Once upon a time we recognized the moral and constitutional imperative to step in and say “No more.” We knew that we couldn’t wait for states to slowly come around to the decision that they should protect all their citizens, that they should treat all their citizens fairly. Contact your state’s senators . Tell them that they have that moral imperative once again.