Study Illustrates Need for LGBT Anti-Discrimination Laws

What's Up Pennsylvania?


from 365Gay:

(Los Angeles, CA): A study released Tuesday by a University of California - Los Angeles think tank has found workplace discrimination against LGBT employees is as widespread as that against women and visible minorities.

Currently, 20 states and the District of Columbia prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; 13 of those states also prohibit gender identity discrimination.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that laws prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace are used as frequently by LGBT workers as laws prohibiting sex and race discrimination are used by women and people of color.

Analyzing employment discrimination complaints filed with state agencies in states prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination, the study found that five out of 10,000 LGBT people in the workforce file sexual orientation employment discrimination complaints each year, compared to sex discrimination complaints filed by five out of 10,000 women in the workforce and race discrimination complaints filed by seven out of 10,000 people of color in the workforce.

“Our analysis directly questions the popular argument that sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws are unnecessary,” said study co-author M.V. Lee Badgett, research director at the Williams Institute. “They are needed and utilized by the LGBT workforce.”

The report also addresses any worry that expanding employment discrimination to LGBT people would overwhelm state and federal agencies. “Given the size of the LGB population and the filing rates of LGB people, any increase in complaint intake would be negligible,” the study concluded.

Christopher Ramos, a researcher who also worked on the study, said that in eight states sexual orientation claims surpass sex claims; the same is true for three states when compared to race claims.

“Clearly, LGBT employees are not only facing a certain level of discrimination, but also, taking advantage of protective state policies,” Ramos said.”

While almost half of the states in the country have some form of LGBT protection there is no federal coverage for LGBT workers.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, passed the US House in 2007 but without protections for the transgendered.

The legislation would make it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring, firing, promoting or paying an employee.

When ENDA returns it is likely to include gender identity protections.

ENDA, originally introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass), included transpeople, but Frank removed those protections in committee saying it would be impossible to pass.

More than a dozen LGBT groups immediately distanced themselves from the legislation. Frank and the Human Rights Campaign now say they will fight to ensure an inclusive ENDA is passed.

Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute, noted that over 3.1 million LGBT adults live in states that do not provide workplace protections.

“As the debate surrounding the necessity of LGBT workplace protections begins again in Congress we must keep in mind the fragile economic position of these LGBT employees and their families,” Sears said in a statement.