181.2 - Footnote: There are still battles to be fought

Footnote: There are still battles to be fought

Even as we are winning this battle, there are still others to be fought on this same front.

There is, for example, no federal law protecting workers from being fired or otherwise discriminated against just for being gay or lesbian. A proposed federal law known as ENDA, the Employee Non-Discrimination Act, would offer such protection to anyone working for an employer with at least 15 employees. It has been introduced in nearly every Congress since 1994. It has never passed.

This is despite the fact that according to a new Harris poll, two-thirds of Americans support such legislation, and 55 percent reject exemptions for any employers - even churches.

Meanwhile, while some states have enacted their own protections, there are still 29 states where you legally can be fired for being gay or lesbian; in 32 states you can be legally fired over issues of sexual identity, that is, for being transsexual.

Most Americans think that this problem has already been solved: A 2013 poll found that 69 percent of Americans think that firing someone just for being homosexual is illegal. Those Americans are wrong.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/fired-for-being-gay_n_6076492.html?cps=gravity
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/31/lgbt-employment-discrimination-churches_n_6082846.html?cps=gravity