The LGBT Project fights discrimination and moves public opinion on LGBT rights through the courts, legislatures and public education. >> More About the Project
Employment discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers is pervasive and harmful. It violates core American values of fairness and equality by discriminating against qualified individuals based on characteristics unrelated to the job.
Over the years, Congress has responded when it found that people were not being hired or promoted for unfair or arbitrary reasons, such as race, gender, national origin, or disability. When Congress has found such discrimination, it passed laws to restore civil rights by ensuring arbitrary considerations do not determine access to employment. We believe such legislation continues to be an essential part of equal protection under the law.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) offers Congress the opportunity to ensure workplace equality by protecting LGBT workers from employment discrimination. ENDA is pending federal legislation that would ban employment discrimination based on an individual's sexual orientation. The bill protects workers from discriminatory hiring, firing, promotion or compensation practices, as well as retaliation for reporting such practices.
UPDATE: Bittersweet Victory for ENDA
Some victories are bittersweet. On November 7, the House voted 235 to 184 to pass ENDA, barring workplace discrimination against lesbian and gay people. This was welcome news to lesbian and gay people who can be fired or refused a job in 30 states for no reason other than being themselves. The ACLU has been working to pass ENDA or similar legislation since 1974. However, the bill did not include protections for the full lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
The original version of the bill would have also included protections for transgender workers. While the ACLU believes that transgender workers are protected against discrimination under civil rights laws banning sex discrimination, we lobbied hard for the inclusion of gender identity because we feel it is important for Congress to reinforce the position that employees should be judged on the basis of their abilities, not on their gender identity. Unfortunately, key supporters of ENDA in the House decided to strip gender identity from the bill.
The ACLU believes that it was a mistake to cut back on ENDA’s protections, and we worked hard while it was in committee to try to keep a non-inclusive bill from being sent to the floor. However, once it was ready for a floor vote, we supported passage because having a bigger vote for the bill would help in the fight to restore gender identity protection in the next congress.
The spotlight now moves to the Senate, where Senator Kennedy has promised to introduce ENDA soon. However, if the bill does pass both the House and the Senate, the White House has issued statements indicating that the President's advisors are recommending that he veto the bill.
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New Video Shows the Need for a Transgender-Inclusive ENDA
There is no better example of the reason we need a transgender-inclusive ENDA than Diane Schroer, a former Airborne Ranger qualified Special Forces officer. Schroer retired after 25 years of distinguished service in the Army, and began taking steps to transition from male to female shortly thereafter. She was offered a job as a terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress, but the offer was rescinded when she told her future supervisor that she was undergoing gender transition. The ACLU is now representing her in a Title VII sex discrimination lawsuit.
If You've Experienced Job Discrimination, Tell Us Your Story
Now you have the power to end LGBT discrimination on the job. We need your help to persuade lawmakers in Washington that LGBT job discrimination is a problem that demands immediate attention. We need to hear from people who have been fired or refused a job because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
