CHICAGO, Ill. – A press release submitted by Attorney General Lisa Madigan today outlined her call to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner to bring to a vote the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and extend anti-discrimination protections to the millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans across the country.
The press release stated that Madigan and 13 other attorneys general sent a letter this week to Boehner urging him to act following passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the U.S. Senate earlier this month.
If enacted, the law would provide important protections against discrimination for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans and prohibit employers from discriminating against their employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“No one should be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation,” Madigan said. “As we make strides on marriage equality in Illinois and across the country, we also must put an end to discrimination in the workplace for these millions of Americans. I urge members of the House of Representative to follow the Senate’s lead.”
Attorney General Madigan was a strong supporter of a change to Illinois’ Human Rights Act in 2005 to prohibit discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity. And Madigan has long advocated that the same protections be provided at the federal level. In 2009, she testified before the U. S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee urging lawmakers to follow Illinois’ lead and pass ENDA to extend these important protections and promote tolerance and equality across the country.
Joining Madigan in sending the letter were the attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
~End press release~

However, a more detailed explanation of the ENDA shows that this legislation is targeted more toward hiring discrimination than it is workplace/already-employed discrimination. And that, unfortunately, descends into the slippery slope of a person PERCEIVING that they were “discriminated against” when it may very well just be that they weren’t right for the job, not because of their orientation, but because of their presentation…because some people of a different orientation make it a point to just LOOK weird, on purpose (and don’t get me wrong…some straight people do, too, but they don’t have a platform from which to cry ‘discrimination’), and that appearance may not be good for some professions where they may be applying for jobs…and then if they make discrimination claims against the prospective employer, and the employer has to go through litigation over it…that raises the costs of goods and services to the rest of us, because somebody, after all, has to mind the shop. Seems like a big catch-22 in there somewhere.
So…what is your opinion of what could be perceived as discrimination under this proposed legislation? We’d truly like to see answers to this…your input will help. Is this really going to help protect LGTB people from employers who target them unfairly? or is this going to put more pressure on employers when they genuinely have problems with employees?