{"id":5191,"date":"2010-01-08T05:46:59","date_gmt":"2010-01-08T05:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-4.html"},"modified":"2010-01-08T05:46:59","modified_gmt":"2010-01-08T05:46:59","slug":"law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-4.html","title":{"rendered":"Law at the Jesus Creed: David Opderbeck"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lawbook.jpg\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Today I received a broadcast email from the Family Research Council, a prominent conservative Christian group, urging me to “Stop Obama’s Crossdresser Protection Bill.”  <\/span>The email referred to the “Employment Non-Discrimination Act” (ENDA), which would prohibit employment discrimination against homosexual and “transgendered” people.  <\/span>According to the email, “[a]ll American employers including Christian owned business and potentially Christian ministries would be affected.” <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the email, President Obama recently appointed a transgendered person, Mitchell (Amanda) Simpson, to a post in the Commerce Department.  <\/span>“The day after Simpson began work,” the email states, “[t]he New York Times reported that the main website advertising jobs with the federal government now says there will be no ‘discrimination’ based on ‘gender identity’- even though Congress has never passed a law saying that<\/i>.”  <\/span>(Emphasis in original)  <\/span>The email notes that this new policy only applies to federal employees, but then raises the specter of ENDA extending the policy to the private sector.<\/p>\n

Should the law prohibit employment discrimination against homosexual and “transgendered” people?  <\/span>Does the FRC email fairly lay out the issues?<\/b><\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ll be honest: 
\n<\/span>the FRC email seems somewhat disingenuous to me, although (or perhaps
\nbecause) the underlying issues are complex.<\/p>\n

Let’s start with the government jobs website, USAJobs.gov<\/a>.  <\/span>There is nothing on the site’s homepage about the gender
\nidentity policy.  <\/span>However, a bit of
\ndigging reveals a link to this Equal Employment Opportunity Policy
\nStatement:  <\/span>“The United States Government does not
\ndiscriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national
\norigin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital
\nstatus, disability, age, membership in an employee organization, or other
\nnon-merit factor.”  <\/span><\/span><\/i>The American Civil
\nLiberties Union blog<\/a> reported on January 6, 2010 that “gender identity” was
\nin fact recently added to this list by the Obama Administration. (In fact, I
\nsuspect that the FRC email and the ALCU blog are playing off of each other.)<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nreference to “non-merit factors” is a potential key to the EEO statement.  <\/span>Existing
\nfederal law<\/a> prohibits job discrimination, among other things, based on “conduct which does not adversely affect the
\nperformance of the employee or applicant or the performance of others.” <\/i> <\/span>I’m not aware of any evidence suggesting
\nthat cross-dressing or sex-reassignment surgery affect one’s ability to perform
\nthe basic duties required by most federal government jobs.  <\/span>Moreover, I’m certain that most social
\nconservatives aren’t really worried about whether a guy in an Armani cocktail
\ndress can write reports on grain production for the Commerce Department just as
\nwell as a guy in a Brooks Brothers men’s pinstriped business suit (or a guy in
\nmetrosexual skinny jeans, or a guy working from home in his underwear…).  <\/span><\/p>\n

Is the new EEO
\npolicy for federal government jobs consistent with existing federal law?  <\/span>Is it bad policy?  <\/span>Does the FRC email critique the EEO
\npolicy in a fair and balanced way? 
\n<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Turning to ENDA, there are several
\nbills currently pending before Congress that are designed to extended federal
\nemployment discrimination protection to the categories of sexual orientation
\nand gender identity.  <\/span>Under current
\ncivil rights law, it is unclear whether federal employment discrimination
\nprotections apply to these categories. 
\n<\/span>A number of states exclude these categories from protection under state
\nlaw.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each of the pending ENDA bills
\nincludes the following provision: 
\n<\/span>“<\/span>This
\nAct shall not apply to a corporation, association, educational institution, or
\nsociety that is exempt from the religious discrimination provisions of title
\nVII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964<\/span>. . . .”  <\/span><\/i>Such exempt organizations generally include churches and
\nsocial welfare organizations with specifically religious purposes.  <\/span>It is conceivable that a court could
\nconstrue Title VII narrowly and require some religiously-affiliated organization
\nor institution to comply with ENDA. 
\n<\/span>But as the law is written, it clearly would not <\/i>require religious organizations to do so. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is true, however, that businesses that are owned <\/i>or managed<\/i> by people with certain religious convictions, but that do
\nnot qualify for a Title VII exemption, would be required to comply.  <\/span>For example, an accounting firm owned by
\na Christian who opposes homosexual practice would not be permitted to
\ndiscriminate in employment based on sexual orientation or “gender
\nidentity.”  <\/span><\/p>\n

Does the FRC email truthfully portray the
\npurpose and potential effect of ENDA? 
\n<\/span>Should Christian-owned businesses not organized for specifically
\nreligious purposes be prohibited under federal law from discriminating in
\nemployment based on sexual orientation and\/or gender identity?<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I received a broadcast email from the Family Research Council, a prominent conservative Christian group, urging me to “Stop Obama’s Crossdresser Protection Bill.”  The email referred to the “Employment Non-Discrimination Act” (ENDA), which would prohibit employment discrimination against homosexual and “transgendered” people.  According to the email, “[a]ll American employers including Christian owned business and potentially Christian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law"],"yoast_head":"\nLaw at the Jesus Creed: David Opderbeck - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/01\/law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-4.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Law at the Jesus Creed: David Opderbeck - 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