Démian Cortés Ramírez
140293
Gobierno y procesos políticos de Estados Unidos

Senate moves forward on gay rights discrimination bill nearly 2 decades after falling short

Disponible en: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/anti-bias-gay-rights-employment-bill-clears-first-major-hurdle-in-the-senate/2013/11/04/84558b66-45af-11e3-95a9-3f15b5618ba8_story.html

I choose this new because it talks about some of the issues we have discussed in class and also because it is related to certain chapters of the book we have been reading. The Washington Post reported today that the Senate has moved forward on a bill that is trying to put and end to the so called “workplace discrimination” in the US. This bill’s name is “The Employment Nondiscrimination Act.”

I AGRE with this bill because workplace discrimination is a problem that many members of the LGBT community have to face when they are trying to get a job. And this is an issue that has been affecting the life and productivity of many American citizens. I also AGREE, because the bill is basically trying to put into federal law some values that most of the citizens agree with: justice and equality. As the Washington Post reports, the bill’s main argument is that “job applicants and employees should be judged on their professional credentials and the caliber of their work, and not be held back because of who they are.”

The LGBT community has always been considered a “minority” in the US. In some chapters of the book we talked about the struggle of these minorities to change the “second class citizens” status that has been affecting their rights for so many years. African Americans, Mexican immigrants, gay people are just some examples of these minorities.

But the fact is, that the situation of the LGBT people is changing rapidly. And the younger generations are creating a new public debate in the relations between legislation and sexuality (specifically homosexuality). These changes have a direct impact in the US politics. That is the case of the “The Employment Non-discrimination Act,” which has opened the debate between Democrats and Republicans. Some conservative groups disagree with the bill. For example, John Boehner, R-Ohio, (House Republicans) insists, “that the bill would lead to costly, frivolous lawsuits and undermine job creation.”

But in general terms, the oppositions of the Republicans have been quite soft. And I think that the main reason is because the LGBT movement has become very active in the fight against discrimination laws and practices based on sexual orientation. Some actions have been focused on opposing federal policies that are intolerant against them. A good example occurred a couple of months ago, when the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a California law called Proposition 8 because it did not respect the Fifth Amendment (equal liberty of persons), and after a huge pressure of LGBT activists.

In this case, (the Non-discrimination Act) the Washington Post reported that “seven Republicans and 54 Democrats stood together Monday and cleared the bill past its first hurdle on a 61-30 vote, setting the stage for possible passage by week’s end. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act would prohibit workplace discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.” I think that the LGBT movement is simply doing what other interest groups have been working in the last decades: equal rights for everyone, gay rights are human rights, there is no separation.