After two s of lobbyg for the Employment Non-Discrimatn Act, the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force has cid to whdraw s support for the bill. In the wake of the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby cisn, the group fears that the ENDA's broad relig exemptn would allow pani to discrimate agast employe for their sexual orientatn or genr inty. Melissa Block speaks wh the group's executive director, Rae Carey, about the move.
Contents:
- HOW HOBBY LOBBY SPL THE LEFT AND SET BACK GAY RIGHTS
- DO THE HOBBY LOBBY DECISN THREATEN GAY RIGHTS?
- HOBBY LOBBY RULG PROMPTS GAY RIGHTS GROUPS TO REJECT PRIZED BILL
- THE LEGACY OF THE HOBBY LOBBY CASE: PROTECTG ANTI-GAY DISCRIMATN?
- THE HOBBY LOBBY RULG IS SURPRISGLY GOOD FOR GAYS
HOW HOBBY LOBBY SPL THE LEFT AND SET BACK GAY RIGHTS
But the major nflict that has epted the wake of that cisn has been between relig eedom and gay rights. The rultg ntroversy has spl gay-rights and fah groups on the left, wh wi-rangg polil fallout that some now fear uld hurt both chapter of the ntroversy is set to close on Monday, when Print Obama plans to sign a long-awaed executive orr banng feral ntractors om discrimatg agast gays and lbians, acrdg to a Whe Hoe official. Many proment gay-rights groups have now whdrawn their support om a top legislative prry, the Employment Non-Discrimatn Act, over the relig exemptn ntas.
DO THE HOBBY LOBBY DECISN THREATEN GAY RIGHTS?
“The relig exemptn bate has now been polarized to the pot where people are sayg, ‘All or nothg, ’” said Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, director of social policy for the center-left thk tank Third Way, whose rearch and activism on gay marriage have been stmental to that e’s mastream acceptance. Some gay-rights and civil-liberti advot had lled on Obama to elimate that provisn.
HOBBY LOBBY RULG PROMPTS GAY RIGHTS GROUPS TO REJECT PRIZED BILL
But the new orr will not clu a broar relig exemptn that would allow nonprof ntractors to refe employment to gays if they viewed as nsistent wh their fah. (ENDA’s exemptn don’t apply to for-prof pani like Hobby Lobby, but would allow a Catholic school, for example, to fire a gay teacher or janor. ) Such an exemptn ma many gay-rights mpaigners nervo, but most accepted as a necsary polil promise to get the vot of morate Catholic Bishops reneged on the al, g out opposn to ENDA 2010 spe the exemptn.
Many of the Republins who voted for the bill, such as Utah Senator Orr Hatch, ced the exemptn as the reason they uld support the Republin-ntrolled Hoe clg to brg ENDA up for a vote, gay groups lled on Obama to take executive actn by applyg s provisns to feral ntractors. Gay-rights groups lobbied agast cludg an exemptn the executive orr. On July 8, the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn, Gay & Lbian Advot & Defenrs, Lambda Legal, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights, and the Transgenr Law Center announced they would no longer support ENDA as long as clud the relig exemptn.
THE LEGACY OF THE HOBBY LOBBY CASE: PROTECTG ANTI-GAY DISCRIMATN?
The Gay & Lbian Task Force even lled on Obama to veto ENDA if reached his sk wh the exemptn language gay-rights voic urged utn. The Human Rights Campaign, the natn’s largt gay-rights anizatn, said still supported ENDA but would fight for a narrower relig exemptn the bill. Third Way issued a memo tled “Don’t Abandon ENDA Over Its Relig Exemptn, ” notg that even wh the exemptn, the bill would reprent huge progrs and ensure protectn for the vast majory of currently vulnerable LGBT the past , a growg partnership between gay-rights groups and relig lears has been stmental to the advancement of gay rights, both terms of policy and social acceptance.
The partnership was mutually beneficial: Church’ image benefed om showg a more tolerant face to the world, while gay-rights mpaigners benefed om showg they weren’t opposed to fah.
“I hope the larger progrsive muny is begng to unrstand that we need people of fah for all of our stggl, ” Alan van Capelle, who helped get gay-marriage passed New York as head of the Empire State Pri Agenda, told me last year. The executive-orr bate spl relig-left groups and gay groups alike to opposg mps. ” Progrsiv like Wear and Wallis, who see themselv as eply, spirually mted to gay rights, surely would be dismayed at beg lled “right-wg nservativ.
THE HOBBY LOBBY RULG IS SURPRISGLY GOOD FOR GAYS
” Such name-llg, advot fear, uld alienate alli that have been tremendoly important to the e of gay larger fear is that such spls uld brg back the bad old days when gay rights and relig rights were seen as irrencilable—and liberals suffered polilly for the image that they were alienated om relig valu. "Though most legal experts agree that race-based discrimatn is unlikely to return, the Hobby Lobby cisn is already havg an effect on the fight for gay rights the workplace.
Meanwhile, a number of gay rights groups have whdrawn support om the Employment Non-Discrimatn Act, a bill passed by the Senate but stalled the Hoe that would ban employment discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people. A se like that volv a form of speech, which a pany is paid to create somethg— this se, photographs of a gay weddg—that go agast s relig beliefs. " Over the years, Green and his evangelil leangs served as the talyst for a number of disput, cludg claims of anti-Semism, homophobia, and evangelizg public schools.