Right and Right-Wing... Really?!?

Here we are in the year 2009 and still suffering from prejudice, hatred, and discrimination. The United States Congress has begun hearings regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA - H.R. 2981) and already the right-wing conservative groups are out in force. Focus on the Family, an advocate of religious rights, recently sent a letter to Congress in opposition to the bill. (for the letter's text see here: 9-2-2009 Letter From Focus on the Family) I think that it might benefit the reader to peruse this document as I fully intend to tear it and its tenets to ribbons.

The right-wingers that drafted and supported this letter had something to say about religious freedom. According to Focus on the Family, because most religious faiths oppose the practice or endorsement of homosexuality or "transgenderism," the ENDA will create workplace conflict among employees because of objections to: "religious articles on employees' desks; water cooler discussions about biblical morality; Bible verses taped to cubicle walls; fliers on company bulletin boards advertising discussions concerning traditional marriage." Where in the hell do these people work? Most places that I know tend to frown on these types of displays and activities as it is. I don't think that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) community will be the first to raise objections or dissonance to these types of activities. The first amendment protection of religious freedom extends to ALL religions, even those that DO support (or in the very least, show no opinion on) homosexuality. Do we need to take the right to work away from Catholics or Muslims just because their belief system does not coincide with the Protestants in their workplace? Don't we already have many different peoples of many different doctrines working together in the same companies? How come people from such very different backgrounds can all get along (and are indeed guaranteed equality) but giving equal rights to the LGBT community will suddenly create such a rift? Indeed, I'm sure that there are even atheists and agnostics (both of whose rights to NOT believe are protected by the same legislation that protects the believers' rights TO believe) in the workforce today. Surely the presence of those who don't even BELIEVE in God or religion creates the same form of strife that Mr. Tom Minnery, Senior V.P. of FotF is referring to. Where is the push from the lobbyists to take away THEIR equal rights as well. If Minnery is right, then each workplace should only hire employees who subscribe to the same religious belief and wouldn't THAT be the breeding ground for insight and innovation!

Our founding fathers came here seeking the freedom to believe and worship as they chose. It was for this reason that the hand of Uncle Sam was used to protect religious right, not set religious doctrine. If we allow legislation that only supports the religious right (and indeed it will eventually turn into only CERTAIN religions that are right) then we will be no better than the despotic countries who subscribe to only ONE government-sponsored belief and persecute all non-believers.

I find it humorous that FotF claims that there is no hard evidence to prove employment discrimination against the LGBT community. If discrimination was not seen to be occurring, then why in the hell would Congress be debating a law to prevent it? It's simple logic actually. Many national and international corporations have adopted their own policies on this issue in order to prevent this very thing. Why would Blue Cross, Darden Restaurants, Chase Bank, and Microsoft all have felt the need to write such policies into their employment practices if it wasn't happening? Indeed, discrimination runs rampant. To quote Mr. Minnery, "Moreover, sexual orientation and 'gender identity' should not be equated with race, color, gender or national origin. Homosexuals, bisexuals, and 'transgender' people have never been counted as 3/5 of a person, forced to drink from separate water fountains, made to ride at the back of a bus, or denied the right to vote."

While it is true that widespread discrimination has not yet reached the boiling point that caused our forebears to leave England in the first place and we have not yet hit the rock bottom of the period of slavery, one must wonder: if discrimination is not a problem, why are so many members of the LGBT community attacked, beaten, sodomized, and murdered simply for being who they are? Why would so many legislative bodies have found it necessary to enact hate crime legislation in order to protect a minority group that is not being discriminated against? Obviously, FotF is either denying that this discrimination occurs or advocating in favor of it (I certainly do hope that it is the former). Even women, when they were at their most persecuted, were not MURDERED simply for being women.

We are giving the severely conservative (and disillusioned) groups vindication if we vote down this bill. By allowing government-sponsored (for that's what it will appear to be if the legislation is vetoed) discrimination against a minority group will become acceptable once again in the United States. If we are going to go backwards in time, then why not allow discrimination against ALL minorities? Do we really want to give the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nation, and other supremacy groups of all types license to operate once again within our borders?

You may think that this issue is about simple employment, but look at the larger picture. It is an important precedent to set by the force of legislation that the LGBT deserves equal rights. It will be immensely destructive to the civil rights of minorities as a whole if we allow them to be denied. Our founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they heard the tenets of "religious freedom" and "civil rights" being used to back a movement to ostracize, alienate, and discriminate against an entire group of people with FULL LEGAL AUTHORITY! No one seems to remember why America was founded to begin with. I seem to remember reading something somewhere about 'all men being created equal.' I guess that we have forgotten that in this modern day and age.

I can not believe that any group would lobby AGAINST equal rights and equal employment opportunity for a group of Americans that just want to be productive citizens like everyone else. I sincerely hope that everyone is as outraged as I am and takes a moment to write their senators. If our Congress votes down a bill to protect the employment rights of a portion of the American population, it will definitely be a step in the OPPOSITE direction of equality. How can we continue to be a champion of democracy and a beacon of freedom to the world if we allow prejudice, fear, hatred and bigotry to write our legislation for us? How can America continue to be the land of the free and the home of the brave if large sections of our population are, once again in our history, categorically denied basic civil rights? Voting against ENDA-type policies will send the message that "liberty and justice for all" is no longer available in America! I'm not asking for major changes in life, I'm just asking that our Congress considers the matter and votes on the side of freedom; not freedom for one group, but freedom for all!

Write your Senators... I did... Contact US Senators