Could LGBT people be eligible for employment protections under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964? In an historic move, the EEOC is working to make that happen.
ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, has been introduced into every Congress except one for the past 20 years, and dates back in another form since 1974. It hasn’t passed, and in the current environment, with a Republican-controlled House and Senate, doesn’t look likely for years to come.
Chris Geidner at Buzzfeed just broke the news that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is looking to use the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect LGBT people in employment.
“In a comprehensive field memorandum issued Feb. 3 and obtained by BuzzFeed News, the agency argues that LGBT job protections should be — and within the agency, already are — available under current law,” Geidner reports.Â
Citing “increasing support” for Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include transgender people, as Attorney General Eric Holder stated he believes it does, the Buzzfeed piece notes that the “argument that sexual orientation should be covered under Title VII’s sex discrimination ban, however, is more of an uphill battle — particularly due to some early court rulings that held explicitly that sexual orientation discrimination is not protected by Title VII.”
To be clear, nothing is set yet, but the fact that the EEOC is working towards a goal of making it illegal to fire someone for being LGBT is historic.Â
Geidner’s piece is extensive but well-worth the read, and it includes the EEOC memo.
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Image via Wikimedia
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