Earlier this week in Richmond, on a tie vote in the Senate General Laws Committee, a bill that would have prohibited sexual-orientation discrimination in state government employment was defeated. Only one of the Republicans on the committee, Jill Vogel, voted in favor of the bill.
Last year a similar bill made it out of committee and was approved on a 24-15 vote in the state Senate before being defeated in the Republican-dominated House of Delegates, where it was left in the General Laws Committee and never got to the floor.
Unlike the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which applies to both the public and private sector, SB 248 (copatroned by Senators Donald McEachin and Adam Ebbin) would have only affected employment discrimination in Virginia’s state government. The private sector would remain untouched by the law.
Four years ago, when similar legislation was under consideration by the General Assembly, I spoke in favor of SB66 as a representative of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia I noted that the RLCVA had endorsed the bill “because we believe it is not the place of the government to discriminate on irrelevant characteristics in employment regarding otherwise law-abiding citizens and taxpayers.”
I added that “if this bill extended to the private sector, I would not support it, and neither would our organization but it is also important to note that the private sector is way ahead of the government in terms of non-discrimination policy. Private businesses recognize that non-discrimination is good business practice. Government is always sluggish and slow to develop ideas like this.”
In this, I am at odds with public opinion, which supports adding gay men and lesbians to the list of protected job discrimination categories.
A poll last November by Rasmussen Reports showed a majority of 54 percent of Americans supports extending job protections on the basis of sexual orientation.
A September 2013 survey conducted by Alex Lundry of TargetPoint Consulting (one of Mitt Romney’s pollsters during the 2012 presidential campaign) reported:
An overwhelming majority of Americans –including’Republicans – support a federal law that protects gays, lesbians and transgender Americans from discrimination in the workplace. Here – unlike other surveys on similar topics – we asked specifically about federal legislation: 68% of registered voters support federal protection, with only 21% oppose. And indeed, intensity here very much lies with the supporters, as 46% strongly favor the law while only 15% strongly oppose it. When it comes to Republicans, 56% support a federal anti-discrimination law, while only 32% oppose.
That poll showed that support for ENDA among Virginians is 65 percent.
These findings are consistent with public opinion surveys going back to the 1990s. Majorities of American voters oppose workplace discrimination — in hiring, firing, and promotion — against gay men and lesbians (or, to use the current term of art, “LGBT Americans”).
So the question I want to ask is, Are Virginia Republicans shooting themselves in the foot by opposing a form of this popular legislation?
After all, the bills that have been coming before the General Assembly have addressed only government employment and have not attempted to impose non-discrimination policies on private employers (who, as I noted earlier, already tend to have adopted those policies on their own initiative).
The TargetPoint Consulting survey also looked into whether elected officials would benefit or suffer by voting in favor of anti-discrimination bills like this. While this survey referred only to the federal ENDA bill, but the sentiment would probably be held by constituents of state lawmakers, as well.
Electoral consequences of support are more positive than negative. 39% of voters say they would support the re-election of a member of Congress that voted for a bill that prohibits employment discrimination against gay and transgender Americans, while 33% say they would oppose their re-election. On this Republicans are split into thirds: 34% would support the candidate’s reGelection, 33% would oppose it, and 34% say it would not matter. And while only 13% of Republicans would actively campaign against their re-election, there are nearly as many Republicans (9%) that would actively campaign for them.
To put it bluntly, opposing anti-discrimination laws that apply to gay and lesbian Virginians is a losing proposition for Republican officeholders.
I can retain my principled opposition to applying these laws to the private sector, but I’m not seeking office or hoping to be re-elected.
Is there a principled argument for permitting the government to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or any other characteristic rather than the ability or inability to perform one’s duties on the job in a competent and effective manner? If so, I have not yet heard it.
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