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10 Myths Conservatives Spread In Opposition To LGBT Employment Protections

By Zack Ford   

The religious right is rolling out talking points in opposition to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), hoping to prevent the Senate from passing the bill in the coming weeks. In addition to outlandish statements that conservatives have made over the past few years, groups like the Liberty Counsel, Traditional Values Coalition, Heritage Foundation, and Family Research Council have distinct talking points they are feeding to Republican lawmakers to try to stall ENDA.
Here’s a look at 10 of the myths they’re spreading about the proposed employment protections for LGBT people:

1. ENDA “Abolishes Gender”

Much of the opposition to ENDA focuses on the protections for transgender people. This talking point portrays respecting trans people’s gender identity as a “radical notion,” essentially suggesting that there is no such thing as gender identity and that it should be fine to discriminate against transgender people. The American Psychiatric Association, however, does recognize “gender dysphoria” as a real human condition and encourages transition when it’s in the best interest of an individual’s mental health. ENDA does not abolish gender; it actually recognizes it in all its forms.

2. ENDA Requires Access To Shared Facilities With The Opposite Sex

Conservatives are particularly concerned about trans people using the bathroom that matches their gender identity. ENDA doesn’t impact public accommodations, but it would impact what facilities employees at a business are allowed to use. Believe it or not, trans people have to go to the bathroom just like everybody else — and they already do. But trans people’s day-to-day life is framed by their gender, not their biological sex, so suggesting that ENDA allows the “opposite sex” into the restroom actually erases trans identities. Conservatives also imply that trans people flip-flop their gender on a day-to-day basis, which simply isn’t true; gender identity is an internal and consistent phenomenon, not a whimsical hobby.
As a recent study found, people often are more comfortable with employment protections for trans people than they are facility protections, but an employee has to be allowed to safely go to the bathroom without being humiliated, so the two can’t realistically be separated. Conservatives who express this bathroom panic can rarely provide an answer to the question, “So then where should trans people pee?”

3. ENDA Mandates Dress And Grooming Standards

This talking point speaks to how the bill would allow trans people to dress according to their gender identity. As the Liberty Counsel writes, “ENDA would force employers to hire individuals that may be contrary to the employer’s image it wishes to portray.” The Family Research Council similarly warns that employers would be forced to “accept as normal” any person with a gender identity variation. In other words, if an employer thinks trans people are ugly or deviant, that should be reason enough not to hire them or justification for firing them. This is an appeal to superficial prejudice and stigma — nothing more.

4. ENDA Harms The Institution Of Marriage

The Liberty Counsel alleges that in states that do not have marriage equality, ENDA will force employers to provide partner benefits to employees with a same-sex spouse or partner. The words “marriage,” “spouse,” “partner,” “benefit,” “entitlement,” and “insurance” appear nowhere in the legislation. ENDA only offers protections in regards to hiring, firing, promoting, and compensation; it does not change states’ marriage laws nor impact how employers abide by them.

5. ENDA Threatens Future Attempts To Ban Same-Sex Marriage

The final solution for conservatives to fight back against the amazing progress marriage equality has made is an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same-sex marriage for the entire country (a.k.a. the “federal marriage amendment” or FMA) — a virtual impossibility. The Liberty Counsel warns that ENDA would create precedent for protecting LGBT people and thus make “traditional sexual morality a form of discrimination.” The Constitution, however, is the final word on the law, so ENDA wouldn’t actually change the validity of the FMA in the improbable event it ever advanced. Given that people overwhelmingly believe ENDA is already law, the only actual consequence of its passage might be that anti-LGBT discrimination of any kind — in the definition of marriage or otherwise — could become even less popular.

6. ENDA Will Have A “Chilling Effect” On Free Speech And “Religious Liberty”

The Traditional Values Coalition worries that employers with “conscience objections or religious reservations” will be threatened with lawsuits from LGBT people. ENDA has two protections against this. First, its religious exemption guarantees that any organization that is already protected under law to discriminate on the basis of religious identity will be allowed to continue discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as well. There is also a provision prohibiting legal retaliation against anybody who opposes ENDA. The only truth to this claim is that people who are not part of religious organizations who want to discriminate against LGBT people just for discrimination’s sake would be liable under the law; that is the whole point of ENDA.

7. ENDA Will Overrule States’ Nondiscrimination Laws

Currently, there are 21 states that protect sexual orientation, including 17 that also protect gender identity. In the rest of the country, anti-LGBT discrimination is otherwise perfectly legal. The Traditional Values Coalition warns that ENDA will “overrule” those 34 other states’ laws by imposing LGBT protections. Just because the states don’t protect LGBT people from discrimination doesn’t mean that they have laws guaranteeing or mandating discrimination; they simply don’t have laws that say anything about LGBT discrimination. In other words, there’s nothing to overrule.

8. Children Will Be Confused By Teachers “Experimenting With Their Gender Identities”

This talking point does nothing but stigmatize transgender identities. All people should have the right to be their authentic selves, including transitioning if that is what allows them to be happy and fulfilled in their day-to-day lives. The same goes for children. If they learn that trans people exist, that isn’t going to make them trans. As Harvey Milk joked over 35 years ago defending gay teachers from the same scare tactics, “If teachers are going to affect you as role models, there’d be a lot of nuns running around the streets today.” If anything, learning that trans people exists might help a few young people understand their own struggles with gender identity, which could lead to a huge benefit for their mental health. Fear-mongering about trans educators only reinforces disapproval of transgender identities.

9. Employers Will Be “Forced To Employ And Affirm” Transgender People

ENDA specifically prohibits quotas and any kind of preferential treatment, so there is no “forced” employment. If an employee comes out as transgender and begins to transition, then yes, ENDA would protect that individual from being fired. That is the express purpose of the law: to protect people from being fired for their identity. Being transgender is not a disqualification from any occupation.

10. Comparing ENDA To Civil Rights Is Just An Attempt To “Stigmatize Public Debate”

Having the freedom to work is not only a basic civil right; it’s the foundation of the American dream. People’s capacity to get a job done and earn a fair wage should not be tied to their identity, whether it’s their sex, race, religion, ability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. ENDA simply guarantees that LGBT people have the same access to participating in the economy as everybody else. This is particularly important for the trans community, which experiences epic rates of unemployment, homelessness, and poverty specifically because of discrimination.

The myths used to oppose ENDA play into prejudice and stigma that some people may already feel about the LGBT community. These biases may well be unintentional and the product of a lack of understanding about sexual orientation and gender identity. Nevertheless, the bill is designed to protect the well-being of people living authentic lives, and such biases must be overcome.

 Make the jump here to read the original article at ThinkProgress

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Tricycle Daily Dharma November 1, 2013

Selfless Action

It is not an untrammeled market economy that is going to redeem our world. It is not strategies of aggression, domination, and repression that are going to make us safe. The secret to transforming the world, the key to security and safety, lies in cooperation and collaboration. It lies in compassion for all beings in the wider web of life, and in generosity and love channeled into selfless action on behalf of people we will never know or see.

- Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, "An Act of Conscience"

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Tricycle Daily Dharma October 31, 2013

Day of the Dead

How do we die as Buddhists in a culture that has developed an abject terror and denial of death—where death has been handed off to the care of professionals and institutions and legislated away from families and communities? How do we die in a culture that is not Buddhist? How do we die with a clear, alert, fearless mind? In fact, we have more possibilities than we may know, but we need to educate ourselves. Most of us are woefully ill-informed about the logistics of dying and caring for the dead in our society—and about how often these logistics can, in fact, be organized in line with our practices and beliefs.

- Mary Talbot, "Dying & Death: A Tricycle Special Section"

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Via JMG: ISRAEL: Civil Unions Bill Introduced

 

Israel's Yesh Atid Party yesterday introduced a civil unions bill that would grant same-sex couples all the rights of marriage. The bill also ends the requirement that straight couples be married in a religious ceremony. The New York Times reports:

American Jewish leaders have strongly urged the adoption of a civil marriage law, fearing that many of their constituents would otherwise be unable to marry in Israel because their family histories do not fulfill the rabbinate’s requirements. The 15-page bill introduced in Parliament on Tuesday was careful not to use the word “marriage,” but would confer on couples in civil unions the same rights and benefits as ones who marry in religious ceremonies. Those eligible for such unions are defined as “two human beings” without regard to gender. It provides a way to dissolve the union, in a parallel to divorce. “We have no argument or clash with the religious establishment, but we do need to provide a civic solution for every person, Jew or non-Jew, gay or straight,” Yair Lapid, Israel’s finance minister and chairman of Yesh Atid, said in a statement.

The bill is opposed by the far-right Jewish Home Party, which presently hold 12 seats in the Knesset and is part of the three-party coalition government that includes Yesh Atid.

Labels: civil unions, Israel, LGBT rights

Reposted from Joe

The Daily Show 10/29/13 The Gayest states in the Union - Alabama & Mississippi with Al Madrigal

Via Wipe Out Homophobia / FB:

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Tricycle Daily Dharma October 30, 2013

Forgiving Yourself

To forgive does not necessarily mean to forget. Sometimes to forget is not wise, but to forgive is wise. And it is at times not easy. It can, in fact, be quite challenging. It will come as no surprise that one of the most difficult people to forgive can be yourself. Yet with patience and gentle determination, it can be done.

- Allan Lokos, "Lighten Your Load"

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Your mind is a shrieking gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill utterly out of control and hopeless. No problem. You are not crazier than you were yesterday. It has always been this way and you just never noticed." -- Bhante H. Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English

Somewhere in this process you will come face-to-face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy. Your mind is a shrieking gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill utterly out of control and hopeless. No problem. You are not crazier than you were yesterday. It has always been this way and you just never noticed. You are also no crazier than everybody else around you. The only real difference is that you have confronted the situation they have not. [And over time you can develop greater discipline]. "Discipline" is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you're wrong. But self-discipline is different. It's the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It's all a show, a deception. Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won't do it. But look within and watch the stuff coming up-restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain-just watch it come up and don't get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that. There is another word for self-discipline. It is patience. 

~ Bhante Henepola Gunaratana ~ "Mindfulness in Plain English"

Via justabahai:

On bullying and being different – Shane Koyczan’s spoken-word poetry by justabahai

Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me" Or do they? Watch this 12 minute TED talk where poet Shane Koyczan puts his finger on the pulse of what it's like to be young and different. It contain snippets of "To This Day" his spoken-word poem (which was created as […]

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Tricycle Daily Dharma October 29, 2013

What is Anger?

Because we imagine anger is never a good thing, it is easy to think we should practice simply not being angry. But that approach is too general and abstract. It’s important for each of us to be precise, to be real, to be personal and honest, to find out exactly what my anger is. To do that we need to ask ourselves lots of questions about its actual nature.

- Nancy Baker, “Precious Energy”

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Via JMG: ATLANTA: All Out Activists Drive Billboard Trucks Past Coca-Cola Headquarters

 

Via press release:

Today, All Out demonstrated outside Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Coca-Cola is one of the largest Olympic sponsors and has the longest continuous Olympic sponsorship history of any of the sponsors. All Out called upon Coca-Cola to continue their strong tradition of support for the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communities by calling for an end of the anti-gay laws now.
All Out members funded three large trucks pulling huge billboards around the Coca-Cola global headquarters to encourage the company to respond to over 140,000 emails from All Out members asking Coca-Cola to do the right thing and condemn the anti-gay laws. In August, All Out members delivered more than 300,000 signatures to the International Olympic Committee headquarters. Members also urged the International Olympics Committee to speak out against Russia's anti-gay law ahead of the 2014 Winter Games.
Last month the IOC confirmed Principle 6 of the Olympic charter includes protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation, but as long as the anti-gay laws are in place during the Sochi Games the Olympic charter is unenforceable. In September, NBC reported record advertising revenue for the 2014 Games, with more than $800 Million already committed. NBC predicted the total could approach $970 Million before the games. Coca-Cola has been a sponsor of the Olympics since the 1928 Games in Amsterdam.

Photo source.

 

Labels: activism, advertising, All Out, Atlanta, Coca-Cola, LGBT rights, Russia, Sochi Olympics

Reposted from Joe

RuPaul Drives... Cassandra Peterson AKA Elvira

Via JMG: Putin: Gays Are Welcome At Sochi

"We are doing everything, both the organizers and our athletes and fans, so that participants and guests feel comfortable in Sochi, regardless of nationality, race or sexual orientation." - Russian president Vladimir Putin, speaking today to Thomas Bach, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee. Gays are welcome to attend, just don't do anything that might let somebody know that you are gay. Otherwise...

 

Labels: LGBT rights, Russia, Sochi Olympics, Vladimir Putin

Reposted from Joe

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Tricycle Daily Dharma October 28, 2013

Sound Meditation

One specific method for practicing mindfulness of body sensations is to focus your attention on sounds. Sounds, like everything else, arise and pass away. Just by listening, you can experience the insight of impermanence, an understanding the Buddha taught as crucial for the development of wisdom.

- Sylvia Boorstein, "Sound Meditation"

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Via BahaiTeachings.org: Baha’i Principles – Human Rights for All

If all of human history had happened today, the concept of human rights for all would’ve been born about two minutes ago.
 
Scholars have determined that no language on earth even contained a word or phrase for the concept of human rights before the year 1400.  In 1789, the first nations to adopt formal definitions of human rights — the United States with its Bill of Rights and France with its Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen – limited those rights to white, property-owning males.  The first truly egalitarian, global human rights document emerged from the United Nations in 1948 – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Now the basis for international law, the UDHR has become, in the 65 years of its existence, the most-translated document in the history of the world.

 

But almost a century before the UN developed and promulgated the UDHR, the Baha’i Faith became the first religion to call for universal human rights.  Baha’u’llah taught that every country must recognize the common global citizenship rights of all its peoples: “The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.”  Abdu’l-Baha, speaking in Europe and North America in 1911 and 1912, reinforced the Baha’i concept of universal human rights:

Baha’u'llah taught that an equal standard of human rights must be recognized and adopted. In the estimation of God all men are equal; there is no distinction or preferment for any soul in the dominion of His justice and equity. – The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 181.

This early, radical advocacy raised a truly global Baha’i voice for guaranteed rights for all human beings.  In his speeches, addresses and writings Abdu’l-Baha repeatedly pointed out the sheer absurdity of national, racial and gender-based prejudices, which granted rights to some but denied them to others:

…the world of humanity is one race, the surface of the earth one place of residence and these imaginary racial barriers and political boundaries are without right or foundation. Man is degraded in becoming the captive of his own illusions and suppositions. The earth is one earth, and the same atmosphere surrounds it. No difference or preference has been made by God for its human inhabitants; but man has laid the foundation of prejudice, hatred and discord with his fellowman by considering nationalities separate in importance and races different in rights and privileges. - The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 231.

Because of the strong Baha’i emphasis on human rights, the elected institutions of the Baha’i Faith have long made global human rights a high priority.  The Baha’i International Community works closely with the United Nations to extend human rights protections to everyone, including the extremely poor, prisoners of conscience, women and children, the disabled and those who belong to national, ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.  In 2010 The Universal House of Justice, the democratically-elected governing body of the Baha’is of the world, issued this statement on gay rights:

With respect to your question concerning the position Baha’is are to take regarding homosexuality and civil rights… Baha’is are enjoined to eliminate from their lives all forms of prejudice and to manifest respect towards all. Therefore, to regard those with a homosexual orientation with prejudice or disdain would be against the spirit of the Faith. Furthermore, a Baha’i is exhorted to be “an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression”, and it would be entirely appropriate for a believer to come to the defense of those whose fundamental rights are being denied or violated.

Make the jump here to read the full article at Baha'i Teachings

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Tricycle Daily Dharma October 27, 2013

Practice Anytime

It’s definitely the case that we can practice at any given moment. We can always try a little more to be kind, to be compassionate and be careful about what we do and say and so forth.

- Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, "Keeping a Good Heart"

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Via JMG: Google Auto-Complete

 

Inspired by a similar campaign about women's rights, the United Nation's human rights office has launched an ad campaign which notes the most common suggestions when Google searches are made on LGBT-related topics. More results are at the link.

Labels: Google, internet, LGBT rights, United Nations

Reposted from Joe