The GOP's Next Gay Rights Balancing Act

Survey after survey indicate that Americans support workplace non-discrimination policies for LGBT employees.  Indeed, many mistakenly believe that they already exist.  Yet for the Christofascists in the GOP base, few things are more anathema than a law that would restrict the ability of hate-filled "godly Christians" to fire gays at will.  Indeed, opposition to non-discrimination protections is one of the pillars of the Christofascist goal of keeping LGBT citizens inferior under the law.  Among other things, it is a way to justify their own bigotry.  It is also a way to frightened the ignorant and simple minded into handing over money to hate groups such as Family Research Council.  This dicotomy puts many Republican elected officials on a high wire as they try to prostitute themselves to the Christofascists without totally alienating the rest of the voting public.  A piece in Politico looks at the challenge ENDA will pose for many in the GOP.  Here are excerpts:

[W]hen it comes to the ENDA bill heading to the Senate floor as soon as next week, those GOP senators aren’t so sure. They are balancing growing public acceptance of gay rights against concerns that the bill — which includes provisions addressing gender identity — is too expansive and doesn’t do enough to protect religious institutions.

“I said when I did ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ don’t misinterpret this as a blank check on issues that relate to same-sex anything,” Burr told POLITICO.

With the Senate poised to consider perhaps the most significant gay rights measure since the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a handful of Republican senators will help determine its fate. While the bill has the support of every Senate Democrat, just four out of 44 Republican senators have yet to endorse the measure — a sign of how the party is still trying to appeal to a new bloc of voters who are becoming more open to gay rights.

“It’s significantly broadened [from the 2007 House bill], and with that comes greater possibilities for litigation and compliance costs,” Flake said. “I’m a firm ‘no’ if it’s the Senate bill.”

But supporters of the measure say those concerns are misplaced. And with Republicans in Congress still overwhelmingly opposed to gay marriage despite growing public approval of the issue, GOP backers of the ENDA bill argue that supporting the measure would help broaden the party’s appeal to young and LGBT voters who have been turned off by social conservative policies.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) . . . added, “Some of us aren’t there on marriage equity, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t be there on nondiscrimination. We’re the party of Lincoln. It’s our roots.”

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 would address discrimination in the workplace by making it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or refuse to promote employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. It is crafted to mirror Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, though it provides what proponents call a “broad” religious exemption.

[T]he American Unity Fund, founded by major GOP donor Paul Singer, has hired two former GOP lawmakers as lobbyists — Coleman and former New York Rep. Tom Reynolds — to press Republicans to back the plan. Reynolds is making clear that this issue isn’t the same as gay marriage — an issue he opposed when he served in Congress — saying the bill eliminates only “workplace discrimination.”

A prime target for backers of the bill is Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who became the first sitting GOP senator to back same-sex marriage earlier this year after learning his college-age son is gay.

Proponents of the measure say it’s time for the federal government to catch up as 17 states, the District of Columbia, and hundreds of local governments have laws on the books to prevent workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians. A wide array of Fortune 500 companies have also adopted such policies. And polls show that an overwhelming majority of the American public not only supports the proposal but also believes such laws are already on the books.

“The times they are a-changing,” said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s No. 3 Democrat. “If you want to alienate young voters, opposing this is a good way to do it. And they know that.”

Meanwhile, some of the usual hate groups are shrieking about male sexual predators dressing as women in order to prey on children in rest rooms.  Hate and lies are the defining attributes of today's conservative Christians.