Why Passing ENDA Should Be a Republican Priority

With the Senate's passage of ENDA - the Employment Non-Discrimination Act - yesterday, the focus will now turn to the House of Representatives.  Sadly, unlike the Senate, the House (or at least its GOP members) is much more under the thumb of the Christofascists of the GOP base who desperately want laws that allow discrimination against gays to give justification to their ignorance and bigotry.  As gay rights have increased, it has become much harder for bigots and homophobes to point to state sponsored discrimination as proof that they are not in fact, horrible, nasty people.  An opinion piece in Politico by Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, lays out why the passage of ENDA ought to be a priority for the GOP if the party is true to its claimed principles.  Here are highlights:

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to protect gay employees from job discrimination with an overwhelming bipartisan vote. Republicans should support these protections, and I hope the GOP leadership in the House schedules the bill for a vote. It’s the morally right thing to do. No one should lose their job, or not get hired, because of their sexual orientation.

Allowing people to be successful in their workplaces is an essential piece of individual opportunity and liberty. Working for a living is one of America’s freedoms. It’s a virtue to be encouraged — and supporting it is important to the future of the Republican Party. In an era in which the government often punishes hard work and individual success, this bill encourages it.

At its core, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is about individual liberty. All employees should be treated the same and be judged on their job performance. No one should receive special treatment, and no one should be fired because of their sexual orientation.

Since the 1960s, Congress has passed laws ensuring that employers can’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion or gender — personal characteristics that have nothing to do with how well someone does his or her job. These laws are widely accepted throughout our society. Who among us today would say an employer should have the right to fire someone because of their faith or the color of their skin? The same sense of fairness and respect should apply to the hundreds of thousands of qualified, hardworking Americans covered by ENDA.

[A] strong majority of Americans (68 percent) said they favored a federal ENDA. Among Republicans, 56 percent nationwide supported the law, while only 32 percent opposed it. Additional statewide polling conducted by conservative pollster Jan van Lohuizen in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Hampshire confirmed those findings.

It’s a little sad that these questions even need to get put to a poll, but old ways of thinking sometimes take time to change. The time for this change has arrived. In fact, many in the business community, recognizing the importance of a qualified, skilled workforce, are well ahead of the federal government.

Now is time for the government to catch up so that nondiscrimination laws protect workers at all companies, not just some.

Politically, it’s about time for the GOP to do the right thing while acting in a more inclusive and welcoming manner. Republicans need to expand our appeal and earn the support of millennials. The younger generation of Americans views gay rights differently than our parents’ generation, and as was noted in an assessment of the Republican Party I co-authored following the 2012 elections, issues like this are gateways into whether young people see the GOP as a party worthy of support.

As for the question, "Who among us today would say an employer should have the right to fire someone because of their faith or the color of their skin?", the answer is simple: your typical Christofascist and Tea Party member.  As I have said before, these folks are not nice and decent people.