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 Gets Wide Support ENDA Praised by Large Corporations & Small Businesses Support from FleetBoston, Eastman Kodak, Billingsley Co. |
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Compiled by GayToday Human Rights Campaign
"As long as tens of thousands of people go to work each day with fear in their hearts, our nation fails to live up to its promise of basic fairness for all," said Elizabeth Birch, HRC's executive director. "We must consciously choose to mold an America where each person's contributions are respected and where everyone is allowed to work with dignity. We look forward to a mark-up on ENDA in committee soon and a Senate vote as promised by Sen. Daschle before the end of the session." The hearing consisted of two panels. The first highlighted corporate and labor support for the legislation. Business leaders and sixty-five companies, including twenty-nine major corporations have endorsed ENDA. The second panel featured, Matthew Coles, a civil rights attorney with the ACLU who answered legal questions from the committee about ENDA, and Lawrence Lane of Long Island, N.Y., who told his personal story of discrimination in the workplace. FleetBoston President and CEO Charles K. Gifford testified that passing ENDA is about promoting equal opportunity and eliminating discrimination. "The lack of workplace protections based on sexual orientation leaves a gaping hole in America's commitment to equal opportunity and is an invitation to the perpetuation of stereotype and prejudice," Gifford told the committee. "I urge the Congress to come together and see to it that discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace will soon be viewed as an unacceptable relic of another time." Eastman Kodak Company's Robert Berman, director of human resources and vice president, testified that passing ENDA is a matter of extending fairness and equality to all citizens. "ENDA embodies the values already contained in Kodak's corporate values, our non-discrimination policy, as well as the principles intrinsic to our nation's fundamental civil rights laws," Berman testified. "The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a logical extension of the fundamental value of fairness to an area that has been neglected for far too long."
Stephen L. Miller, chairman and president of Shell Oil Company, submitted testimony stating that ENDA would benefit businesses by creating a uniform national policy that would simplify administration. "A federal law would level the playing field for corporate America with a single, straight-forward policy against discrimination," explained Miller. "Currently our business has to comply with twelve differing state laws against sexual orientation discrimination, while our employees in other states are afforded no legal protection. One uniform federal policy would ease our administrative burden." Others companies wrote letters in support of ENDA including Microsoft, Capital One, Hewlett Packard and Coors Brewing Company. In a letter to HRC, Coors Brewing Company President and CEO W. Leo Kiely III wrote, "Coors supports the efforts by the Human Rights Campaign to ensure that all employees are afforded equal employment opportunity, regardless of sexual orientation. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act provides a vehicle for this goal to be achieved." Currently, it is legal to fire someone in 38 states because he or she is gay. The twelve states that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation are California, Connecticut, , Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. Additionally, the District of Columbia prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. ENDA enjoys widespread, bipartisan support. The Senate bill's lead cosponsors are Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.; Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. and James Jeffords, I-Vt. House lead sponsors are Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn.; Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Mark Foley, R-Fla. and Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif. The public also supports the principles of ENDA, according to a June 2001 Gallup Poll. The poll asked respondents, "In general, do you think homosexuals should or should not have equal rights in terms of job opportunities?" Up from 56 percent in 1977, 85 percent of respondents favored equal opportunity in employment for gays and lesbians. Only 11 percent thought gays and lesbians should be discriminated against based on sexual orientation in the workplace. A nationwide Harris Interactive poll also taken in June 2001 found that 61 percent of Americans favored a federal law prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation. Additionally, the survey found that 42 percent of adults surveyed believe that such a law currently exists. HRC has produced a 48-page report, Documenting Discrimination, which gives specific examples of people who were discriminated against in the workplace because of their real or perceived sexual orientation. Documenting Discrimination: http://www.hrc.org/publications/index.asp |
Human Rights Campaign's Executive Director Elizabeth Birch 