WASHINGTON — Freshman U.S.
Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced a bill on Wednesday to protect gays and lesbians
from workplace discrimination, taking up a cause long championed by Senate
veteran Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
Merkley, D-Ore., said he
was honored that Kennedy picked him to sponsor the latest version of the law.
Kennedy has cut back from nearly all of his Senate activities this year while
he fights brain cancer.
“Kennedy wanted to pass the
baton on this issue, which is very close to his heart, to someone who cares a
great deal about it,” Merkley said. “I believe to my core that our nation of
equality under the law has to include equality in employment.”
The bill makes it illegal
to fire, not hire or discriminate against an employee based solely on his or
her sexual orientation or gender identity.
Merkley continues a history
of Oregon lawmakers partnering with Kennedy to advance gay rights. Merkley’s
predecessor, Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, co-sponsored several gay-rights
bills with Kennedy.
Oregon already has an
employment nondiscrimination law on the books, which went into effect in 2008,
meaning the federal law wouldn’t change much for gays and lesbians in the
state.
On the local front
But symbolically, the law
would mean a lot to the community, said Jenni Peskin, executive director of
Bend-based Human Dignity Coalition.
“Most people don’t realize
that up until 2008 in Oregon, it was legal to fire someone who was gay or
lesbian or perceived to be gay or lesbian,” Peskin said. “To be able to share these
rights nationwide is a huge step forward in the movement for equality.”
In 2004, four years before
Oregon’s nondiscrimination law went into effect, the Bend City Council made it
a crime to discriminate against anyone in Bend based on a person’s sexual
orientation. It protects gays from discrimination in housing, employment and
public accommodations, such as seats at restaurants.
The Bend Chamber of
Commerce opposed the ordinance at the time, arguing that it could leave
businesses vulnerable to frivolous lawsuits.
But current chamber
Chairman-Elect Troy Reinhardt said he’s unaware of any business that has had a
problem with the law.
“As far as I’m concerned,
it’s been a nonissue,” Reinhardt said.
Passing the law would also provide
an achievement to help build toward expanding gay marriage, Peskin said. Oregon
voters passed a constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2004, with 56 percent
approval.
“We can look at laws like
(the Employment Non-Discrimination Act) as a great step forward toward things
like marriage equality,” Peskin said. “It allows us to start having these
conversations.”
Part of a rising tide
in gay rights
Merkley and Kennedy have
already attracted 36 other co-sponsors for the federal bill, including Maine
Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. The next step, Merkley said, is to
meet with those senators to set a strategy for turning the bill into a law.
Although the federal
nondiscrimination bill failed to emerge from committee in 2005, the last time
it was introduced in the Senate, Merkley said things have changed. Businesses
across the country — including Portland’s Nike — have signed on to the bill.
And although President
Barack Obama’s staff hasn’t confirmed his support of the bill to Merkley, the
White House Web site says Obama “continues to support the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act and believes that our anti-discrimination employment
laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Now,
“the tide of recognizing that it’s unacceptable to discriminate is rising,”
Merkley said. “People should be judged at work by their work, not by their
sexual orientation.”
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