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Senate committee approves homosexual rights measure


WASHINGTON (BP)–A U.S. Senate committee has approved legislation that would provide employment protection to homosexuals.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee sent the Employment Non-discrimination Act, S. 1284, to the full chamber by voice vote April 24. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D.-S.D., has pledged to hold a floor vote before the end of this session, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest homosexual political organization.

ENDA would make discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation” illegal in both the private and public workplace. It would treat “sexual orientation” in similar fashion to other categories, such as race, gender and age, already protected by federal civil rights law. According to ENDA, “sexual orientation” encompasses “homosexuality, bisexuality or heterosexuality, whether the orientation is real or perceived.”

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and some other conservative and religious organizations oppose ENDA because it equates sexual behavior or self-identity with such traits as race, ethnicity, gender and religion.

The Family Research Council criticized the bill and Daschle’s promotion of it. Daschle directed the committee to hold a vote on ENDA, even though he has stalled action on 130 House-approved bills and 52 federal judicial nominees, according to FRC.

“This bill is a calculated attempt to repeal freedom of association,” FRC President Ken Connor said in a written statement. “ENDA would force employers to hire homosexuals in violation of their conscience, morals or deeply held religious beliefs. In other words, it would declare for the first time that a particular sexual behavior deserves special rights. Let’s not forget that the freedom to associate also includes the right not to associate.”

It appears ENDA may have enough support for Senate passage. ENDA has 43 cosponsors in the Senate, in addition to its chief sponsor, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D.-Mass. The only Republican cosponsors are Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. During the committee’s markup of the bill April 24, however, Sen. Susan Collins, R.-Maine, announced her support for ENDA.

The committee vote “has paved the way for Senator Daschle to bring ENDA to the floor, where we are confident that we will emerge victorious,” said Human Rights Campaign Executive Director Elizabeth Birch in a written statement. “We firmly believe that the majority of senators want to do what is morally right and want to be on the right side of history.”

The bill gained a Senate floor vote once before. The Senate voted 50-49 against ENDA in 1996. The House of Representatives has never held a floor vote on the measure.

Passage may be more difficult in the House, which has its own version of ENDA, H.R. 2692, sponsored by Rep. Christopher Shays, R.-Ct. The House bill has 190 cosponsors.

ENDA’s opponents “can’t be overly optimistic that the House will do the right thing and kill this bill should it pass the Senate,” FRC’s Connor said.

The bill would provide exemptions from the law for religious organizations, the military, businesses with fewer than 15 employees and nonprofit, voluntary organizations.

In regard to previous versions of ENDA, the ERLC has said the religious exemption is flawed. It would not protect individual employers with religious convictions opposed to homosexuality. The ERLC also has expressed doubt the exemption would adequately cover Christian schools and bookstores, denominational agencies and some churches. Even if the exemption provided absolute protection to such entities, the ERLC has said it would oppose ENDA.

The Senate bill does not grant benefits to the partners of homosexual or unmarried heterosexual employees. It also prohibits quotas and preferential treatment based on “sexual orientation,” as well as government collection of statistics regarding “sexual orientation.”
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