Obama Prepares Executive ENDA Forbidding LGBT Job Discrimination.
Mark Joseph Stern, Slate: Obama Prepares Executive ENDA Forbidding LGBT Job Discrimination.
John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House, has thus far resisted bringing the federal ENDA to a vote, suggesting that existing laws already protect LGBT workers. On that front, he might actually be correct. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits sex discrimination, including discrimination based on sex stereotyping. Many legal analysts believe that anti-gay and anti-trans discrimination are really forms of sex discrimination and are thus already forbidden. Some courts have been receptive to this relatively novel (though pretty commonsensical) theory, which could render ENDA moot. Until the Supreme Court agrees that sex discrimination encompasses LGBT discrimination, however, ENDA will remain the best way to protect gay and trans workers. And an executive ENDA is clearly the only version of the law that can be passed in this political climate.
I also agree that discrimination against homosexuals is a form of sex discrimination, thus I think laws prohibiting same-sex marriage should already be subjected to heightened scrutiny even without making sexual orientation a protected class. Though I suspect wingnut heads would explode if the GOP officially took that position.