Carol Soelberg
Troubling ENDA Bill Threatens Families, Freedoms of Speech and Association
Dear Friend of the Family,
Imagine for a moment that you own a family business and you hire a man named “Gene” to perform a certain role for your company for which he is well qualified. Some time later, this employee reports to work and informs you that he has had a sex change and he now goes by the name of “Jean.” Or, suppose that this man reports to work one day and despite not having undergone a sex change, he now perceives himself to belong to the female gender and he prefers to be called “Jean.”
Let us move this scenario from the workplace to your children's elementary school. The former “Gene,” age 12, now perceives himself to be a female named “Jean” and he wants to use the girls' restrooms. This has already happened in the State of Maine.
A proposed federal law creating the above scenarios is the proposed Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA, HR 3685), scheduled for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday, November 1. If passed and signed into law, ENDA will take effect six months later. We have one last chance today. Click here to contact your congressman and urge a “no” vote. Aside from that, our only hope of defeating this troubling bill is for President George W. Bush to use his veto power. We must also hope that Congress would not be able to over-ride a veto. However, we must not merely leave this to “hope.” We need to do everything we can to defeat the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In either scenario listed above, imagine that a schoolmate or a co-worker makes an off-hand comment about “Jean's” mannerisms. “Jean” then files a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A court would be able to enforce the ENDA law, as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, sections of the Government Employee Rights Act of 1991 and the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995. In addition, a business, church or school losing in court would be liable for legal fees and subjected to compensatory damages.
Under ENDA, it shall be an unlawful employment practice for a labor organization to:
- exclude or to expel from its membership, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of the actual or perceived sexual orientation of the individual;
- limit, segregate, or classify its membership or applicants for membership, or to classify or fail or refuse to refer for employment any individual, in any way that would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment, or would limit such employment or otherwise adversely affect the status of the individual as an employee or as an applicant for employment because of such individual's actual or perceived sexual orientation; or
- cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against an individual in violation of this section.
Bill Duncan, a member of the legal committee of the National Association of Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, said that under this proposed law, any employer with more than 15 employees would be subject to federal regulation regarding the "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" of their employees. Specifically, those employed by such an employer would be able to bring a complaint alleging they'd been discriminated against because of orientation or gender identity not only in workplace interactions but in employment recruiting, hiring decisions, workplace facilities and other issues. Duncan and others say that the bill's religious exemption is weak.
ENDA is a serious threat to parents, children, family businesses, churches and any of the many persons and organizations whose freedom of speech, association and religious liberty is threatened. It is part and parcel of the attempt by homosexual pressure groups to make incremental gains in changing society and law. The bill's sponsor is Representative Barney Frank (Democrat, Massachusetts), a homosexual.
Time is short. Please contact your congressman today and urge them to vote against ENDA.
Warmly,
Carol Soelberg,
President
United Families International
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