Clinton, Bryan, Reid and Berkley support gay rights in the workplace

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 11:09 a.m.

President Bill Clinton and the three Democrats in Nevada's congressional delegation all favor federal legislation barring companies from making decisions about hiring, firing, promoting or paying employees on the basis of sexual orientation.

Clinton has already signed an executive order barring discrimination against gays in the employment policies of federal agencies -- though "don't ask, don't tell" remains the rule in the military.

And in his State of the Union address in January, Clinton called for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The Human Rights Campaign, which is lobbying for its passage, said this was the first time a gay and lesbian issue had been mentioned during a State of the Union address. Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan and Rep. Shelley Berkley -- all Democrats -- all favor the bill and have employment policies barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for their congressional offices.

A spokesman for Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said Gibbons does not discriminate against people based on sexual orientation in his own congressional office; but has taken no stand yet on the federal bill.

Bills outlawing workplace discrimination against gays typically provoke heated controversy each year in Congress and state legislatures around the nation.

Conservatives don't want to sanction homosexuality. Businesses complain about yet another government mandate.

The controversies are raging this year in the state legislatures of Maryland and Louisiana, where bills outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual preference in those states are pending; and in Congress, where the bill barring discrimination against gays nationwide has been reintroduced after repeatedly dying or failing over the years.

In Louisiana, Gov. Mike Foster declined at a news conference this week to enter the fray over an anti-discrimination bill for gay workers and a doctor-assisted suicide bill for the terminally ill.

"I don't think either one will go very far. They don't sound like Louisiana-type bills," Foster said, according to the Times-Picayune newspaper.

In Maryland, Gov. Parris Glendening is fighting hard for a bill protecting gays from workplace discrimination. In arguing for the legislation, Glendening offered a moving personal account of his brother's struggles during 19 years as a closeted, gay Air Force sergeant, and his painful death from AIDS, the Baltimore Sun reported.

"He was in great pain. You could not touch his skin without causing great pain," Glendening said, according to the publication Gay Today. "As difficult as that was, he told me it was more difficult to live 19 years of his life knowing that if anyone was aware of his sexual orientation, he would lose the job he loved so much."

The Baltimore newspaper reported representatives of some major Maryland employers testified that Maryland's lack of protection for homosexuals is driving away talented workers.

But other business owners argued against the bill, saying they were worried the bill would forbid them from firing a man for coming to work in a dress.

Just 10 other states already ban discrimination against gays. They are California, Hawaii, Vermont, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The District of Columbia, and another 160 cities and counties, also prevent discrimination based on sexual preference.

As for the federal gay rights bill in Congress, a briefing paper from its sponsors says the legislation creates no special rights.

Sponsors say the bill makes clear that preferential treatment and quotas are prohibited; and does not allow discrimination claims based on statistics about the number of gays and lesbians in the work force.

The bill exempts the military and religious organizations and does not require employers to provide benefits to domestic partners.

The bill "reflects non-discrimination policies already in place at major corporations such as AT&T and Xerox," a briefing paper says.

The federal bill does not apply to small businesses with fewer than 15 employees.