Letter: Dismiss bigotry, support AB311

Friday, March 26, 1999 | 12:10 p.m.

No employer can be prevented from firing or be forced to hire an employee who cannot perform the job, regardless of the employee's race, religion, gender, handicap or national origin.

However, all people who can competently perform a job should be treated equally when considered for employment. And that equal treatment should not be affected by someone's sexual orientation.

Assembly Bill 311 does nothing more than add sexual orientation to the previously mentioned list of factors that cannot be used as the sole basis for denial of employment or for firing an employee. An employer should not be allowed to fire or refuse to hire African-Americans or Moslems or Jews simply because the employer believes "they" do not have high morals.

AB311 does not force anyone to hire incompetent people. But if a person is capable of performing a job, it will prevent people like Miller from discriminating against that person solely because he has stereotyped the person as lacking appropriate "moral behavior."

The arguments posed by Miller against AB311 are the same arguments that were presented in 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was being debated. Those who used the same logic as Miller argued that certain religions and races are lacking in certain moral characteristics and therefore are not entitled to equal employment opportunities.

Thankfully, those arguments were dismissed by the majority of legislators.

I urge readers to dismiss the arguments of today's bigots and contact state legislators to express support for AB311.

MEL LIPMAN