Tag: ENDA

Posted on

General Mills supports equal rights for gays in the workplace

You may not know that every ten seconds an American places a General Mills product in his or her bag.

You also may not know General Mills has been an amazing partner in the goal of full LGBT workplace equality for years.

Yesterday, the three-time 100 percent rated company on HRC’s CEI sat on a panel of four witnesses to testify before the Senate HELP Committee on the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). This is what true leaders look like.

Ken Charles, Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion, represented General Mills at Tuesday’s hearing, and spoke eloquently about how diversity and inclusion drive success at a company that has been in business for over 150 years.

Employing 35,000 workers worldwide, Charles noted that if employees cannot bring their full selves to work, and if employees live in fear of being treated differently simply based on who they are, it comes at a cost to the company.

General Mills has had a non-discrimination policy inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity for years, sending a strong message that their LGBT employees are respected, valued, challenged, and rewarded for their contributions and performances. As a result, General Mills employees are productive and engaged.

Via HRC

Posted on

Mitt Romney on gay rights – 1994

A letter was published today on the internet that came from then-senate candidate Mitt Romney that was written to the Log Cabin Republicans in 1994.

While we’ve all heard about Romney’s flip-flopping, the letter is kind of stunning in it’s clarity of how “then” Mitt Romney supported rights for gays and lesbians – specifically on the issues of gays in the military and ENDA (Employment Non-discrimination Act).

In the letter he promises – if elected – to co-sponsor ENDA and actually broaden the bill to include housing and credit, and the bill to create a federal panel to find ways to reduce gay and lesbian youth suicide.

He goes on to say that, regarding DADT, “it is the first of a number of steps that will ultimately lead to gays and lesbians being able to serve openly and honestly in our nation’s military.  That goal will only be reached when preventing discrimination against gays and lesbians is a mainstream concern, which is a goal we share.”

Where is this Mitt Romney today?  And what – other than political considerations – would change his mind on these subjects?

 Here’s a link to a PDF of the letter.

Posted on

John Boehner says “ample laws” exist – no need for Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Although the Obama administration insists it will work with Congress to pass legislation in lieu of an executive order barring federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers, House Speaker John Boehner seemed unaware of ENDA (Employment Non-discrimination Act) in response to a question from the Washington Blade, saying, “I haven’t seen the bill. I haven’t thought much about it.”

“No one should face discrimination in the workforce,” Boehner said. “There are ample laws already in place to deal with this. Having been the chairman of the Education & Workforce Committee, I’m quite familiar with employment law. But if there are further changes that are necessary, I’m sure the committee will look at it.”

No federal law or federal regulation bars employers from firing LGBT workers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Firing or discriminating against someone because they’re gay is legal in 29 states; firing or discriminating against someone because they’re transgender is legal in 34 states.

ENDA is important. Just the mention of, say, going to the movies with your same-sex partner – the way heterosexual employees might do on a Monday morning at work – could get you fired.

The dark states in the map below are where you can be fired just for being gay or lesbian.

Posted on

ENDA bill to be introduced to Congress this week

rainbowFlag

Rep. Barney Frank plans to introduce the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to Congress this Wednesday.

The bill, reported to be the same exact bill that was introduced in the 111th Congress, would prohibit most employers from discriminating in hiring and promotions on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Chances are extremely slim that it will move forward considering the Republican controlled House, but Rep. Barney Frank says he wants to use the opportunity to talk about the issue of LGBT discrimination in the work place with those who supported the bill in the past but couldn’t get past the transgender component of the bill.

Last year, according to Rep. Frank “We have work still to do and we have overwhelming — over 90 percent — support on the Democratic side for ENDA based on sexual orientation and we had, in the last Congress, about 30 Republicans that way. Unfortunately, there’s a drop-off from that number to transgender, and this is a chance to work hard to sway those who are committed to ENDA to support the full transgender inclusion as well.”

For more info, click here.