Date: Tue, 10 Jun 97 18:24:01 EDT From: "Phil Attey" Subject: BIPARTISAN COALITION REINTRODUCES ENDA ________________________________________________________ NEWS from the Human Rights Campaign 1101 14th Street NW Washington, DC 20005 email: hrc@hrc.org WWW: http://www.hrc.org ________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, June 10, 1997 BIPARTISAN COALITION REINTRODUCES MEASURE TO OUTLAW JOB DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION Sponsors Cite Record Support From Lawmakers, Voters WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan coalition of senators and congressmen reintroduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act today, a bill that would make it illegal under federal law to discriminate in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation. The five lead sponsors held a news conference to spotlight the record level of support for the measure among lawmakers and the public. The bill -- known as ENDA -- is a top legislative priority for the Human Rights Campaign in this Congress. "This bill is about equal rights in the workplace for all Americans," said Human Rights Campaign Executive Director Elizabeth Birch. "The Employment Non-Discrimination Act rises above partisan, religious and regional differences -- and support is growing as more people learn that job discrimination based on sexual orientation is legal in most of the country." ENDA would protect Americans from job discrimination based on sexual orientation. It would prohibit quotas, and it would not apply to religious organizations, businesses with fewer than 15 employees or the military. Current federal law does not protect Americans from discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation. In 39 states, an employer may legally fire workers solely because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual. Eleven states have laws prohibiting such discrimination. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin have had these laws on the books for a number of years; Maine and New Hampshire enacted such laws earlier this spring. Incidents of such discrimination are widespread. In nine of the 11 states where there is legal protection, more than 2,000 complaints of job discrimination based on sexual orientation have been recorded. Victims of workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation were on hand at today's news conference, conducted by Sens. James Jeffords, R-Vt., Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., and Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Barney Frank, D-Mass. First introduced in June 1994, ENDA came within one vote of passage in the Senate last September. At today's reintroduction, ENDA already had more cosponsors than it had garnered by the close of the 104th Congress last year. "ENDA is emerging as a common-sense measure as the public learns that countless Americans still work in fear, knowing they can legally be fired from their jobs because of discrimination based on sexual orientation," said Winnie Stachelberg, HRC's legislative director. "With a record level of broad-based support, we have a solid chance of passing ENDA in this 105th Congress." President Clinton and Vice President Gore reaffirmed their strong support for ENDA at a White House meeting April 24 with HRC's Birch and other leaders from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. In a statement supporting ENDA, the president referred to the vast majority of states without legal protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation. "Those who face this kind of job discrimination have no legal recourse, in either our state or federal courts. This is wrong," Clinton said. The president, who first endorsed ENDA in October 1995, said the bill is about "ensuring that Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation, can find and keep their jobs based on their ability and the quality of their work. It is designed to protect the rights of all Americans to participate in the job market without fear of unfair discrimination. I support it and I urge all Americans to do so. And I urge Congress to pass it expeditiously." Also in April, the Human Rights Campaign released the results of a national bipartisan poll demonstrating that an unprecedented 68 percent of voters support passage of ENDA -- including 59 percent of Republicans, 69 percent of independents and 79 percent of Democrats. In addition, voters in every region of the country strongly support the measure, with 77 percent of Americans favoring it in the Northeast, 71 percent in the Midwest, 68 percent in the West, and 62 percent in the South. The national survey of 1,000 adults who indicated they are registered to vote was conducted April 8-10 by The Tarrance Group, a Republican firm, and Lake Sosin Snell & Associates, a Democratic polling company. The survey's overall margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percent. In addition, an earlier national survey found that Christians support passage of a federal law like ENDA by 63 percent to 27 percent. That poll of 1,007 voters was conducted Nov. 5-8, 1996, by Greenberg Research Inc., and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent. The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political organization, with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community. - 30 -