LEGL 4500/6500 - Employment Law

Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander, Esq.

Terry College of Business

Elias Wolfberg, States News Service
 
 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON
 
 

BODY:

To hear South Carolina lawmakers tell it, there’s little hope for a plan to protect homosexuals under laws that currently ban workplace discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin.
 
 

Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C., blasted the proposes legislation for misrepresenting the civil rights movement.
 
 

"The Civil Rights struggle of the 1960’s was a historic and noble cause," Inglis said. "The homosexual agenda of the 1990’s is a campaign of perversity. To mix the two is to dishonor those who struggled to end massive discrimination based on skin color."
 
 

Republican Rep. Floyd Spence, opposes the legislation, which he says is unnecessary. And an aide to Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond said the senator had "strong reservations" about the bill and would look at it closely. A spokesman for Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, D-S.C., said he is also studying the bill and will likely be inclined against it.
 
 

Two North Carolina lawmakers, Rep. Eva Clayton, D-Littleton, and Rep. Melvin Watt, D-charlotte, cosponsored the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, introduced by Massachusetts Democratic Reps. Barney Frank and Gerry E. Studds, the House’s only openly gay members.
 
 

The bill, which was introduced by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass, and John Chafee, R-Rhode Island, ahs garnered support from 30 senators and 117 representatives.

Kennedy’s Health and Human Resources subcommittee will begin hearings on the bill next Friday while the House will begin debate later this years. However, not even the sponsors expect it to become law in 1994.
 
 

However, opponents view the proposed legislation as granting special rights to people who have chosen to be different.
 
 

Only 10 states have laws that protect homosexuals against discrimination in the workplace. Like most employment discrimination statutes, the measure would exempt small businesses, religious organizations, and the armed services.
 
 

"Job discrimination is not only un-American, it is unprofitable and counterproductive," Kennedy said in a prepared statement. "If we are to compete effectively in a global economy, we have to use all our available talent and create a workplace environment where everyone can excel."
 
 

Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., was unavailable for comment, but an aide said the senator’s position is consistent with his other social views.
 
 

"I’m sure you can guess what Sen. Helm’s position is," the aide said Helms is known for attacking programs that advocate homosexual rights and last year tried to block the nomination of Roberta Achtenberg, the first acknowledged homosexual to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.