Lawyers, legislators call for more anti-discrimination laws for LGBT community

A group of lawyers and legislators called for more anti-discrimination laws for gay and… A group of lawyers and legislators called for more anti-discrimination laws for gay and lesbian people last night.

They spoke in the Alcoa Room of the Barco Law Building as part of a panel discussion focusing on the problems associated with coming out in the workplace — including denied benefits and harassment — and proposed bills to put an end to discrimination of the LGBT community workforce.

The panel “Out and Equal in the Workplace: Sexual Orientation Discrimination” consisted of four people with careers in law. Anthony C. Infanti, a Pitt professor of law, moderated. .

M.V. Lee Badgett, director of the Center for Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts and a panelist, studies labor market discrimination and presented her research in a PowerPoint presentation at the beginning of the event.

Badgett said the largest two concerns people have when considering coming out at work are the actual act of coming out and the fear of discrimination in the workplace afterward. According to a study she conducted from 1997 to 2006, 35 percent of people were harassed after coming out in their workplace. She also found that gay men earn less than straight men with the same qualifications.

Infanti wrote in an e-mail prior to the event, “Ramifications of being out in the workplace can, quite naturally, vary dramatically. Sometimes being out in the workplace will be a nonissue — that is, lesbian and gay employees will be treated just like any other employee. In other situations, a lesbian or gay employee might be the subject of harassment from co-workers or from an employer and might even be fired just for being gay or lesbian.”

Problems persist further for same-sex couples. Fringe benefits like health care coverage are routinely denied for same-sex couples because of ERISA, or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The act allows self-insured employers to decide if they will cover same-sex couples.

In Maryland, 71 percent of employers provide health care for same-sex couples, whereas 93 percent provide it for straight couples, Badgett said. When same-sex couples do get health care, the government taxes them on their plans differently than it taxes straight couples, Badgett said. She said the government needs more laws against this sort of discrimination.

Julia Wester, the vice president of Pitt’s Rainbow Alliance, said before the event that she puts her hope in proposed laws such as ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

“ENDA would protect everyone in the workplace — gays, women and gender identity,” she said.

Susan Frietsche, a staff attorney at the Women’s Law Project, agreed that there should be more laws against discrimination. She mentioned one factory worker in Pennsylvania who said his co-workers were harrassing him for being openly gay. Because there was no law prohibiting this, the worker had to reference gender stereotyping theory, she said. For example, the worker would have to say that when his co-workers were harrassing him, they were forcing him to conform with society’s stereotypes of masculinity.

Dan Frankel, the state representative for Allegheny County and a panel member, called this “legal discrimination” and continues to support ENDA.

If passed, ENDA, which has been supported by President Obama as well, would put an end to this sort of discrimination in the workplace, giving gays and lesbians a law to reference when they feel their rights have been violated.

Badgett and Frietsche suggested ways to battle this sort of discrimination. Bedgett suggested that employers send invitations to work events to same-sex partners. She said more people might have the courage to come out in the office if they see other same-sex couples, an act that Frietsche said encourages others to do the same by example.

“It means everyone in this room has to take it upon yourselves to get involved,” Frietsche said. “Some of the discrimination is historical and some is intentional. Writing, e-mailing, visiting state reps about your concerns. It is effective, and it does work.”