Gay rights groups withdraw support of ENDA after Hobby Lobby decision

[boston bean]

Several major gay rights groups withdrew support Tuesday for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would bolster gay and transgender rights in the workplace, saying they fear that broad religious exemptions included in the current bill might compel private companies to begin citing objections similar to those that prevailed in a U.S. Supreme Court case last week.

The gay community is a key constituency and source of campaign donations for Democrats, and calls to rewrite the most significant gay rights legislation considered in recent years is a major setback for the White House, which had used passage of the legislation last fall as a way to draw a contrast with House Republicans, who have refused to vote on the measure.

But the groups said they can no longer back ENDA as currently written in light of the Supreme Court’s decision last week to strike down a key part of President Obama’s health-care law. The court ruled that family-owned businesses do not have to offer their employees contraceptive coverage that conflicts with the owners’ religious beliefs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/07/08/gay-rights-group-withdrawing-support-of-enda-after-hobby-lobby-decision/

[Enrique]

1. the exemptions amount to the same thing as the SC decision

as I see it.

There are probably technical legalistic differences, but at my level of understanding they both allow discrimination under the guise of religious freedom.

[theHandpuppet]

2. Were those exemptions written into the the legislation as a compromise?

Sorry to say my memory of ENDA's legislative evolution escapes me this morning.

[Enrique]

3. me too

but that's what it looks like from the article.

What it looks like to me is, religious organizations are demanding an exemption in Obama's executive order regarding govt contractors, glbt organizations are getting ready to fight against that, but if they support ENDA which has similar exemptions, how do they explain that contradiction?

[theHandpuppet]

4. The ENDA fight has been going on much longer

I don't think the ramifications of those exemptions became clear until the lawsuits against the contraception mandate played out.

[William769]

5. I don't blame them.

Why support a bill to protect LGBT people, that actually doesn't protect LGBT people.

[theHandpuppet]

6. That pretty well sums it up

As I recall - and my memory of this is spotty - the original ENDA draft did not include these religious exemptions.

[William769]

7. Your memory is not as bad as you think.