Lacking Federal Protection, Rural LGBTQ Workers Falling Through the Cracks

[portlander23]

Lacking Federal Protection, Rural LGBTQ Workers Falling Through the Cracks
Lauren McCauley
Common Dreams

Despite having won federal recognition of the right to marry a partner of their choosing, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people continue to face the possibility of being fired or harassed at work because of their identity or sexual preference.

As much as 70 percent of the United States, geographically speaking, lacks any employment protections for LGBT workers, according to a study (pdf) released Tuesday by the equal rights think tank Movement Advancement Project (MAP).

In lieu of nationally recognized protections, local governments seeking to prevent discrimination within their borders have enacted a patchwork of laws, known as local non-discrimination ordinances (NDO).

Nineteen states have enacted workplace protections and, combining the coverage provided by those and other local NDOs, currently "more than 170 million Americans are living in areas with laws that explicitly protect them from being fired based on their sexual orientation, and more than 157 million are explicitly protected from discrimination based on their gender identity," according to the MAP study.

[atreides1]

1. But

Many of the states without discrimination laws are now passing laws at state level that nullifies any laws passed by counties or cities!

Some people just can't live without hating others...because it's in the Bible!!!

[LonePirate]

2. Dems need to take a good look at that map.

Every state that is not dark green has a Republican governor and/or at least one chamber of the state legislature controlled by Republicans. Five of those states were won by Obama twice and two more were won by him once. We should be ashamed of how we have failed at the state level.