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U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), a potential Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, is a co-sponsor of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, which civil rights groups claim would harm gay people. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP)


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EARTHA MELZE





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NATIONAL

ACLU says Dems too eager on religious bill
Civil rights groups say measure would harm gay workers

EARTHA MELZE
Friday, March 25, 2005

U.S. senators Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) have introduced a bill that would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require employers to do more to accommodate religious employees.

Kerry and other supporters — including gay-friendly U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), a possible Democratic presidential candidate in 2008 — have characterized the Workplace Religion Freedom Act as a bill that would protect people from being penalized for taking time off to observe religious holidays or from being discriminated against for wearing turbans, headscarves or other religiously required clothing.

Christopher Labonte, legislative director at the Human Rights Campaign, said many religious groups support the bill, including organizations such as the Religious Action Center and the Anti-Defamation League, which have been longtime allies on gay and lesbian rights issues.

Labonte said that though the bill was apparently created with good intentions, the way it is written could cause harm to gay people.

HRC outlined its objections about WRFA in a letter March 15 to members of Congress:

“The concern here is that employers would have serious difficulty resolving instances where an employee posts a sign reading ‘God hates fags’ in his office or cubicle; where workers proselytize on the ‘sins of the homosexual lifestyle’ over lunch and on breaks; where a social worker proffers a religious objection to being the case manager or counselor for a youth who is gay or transgender; or where a truck driver on 24-hour driving shift who gives a religious reason for refusing to drive with a co-driver who is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.”

HRC also expressed concern that WRFA could allow health care professionals to refuse to provide basic services for a gay or transgender patient.

“Kerry has made promises that he would try to fix the bill, but his office has been adamantly unwilling to make changes,” said Christopher Anders, legislative counsel for the ACLU Washington office.

April Boyd, press secretary for Kerry, said that the former presidential candidate has a 100-percent approval rating from HRC and would not sponsor legislation that diminishes the rights of gays.

Officials in Clinton’s office did not return calls from the Blade by press time.

Anders, at the ACLU, said several groups, including the National Women’s Law Council, the National Council of Jewish Women and Planned Parenthood, have held meetings with the Democratic co-sponsors “to try and show them that there are ways to fix the bill without harming access to civil rights or health care.”

“They could have added language so WRFA could not be used to override state or federal civil rights laws or company non-discrimination policies or block access to health care,” he added. “This has not been done.”


Workplace discrimination
Anders said it is important that the bill be changed because there have been attempts under current law to use religion to justify workplace discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

He mentioned cases in which a counselor cited her religion in refusing to counsel gay employees on their relationship issues; a nurse refused to treat men dying of AIDS unless she was allowed to proselytize to them; and a man who responded to a workplace poster celebrating diversity month by posting a homophobic biblical quote from Leviticus in his office.

“The two main targets of misuse of WFRA are going to be gay men and lesbians and people seeking reproductive health services, especially emergency contraception,” Anders said.

He pointed out that six of the eight Democrats who are sponsoring the bill, which was simultaneously introduced in the House and Senate, are from New York. That state already has a religious accommodation law and protects people against discrimination based on sexual orientation. It also protects access to health care for gay men and lesbians.

“With this bill, people in New York could override these protections,” Anders said.

He also said that for Democrats who have signed on to WRFA, being supporters of a religious bill seems to outweigh concern about gay and lesbian issues.

Current federal law prohibits discrimination based on religion. But in cases where an employee’s religious beliefs conflict with requirements of his or her job, courts have interpreted “undue hardship” as anything more than a minimal cost or difficulty for the employer.

The bill would define “undue hardship” for employers as an action requiring “significant difficulty or expense.” This new standard of accommodation under the proposed measure would be similar to the standard under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which employers are required to meet in accommodating disabled employees.

Civil rights groups contend that conservative organizations such as the American Center for Law & Justice, the American Families Association and Focus on the Family are prepared to take advantage of an expanded accommodation requirement and bring cases to expand religious freedom at the expense of gay and lesbian employees.

“Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the cornerstone of civil rights laws, and of all laws it should not be made available to be used as an anti-civil rights weapon,” said Aaron Schuham, legislative director for Americans United for Separation of Church & State.

President Bush established the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives several years ago to end discrimination against religious organizations in federal social service funding and, earlier this month, the House passed the Workplace Investment Act, H.R. 27, which would allow federally funded faith-based organizations to circumvent local and state laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.

There is no federal law against discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, first introduced in Congress in 1994, would have added sexual orientation to the list of protected categories in the 1964 Civil Rights Act but it did not pass.


Social conservatives back bill
While the ACLU and the Human Rights Campaign have stated that some simple reworking of the language in WRFA could protect religious practice as well as the civil rights of gay men and lesbians, the Family Research Council is openly supporting the bill as a means to protect those who would otherwise lose their jobs for following religious beliefs and for refusing to distribute contraceptives.

The Traditional Values Coalition is among the groups supporting the measure. Officials there did not return calls for comment. On its Web site, the Traditional Values Coalition claims that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would have prohibited discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and, therefore, violated freedom of religion for Christians.

Santorum’s office refused to offer examples of the types of religious discrimination that prompted him to sponsor the bill, which spokesperson Christine Shott said has been a long-term interest of his.

She would not comment on whether the bill was designed to protect people who want to proselytize at work.

Eartha Melzer can be reached at emelzer@washblade.com.

 

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