ENDA Would ‘Level Playing Field’ for LGBT Workers

Tom Perez, the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, told senators Thursday a bill to prevent employers from discriminating against people on the basis of sexual orientation creates a “level playing field.”

Perez testified in support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (S. 1584) before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

The ENDA legislation has been proposed many times in the past, but this is the first time since 2002 it’s had a hearing in the Senate.

Perez disputed critics who say the bill would create a quota system for employers. That’s a “quintessential red herring” and “just dead wrong,” Perez said.

The Civil Rights Division regularly receive letters from individuals complaining of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment, Perez testified.

“We cannot in good conscience stand by and watch unjustifiable discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals occur in the workplace without redress,” said Perez. “We have come too far in our struggle for ’equal justice under the law’ to remain silent or stoic.”

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