Posted on 09/17/2014 6:41:46 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
WASHINGTON — As House Democrats made a Hail Mary attempt to force a vote on laws to protect gays in the workplace, Rep. Robert Pittenger, R-N.C., continues to stand by comments he made earlier this month that businesses should be free to fire employees based on their sexual orientation.
Pittenger has been criticized for the remarks, but he said in a statement Wednesday that Americans are already well-protected. Current laws against discrimination should be enforced to the fullest, he emphasized. But he said Americans need more jobs and a stronger economy, not more regulations that stifle growth.
“It’s incredibly hard to operate or start a business already, and I don’t think America is begging for more obstacles to an economic recovery,” he said in the statement. “Where does it stop? Is the next regulation going to prohibit a layoff even during an economic downturn? Will the next law mandate full employment?”
Pittenger stirred up the gay rights debate when he told liberal political blog ThinkProgress this month that governments shouldn’t “impose on the freedoms we enjoy.” Asked his opinion about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act pending in Congress, Pittenger compared adding more laws to protect gays in the workplace to smoking bans _ which he said are fine for public places, but he questioned the government role when it comes to private spaces.
The debate has pitted many Democrats and Republicans against each other. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has shown no interest in taking up legislation passed by the Democratic-led Senate last year that would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sought to force the hand of Pittenger, Boehner and other Republican opponents. She joined other Democratic leaders in announcing a procedural push to force a vote on the bill.
“Unfortunately in South Carolina and 28 other states it is still legal to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation,” Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn, D-S.C., said Wednesday during a press conference. “And that is, plain and simple, wrong.”
Asked at the press conference about Pittenger’s remarks to ThinkProgress, Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., said he did not have the context to comment on them.
But Pittenger is far from alone in his views on the workplace. The non-discrimination act passed the House of Representatives in 2007 by a 235-184 vote when Democrats were in control. That was before Pittenger was elected to Congress, but all N.C. Republicans and two Democrats, Reps. Mike McIntyre and Heath Shuler, voted against it. It later died in the Senate.
When the bill passed the Senate last year, Republican Sen. Richard Burr voted no, while Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan supported it.
North Carolina has no state law protecting gay residents from workplace discrimination. Twenty-one states have protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, according to a report by the University of California, Los Angeles, Williams Institute, a think tank studying sexual orientation laws and public policy. A 2013 Pew Research Center survey found that 21 percent of LGBT respondents reported being treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotions.
Gay rights activists called Pittenger’s comments “absurd” and argued that discrimination in the workplace because of someone’s sexual orientation goes against American values.
“Representative Pittenger’s ill-informed opinion is also not consistent with the fair-minded opinion of most Americans,” said David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization. “The vast majority of Americans back commonsense workplace protections for LGBT Americans.”
Staffers for Pittenger said they’ve received no negative calls about his comments and that no constituents brought the issue up at any of Rep. Pittenger’s 13 town hall events over the last two months.
Pittenger, a Charlotte real estate investor, said he has an “open, non-discriminatory policy” and has hired members of the gay community. More than 96 percent of the top 50 Fortune 500 companies include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies, according to the Williams Institute. And, according to Pittenger, that’s the more appropriate place for these decisions to be made, in the free market. More government intervention is not the answer, he said.
“Where does the government’s role in dictating our daily lives end?” Pittenger asked in his statement. “That’s the debate we should be having.”
The gaystapo demand they be granted tenure in all places of work. Anyone still doubt they wish to be the equivalent of Ancient China’s elite eunuch class
This whole ‘conversation’ is so coarse.
So why fight it?
I’d say pass a bill that says men can be fired for where they but their ........
Excellent rebuttal by the Congressman. He refused to accept the Left’s premise and drove his point home about the economy and jobs. More Republicans need to do this.
I don’t believe in common sense or the Easter Bunny.
Show me some evidence of either one and I will believe.
Just wait til employers get hit with regulation 10-289.
I thought that it was the homofascists who get down on their knees for Marys.
Workplace protections for crossdressers? I don’t think most Americans support that. Not while on the clock.
This is just another attempt to increase litigation against employers for firing employees for cause.
Someone who happens to fall in this group of the victim class can then file suit for discrimination.
Companies will then settle to avoid protracted litigation and the extortion is complete.
Isnt NC a right to work state? Meaning that the employer can fire a person for any reason he chooses? AND, if I OWN a business, why in hell should I not be able to get rid of anyone I dont want on my payroll?
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