“there are still 29 states where it is entirely legal to fire someone for their sexual preference. Crazy, right? You can’t fire anyone for being black, or a woman, or a Hindu. But you can can send them packing based on whom they date. ”
Just recently, President Obama stated he would like to see the end of LGBT workplace discrimination, in a fly-by-the-radar blurb on one of the national news shows. Never before has a sitting (or former) U.S. President shown such gravitas by boldly stating support for Gays and Lesbians. President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order barring federal contractors from hiring or firing employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, senior administration officials said Monday, in a move that could energize Democratic voters in November’s midterm elections.
I can remember in my early 20’s fearful that someone would discover I was gay in the workplace. You never join conversations, you avoid personal pronouns, you don’t discuss that new jazz club you found because it caters to gays, you don’t talk about a friend’s husband trying to kill themselves because of discrimination. Yes, the 90’s weren’t the utopia that history has made it out to be. Where is it still legal (and generally expected and encouraged) to socially discriminate against LGBT? The huge strip of states down the central United States and the American South Eastern United States.
LGBT is the last group that is looked down upon in society, where we are routinely discriminated against. Laws are carefully crafted and created to ensure we have no place in ‘proper’ society, that we are unable to rent a hotel room, enjoy a meal at an eating establishment or even proclaim our love for one another. Luckily more and more people are waking up that LGBT discrimination isn’t ok and it certainly isn’t encouraged.
But we still have a long way to go.
Brick ONeil 