By John Connolly
WASHINGTON, DC, November 9, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) on Wednesday. The legislation would extend existing employment-discrimination provisions to establish “a comprehensive Federal prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.” The act would give homosexuals the power to file a lawsuit over Christian employers’ exercise of their freedom of religion.
ENDA, passed by a vote of 235-184 and exempts only churches and the military, was championed by Reps. Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin, both of whom are openly gay.
The passing of the ENDA has caused an outcry from conservatives reacting to this threat to their religious freedom. House Republican leader John Boehner said, “ENDA is modeled closely after state employment non-discrimination laws currently being misused by activist judges to impose same-sex marriage and civil union laws on states.”
Likewise, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt voiced his frustrations over legislation that directly threatens religion in the public sphere. “In this case, the so-called ‘Employment Non-Discrimination Act’ creates a legal quagmire for employees who practice, or even acknowledge, their religious beliefs—depending on where they happen to work, and subject to judicial interpretation.”
While Democrats have praised the act as a step toward their overarching scheme of all-holds-barred equality, House speaker Nancy Pelosi lamented that it did not go far enough. “While ENDA’s victory will represent an historic victory, I share the disappointment of Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank and others who support including protections for transgender individuals in ENDA,” she said.
On Monday, the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, Exodus International, Alliance Defense Fund, Concerned Women for America (CWA) and American Family Association sent a letter to all House members urging them to vote against the measure.
Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues at CWA, managed to convince several Republicans and Democrats to vote against the act. “ENDA would unconstitutionally force business owners to abandon their faith at the workplace door and adopt a view of sexual morality which runs directly counter to central tenets of every major world religion and thousands of years of history,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine the Framers agreeing that newfangled ‘gay rights,’ based on changeable sexual behaviors, should trump the First Amendment.”
“We need to make sure there are enough votes to sustain that veto in the Senate, as we did in the House, should ENDA ultimately cross [President George Bush’s] desk,” said Shari Rendall, CWA’s director of legislation and public policy, on Thursday.
President Bush has expressed plans to veto the bill should it pass the Senate, a move required to maintain the integrity of the state-level bans on homosexual “marriage.” The Act requires 270 votes to overrule a Bush veto, a number Republicans don’t foresee its supporters will achieve.
See previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
US House Begins Hearing on Homosexual Non-Discrimination Act
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/sep/07090605.html
Bush Pledges Veto on Law Banning Job Discrimination based on “Sexual Orientation”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/oct/07102307.html