THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON
POLICY BRIEF
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
PROTECTION FOR THE GLBT POPULATION IN THE WORKPLACE IN THE STATE OF OHIO
ELLEN IRWIN SAAL, M.A.
April 28, 2009
PROF. MICHAEL A. DOVER
SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY II
7750:647:001
SPRING 2009
1. GOAL STATEMENT
To bring about awareness regarding the problems related to the lack of protection for others based on sexual orientation and gender identity in a job environment and to educate about House Bill 502 and Senate Bill 305.
2. SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM
Federal law mandates that employers not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, or disability. Currently, the state of Ohio lacks a policy against discrimination of all employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Currently, there is no federal law that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in private sector workplaces (Lambda Legal2, n.d.). Because there is no federal law, states are left to pass their own laws. Although a handful of cities in Ohio have passed non-discrimination laws which protect both sexual orientation and gender identity, Ohio lacks a statewide law which would cover all Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) persons employed in the state (Equality Ohio2).
Sadly, Ohio is not the only state without an anti-discrimination law covering sexual orientation and gender identity. In fact, the majority of states in the United States of America lack a law which protects those who identity as GLBT. States that do have a law which protects both sexual orientation and gender identity include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, and the Washington District of Columbia. States that have a law protecting sexual orientation but not gender identity include Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, and Wisconsin. Hawaii has a law that protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity only in regards to public accommodations and housing. States that have an executive order in place that protects state employees include Pennsylvania, Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Alaska, Kansas, Montana, Michigan, and Ohio (Equality Ohio1; Human Rights Campaign2). In states without such laws, GLBT citizens can be fired on the basis of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity without any legal recourse.
According to research, 66% to 90% of people in the U.S. oppose employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (Equality Ohio3; Jones, 2008; National Organization for Women, n.d.). Therefore, it can be hard to believe that the United States of America does not have a law protecting all GLBT persons from workplace discrimination. However, not all people support a law banning discrimination against GLBT persons in the workplace. According to Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, “This is not 30 or 40 years ago. Employers don’t care what your private life is (and) people don’t get fired or hired based on who their sex partner is” (Niquette, 2007). Unfortunately Burress is not correct. According to a study conducted in 1994 found that after surveying 191 employers in the field of medicine that 18% would fire, 27% would refuse to hire, and 26% would refuse to promote a person they perceived to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual (National Organization for Women, n.d.). Furthermore, according to “… Lambda Legal’s 2005 Workplace Fairness Survey, 39% of respondents reported experiencing some form of discrimination or harassment in the workplace in the last five years because of their sexual orientation” (Lambda Legal2, n.d.). Fifteen studies conducted since the mid 1990’s found that 15% to 43% of GLB respondents experienced discrimination in the workplace (Badgett, Lau, Sears, Ho, 2007). More specifically, 8% to 17% reported being fired or denied employment based on their sexual orientation, 10% to 29% reported being denied a promotion or were given negative performance evaluations based on their sexual orientation, 7% to 41% were verbally/physically abused or had their workspace vandalized based on their sexual orientation, and finally, 10% to 19% reported receiving unequal pay or benefits based on their sexual orientation (Badgett, Lau, Sears, Ho, 2007). Clearly, discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity is not just a thing of the past and a law protecting GLBT employees is needed.
3. PAST POLICY
Under former Governors Richard Celeste and George Voinovich, the state of Ohio had an executive order, which had been in place since 1983, that protected GLBT persons employed by the state. However, in 1999, Governor Bob Taft replaced this executive order with a new one which did not protect gay and lesbian state workers from discrimination (Resnick, 2004). Governor “Taft argued in 1999 that he wanted to avoid a ‘laundry list’ of discrimination categories while forbidding discrimination against ‘many other groups and classifications of persons that could be subject to discrimination but are not expressly protected by state or federal law’” (Niquette, 2007). The State of Ohio has never had a statewide law protecting against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in the workplace. In 2007, Governor Strickland signed an executive order that prohibited discrimination against GLBT state employees. This executive order prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in terms of hiring, layoff, termination, transfer, promotion, demotion, rate of compensation, and eligibility for in-service training programs (Human Rights Campaign3, 2007; Strickland, 2007). This order will stay in effect until the end of Governor Strickland’s term.
4. CURRENT POLICY
Ohio is one of thirty-three states without a law protecting employees in the private sector from discrimination based on sexual orientation and one of forty-two states without a law protecting private-sector employees from discrimination based on gender identity (Human Rights Campaign3). Some cities in Ohio have passed anti-discrimination laws protecting those who identify as GLBT. The cities which have passed employment non-discrimination laws protecting both sexual orientation and gender identity include Toledo, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Yellow Springs, and Oxford (Equality Ohio2). Cities in Ohio that have passed employment non-discrimination laws protecting sexual orientation include Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Athens, and Canton (Equality Ohio2). Although Ohio has an executive order protecting state employees, it lacks a statewide law protecting all employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace.
Ohio also lacks hate crime legislation that covers the GLBT population. Currently, H.R. 1913 is being introduced to the House of Representatives which would include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected groups covered by national hate crime legislation (The Library of Congress, 2009).
5. PROPOSED SOLUTION(S)
There are currently two bills that were introduced in the State of Ohio on March 11, 2008 that would amend the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. Ohio Senator Dale Miller introduced Senate Bill 305. This bill is also known as “The Employment Nondiscrimination Act” and would prohibit discriminatory practices on the basis of sexual orientation which is defined by the bill as “heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality, or transgenderism, whether it is actual or perceived” (S.B. 305 Bill Summary, 2008). The other bill, the Equal Housing and Employment Act (House Bill 502), would protect all Ohio citizens from losing their job, being refused public accommodations, or being denied housing based on their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity (Equality Ohio3, n.d.). This bill is jointly sponsored by Republican Jon Peterson of Delaware and Democrat Dan Stewart of Columbus, with fifteen other co-sponsors.
There are organizations that oppose both Senate Bill 305 and House Bill 502. Citizens for Community Values and NE Ohio Value Voters are two examples. NE Ohio Value Voters have circulated a petition that states, “This dangerous legislation would require private employers, schools, daycare centers & nursing homes to hire open homosexuals, cross-dressers & transvestites. It would put good organizations at risk of $25,000 fines. SB305 / HB502 would spend our state tax dollars on "education programs" to reduce discrimination against cross-dressers. This legislation would harm churches, the Boy Scouts, and other good organizations” (NE Ohio Voters, 2008). Some of the organizations that support Senate Bill 305 and House Bill 502 include the faculty council of The Ohio State University (The Ohio State University, 2009), Franklin County Board of Commissioners (Franklin County Board of Commissioners, 2008), and Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (365 Gay News, 2008).
6. KEY ORGANIZATIONS/INDIVIDUALS
Lynne Bowman
Executive Director
Equality Ohio
50 W. Broad St. Suite 1970
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 224-0400
Fax: (614) 224-4421
Website: http://www.equalityohio.org/
Phil Burress
Citizens for Community Values
11175 Reading Road, Suite 103
Cincinnati, Ohio 45241
Phone: (513) 733-5775
Fax: (513) 733-5794
Website: http://www.ccv.org/
Rea Carey
Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
1325 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 200005
Phone: (202) 393-5177
Fax: (202) 393-2241
Website: http://www.thetaskforce.org/
Kevin M. Cathcart
Executive Director
Lambda Legal
120 Wall Street
Suite 1500
New York, NY 10005
Phone: (212) 809-8585
Fax: (212) 809-0055
Website: http://www.lambdalegal.org/
Kim Gandy
President
The National Organization for Women (NOW)
1100 H Street NW, 3rd floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 628-8669
Fax: (202) 785-8576
Website: http://www.now.org/
Neil G. Giuliano
President
GLADD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)
104 West 29th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: (212) 629-3322
Fax: (212) 629-3225
Website: http://www.glaad.org/
Kevin R. Jones
Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Phone: (202) 514-4601
Fax: (202) 514-2424
Email:
Website: http://www.usdoj.gov/olp/
President Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Phone: (202) 456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2461
Website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/
Karla Rothan
Executive Director
Stonewall Columbus
1160 N. High Street
P. O. Box 10814
Columbus, Ohio 43201-2411
Phone: (614) 299-7764
Fax: (614) 299-4408
Website: http://www.stonewallcolumbus.org/
Joe Solmonese
President
Human Rights Campaign
1640 Rhode Island Ave.
Washington, DC 20036-3278
Phone: (202) 628-4160
Fax: (202) 347-5323
Website: http://www.hrc.org
Diane Stover
Executive Director
NE Ohio Values Voters
P.O. Box 29204
Parma, OH 44129
Phone: 440-888-8170
E-mail:
Website: http://www.neohiovaluesvoters.com/index.html
Ted Strickland
Governor of the State of Ohio
Governor’s Office
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6108
Phone: (614) 466-3555
Fax: (614) 466-9354
Website: http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx
7. GLOSSARY
Asexuality – describes individuals that do not experience sexual attraction to others or do not have interest in sex.
Executive order – a directive written by a government official (e.g. President, Governor, or other official)
Gay – a term used to refer to one (male or female) who is romantically, emotionally, and sexually attracted to someone of the same sex.
Homosexual – describes those who identify as gay and/or lesbian. One who is sexually attracted to someone of the same sex.
Heterosexual – one who is romantically, emotionally, and sexually attracted to someone of the opposite sex.
Lesbian – a woman who is romantically, emotionally, and sexually attracted to a woman.
Bisexual – one who feels romantically, emotionally, and sexually attracted to both males and females.
Transgender – most commonly used as an umbrella term for someone whose self-identification or expression challenges traditional notions of “male” and “female.”
Gender Identity – one’s identification with being male or female or other, may or may not match one’s physiological traits.
Sexual Orientation – refers to the one’s label regarding the sex of those to which one is attracted (e.g. gay, lesbian, bisexual). Exists along a continuum ranging from heterosexual to bisexual to homosexual.
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Badgett, M. V. L., Lau, H., Sears, B, & Ho, D. (2007). Bias in the workplace: Consistent evidence of sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. CA: The Williams
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