Employment Non-Descrimination Act Reintroduced in House

When Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 it became illegal for an employer to make hiring or promotion decisions based on one's gender, race, religion or national origin. While an employer couldn't refuse to hire someone because that person was, for example, black or Jewish or Italian, he could still keep gay or trans-gender employees off his payroll. There wasn't a law on the books that protected discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Some states and communities now have such laws, but according to an article on CivilRights.org, "more than three out of five U.S. citizens live in areas that do not have these laws."

On June 24 the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which makes it illegal to discriminate against employees or potential employees because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, was re-introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The original version of this bill was passed by the House in 2007, but not by the Senate. At that time, it only included language that prevented discrimination based on sexual orientation, but not on gender identity. The reintroduced bill does not leave out trans-gender individuals.

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