Real workplace protections needed

http://www.ebar.com/columns/column.php?sec=guest_op&article=404
1/31/13
by Selisse Berry

"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law."



Those words, spoken by President Barack Obama during his 2013 Inaugural Address last week, give me great hope that we will soon see an executive order prohibiting all federal contractors, regardless of size, from discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the workplace. The order would extend basic workplace protections to between 11 and 16 million people in the United States, according to a report by the Williams Institute.

Now that marriage equality has made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, it is time to address the real need for workplace protections. In 29 states, anyone can be fired simply for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.