Quick Hit: TN man fired for being gay
But here's the kicker: it's legal.
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I don't have enough fingers and toes to count them all, but I would imagine that at least a plurality of states don't have sexual orientation written into their EEO laws at all. I also can't imagine that it would be a real starter in the Tennessee Legislature, so it probably will require some federal modification of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
And if we are going to try the state-by-state approach, this is the best list I've found of the various bills around the country. Don't know if all of the bills are up-to-date.
I'm still not understanding how this is legal. And it's not that I can't grasp the concept, but I've read the given literature and can't find any government website explicitly stating or implying this.
I'm not sure exactly what you're asking. In essence, sexual orientation is not a federally-protected status like age, gender/sex, religion, etc. So it's up to each state, and in TN, sexual orientation isn't covered. That means it's legal to fire someone for being gay (or straight or bi or confused).
I actually thought this was fairly common knowledge. There was a huge HRC campaign letting people know a few years ago. I was living in Georgia at the time, and there were full page ads in all the papers there, and it got a good bit of attention.
Basically, unless you are under contract, employment is at will. This means not only can you leave for any reason, but the company can ask you to leave for any reason unless the reason given by the employer is explicitly illegal.
You could be fired for being heterosexual, too. In any state where it's legal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation, then an employee can technically be fired for being straight.
On an entirely different subject:
Does anyone else here have as much trouble signing in to comment as I seem to be having? Every time I want to comment, I cannot successfully use the login ID I've used in the past. I carefully write each of these login IDs down, plus my password, but each time I try to login, I'm told that the ID is not valid.
So I have to create an entirely different login name, etc. If I try to create a new account using an old login ID, I'm told that this ID is already in use. (Yeah! BY ME! BUT YOU KEEP TELLING ME IT'S INVALID WHEN I TRY TO LOGIN!)
I've emailed Jessica about this and never gotten a reply. Which is why I'm posting this question here. It's very frustrating.
Yeah, I have a lot of trouble logging in. If I keep trying my old login works eventually.
Yet another reason why I must get out of TN.
Why, are you gay?
Hate destroys us all, regardless of whether we are the ones being hated.
I like the idea of suing under sex discrimination actually, given that if he were a woman then his interactions, interest, and relationships with men would have been accepted and he would not have been fired. In other words, living the exact same life but without a penis, he wouldn't have been fired.
There's actually a case here in PA where a gay man is suing his employer for sexual harassment and wrongful termination because her wasn't manly enough. The defence? He was harassed and fired for being gay. There was a good article in Pittsburgh's alternative weekly (http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A55680). The impression I get from the article is that judges are hesitant to apply interpretations to the law that aren't in keeping with the original intent of the law, which more or less purposely excluded sexual orientation. The tactic of company lawyers depict the lawsuits as scams to get SO protection under a law that wasn't meant to apply to them. Maybe things will change with (what I hope will be) less of a witch-hunt atmosphere in America and judges not being worried about being labeled "activist judges." Then again, it's not like there's less of an anti-gay atmosphere, so who knows.
I'm originally from this area, and I can't say I'm shocked. I was never able to be out to the people I worked with because I knew that I would be treated badly/fired. When it comes to gay rights issues, all of the attention is put on gay marriage, and while that's all well and good, I feel like these are the kind of things we should be more concerned with. Not everyone wants to be married, but everyone has to be able to put food on her table. Not to say that marriage rights aren't important, but you have to wonder why that has become the face of "equality".
Homosexuality NOT a sign of any futility or inferiority, but here to get children in the absence of a family and from the woman which it is absolutely uninteresting in the sexual plan - whether it seems, what it is immoral? Besides gays at all the worst parents, than natural steams... And the best architects, writers, musicians etc. - that gays.