Bill to protect gays at work advancing in Senate

Washington -- - Legislation to ban workplace discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people will reach the Senate floor within the next few weeks, giving the measure its best chance of passage in two decades thanks to the endorsement of a conservative Utah Republican and declining public opposition to restricting gay rights.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday he will bring up the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, commonly known as ENDA, before Thanksgiving. Versions of the bill have been introduced since 1994 and have never passed either chamber.

This year, supporters think they could muster as many as 10 GOP votes, led by Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, easily clearing the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate.

But leaders in the GOP-controlled House are likely to refuse to bring up the bill in that chamber, pressuring Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, to try to force the bill to the floor. Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said "all options remain on the table" if the bill clears the Senate.

Religious exemption

Gay rights lobbyists are divided over the wisdom of the Senate strategy, given the difficulty of House passage and a broad exemption for religious groups that brought Hatch on board.

The exemption would apply to the same churches and religious groups that are permitted to discriminate based on religious belief under the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Heather Cronk, co-director of gay rights group GetEqual, said the exemption "sets a bad precedent for decades to come - an exemption that excuses religious bigotry as acceptable when it's directed toward LGBT Americans."

But Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work, a group working solely on the issue, defended the religious exemption as vital to securing Republican support. He said it lifts the exact legal references to religious liberty from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, providing the assurance of "50 years of case law."

Hatch was one of three Republicans who voted for the bill when it passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in July, based on the religious exemption. Hatch's vote "has really opened a lot of eyes and creates a scenario where we can get a very significant number of Republican senators when it goes to the floor," Almeida said.

Republican support

The House version of ENDA has 186 co-sponsors, including three Republicans.

Pelosi would have to use a device called a discharge petition signed by a majority of the House to force the bill to the floor. She would need some Republican support: The House currently is made up of 232 Republicans and 200 Democrats, with three seats vacant.

The bill's advance to the Senate floor comes as the list of states permitting same-sex marriage has grown to 14. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision invalidating the Defense of Marriage Act was greeted with little surprise, given increasing public acceptance to granting legally married same-sex couples the same federal benefits as heterosexual spouses.

The Senate legislation would also cover transgender people, but Almeida said Republicans have shown little interest in battling the inclusion.

California already bans workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In all, 21 states ban sexual orientation discrimination and 16 ban gender identity discrimination.