Improving State Policies Prohibiting Public Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

Abstract

While manyhave studied the occurrence of employment discrimination against gay men and lesbians, little has been done to evaluate the implementation and enforcement of policies that protect against it. As no federal law has been enacted to address this matter, states are currently the highest level of government to address public employment discrimination based upon sexual orientation. By reviewing existing statutes and executive orders prohibiting public employment discrimination within an implementation framework, the author is able to draw preliminary conclusions on the likely success of these policies.

HOW ENDAs EXTEND THE WORKWEEK: LEGAL PROTECTION AND THE LABOR SUPPLY OF BEHAVIORALLY GAY MEN

“…With this estimate, they approximate utilization rates of state ENDAs. Despite the heterogeneity of state laws, the utilization of ENDAs is moderate and similar to the utilization rates of laws protecting against discrimination based on sex or race (Colvin 2000; Colvin and Riccucci 2002; Ramos et al 2008; Riccucci and Gossett 1996; Sears et al 2009a). 7…”

“…Despite the lack of a central enforcement agency and federal funds, ENDAs generally share many of the enforcement mechanisms as federal protections for race and gender. State ENDAs are, however, heterogeneous (Colvin 2000; Klawitter 2011) unlike federal protection against discrimination. Ramos et al (2008) use Census information on same‐sex cohabiting households to estimate the size of same‐sex households in each state.…”

Multilevel analysis of the effects of antidiscrimination policies on earnings by sexual orientation

“…State and local policies on sexual orientation generally use the same enforcement mechanisms as employment protections based on race, gender, and other protected groups, but states, and especially local governments, may lack the structural or political elements necessary to effectively monitor and process discrimination complaints (Colvin, 2000;Riccucci & Gossett, 1996;Button, Rienzo, & Wald, 1995). As noted above, the rate of complaints is similar to that for other protected groups given the estimated size of the gay and lesbian population (Badgett et al, 2007;Riccucci & Gossett, 1996).…”

Barriers to Security Clearances for Gay Men and Lesbians: Fear of Blackmail or Fear of Homosexuals?

“…Congress defeated the Employment NonDiscrimination Act (ENDA) in 1996 and, though 80 percent of the public supports the general principle of equal job opportunities for gay people, near majorities still oppose hiring homosexuals in a variety of occupations (Lewis and Rogers 2000). State and local laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation appear to have limited effectiveness (Riccucci and Gossett 1996;Colvin 2000). Two studies of the general economy suggest that gay men earn substantially less than comparably educated and experienced heterosexual men (findings are less conclusive for lesbians; see Badgett 1995;Klawitter and Flatt 1998), but nearly insurmountable data problems-most importantly, identifying gay peoplegive these studies less credibility than the vast array of studies on racial and sexual pay disparities.…”