Senate panel OKs bill banning anti-gay job bias

[Tx4obama]

Senate panel OKs bill banning anti-gay job bias

Jul 10, 1:59 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Gay rights advocates notched another victory Wednesday after a Senate panel approved a bill that would prohibit employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The measure won support from all the Democrats and three Republicans on the 22-member committee, signaling it has a strong chance of passage in the full Senate.

The vote is another sign of rapidly changing attitudes on gay rights in Congress and the nation. It comes just two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex spouses are entitled to the same federal benefits as other married couples in states where gay marriage is legal.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he expects the full Senate to take up the measure later this year. But it is not clear whether GOP leaders in the House will allow the bill to come to a vote.

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Full article here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAY_RIGHTS_CONGRESS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-07-10-13-59-37

[Tx4obama]

1. Additional article below

Ban on LGBT workplace discrimination finally heads to full Senate

Wednesday, July 10, 2013 21:39 EDT

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions voted 15-7 on Wednesday to pass legislation that would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Protections against workplace discrimination have made our country a better, fairer, and more equal place,” the committee’s chairman, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), said. “It is time to promote workplace fairness by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and I am pleased that the HELP Committee has moved forward to eliminate such discrimination in our society by passing a bipartisan, fully-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act.”

ENDA was first proposed in 1994, but a bill that prohibits workplace discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity has never before been reported to the full Senate for a vote.

The bill would expand federal workplace discrimination laws to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. Federal law currently provides similar workplace protections regarding race, religion, gender, national origin, age and disability.

All of the Democratic senators on the committee and three Republicans — Orrin G. Hatch (UT), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Mark Kirk (IL) — voted in favor of the bill.

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Full article here: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/10/ban-on-lgbt-workplace-discrimination-finally-heads-to-full-senate/

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. Orrin Hatch???

Wow

Anybody checked the temperature in hell yet?