It's time they admit to the truth, y'all: Conservatives hate the GLBT community

[B]ackers of a bill that would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity appear to have enough votes to pass the legislation in the U.S. Senate. If it then receives a ‘yea’ vote in the House of Representatives, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, called ENDA, would encode workplace protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans into federal law. The bill faces steep odds in the House, however. Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) has objected to the measure, stating that it would incite a wave of lawsuits from individuals who feel they’ve experienced discrimination at work because of their sexual orientation or gender identity…. “The speaker believes this legislation will increase frivolous litigation and cost American jobs, especially small-business jobs,” said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

Many Americans don’t know that in most of the country you can still lose your job because of your sexuality. Here in the 21st century, there’s still a class of Americans guaranteed little more than that they could be treated as second-class citizens.

With that fact in mind, a reasonable person might think it makes sense to pass a law ensuring that no one could be discriminated against in the workplace due to their gender identity or sexual orientation. Unfortunately, rare is the occasion these days when House Speaker John Boehner could be called “reasonable.” Boehner is a “equal rights means special rights” Republican, convinced that encoding equality of treatment in statute law creates a class of people entitled to special treatment. He fears what he sees as the inevitable wave of lawsuits as The Gayz attempt to force their Homosexual Agenda upon good, God-fearing business owners.

A little bit of research easily available to the Speaker would show him that the legal nightmare he fears just isn’t going to be the case. The Government Accounting Office looked at states which currently have non-discrimination laws on their books. What GAO found, not surprisingly, was that those laws haven’t resulted in a significant uptick in lawsuits. That this story comes from the Wall Street Journal should be taken as significant. With a reliably Conservative editorial philosophy, WSJ can’t be accused of being staffed by “woolly-headed Liberals.” That they point out the truth that Boehner is so blithely willing to ignore is to their credit, but it makes for an uncomfortable reality for the Speaker. He knows that House Republicans hate the GLBT community and are loathe to take any steps that could be construed by their base as supporting the “Homosexual Agenda.” And so “equal rights” become “special rights.”

Call me silly, but I can’t help wondering why making equality of treatment the law of the land should be controversial in any respect. Equal rights are not special rights. ENDA merely guarantees that sexuality or gender identity can’t be used as reasons to deny an American citizen equal treatment under the law…and how is that such a radical, anti-business idea?

Perhaps it’s time that Boehner and his fellow Republicans own up to the truth that they hate the GLBT community and are loathe to do anything that benefits them. If they had the honesty and integrity to admit to what they’ve repeatedly proven to be true, perhaps the American Sheeple would finally come to understand that Republicans only care about people who look, act, believe, live, and love like Conservative White Christian males.

WE DESERVE BETTER.