The U.S. Senate is moving forward with consideration of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (S. 815), also known as ENDA.
ENDA ties the hands of employers when it comes to addressing concerns over employee’s “actual or perceived sexual identity or gender identity.” As Family Resource Council writes, that has serious ramifications for religious organizations and people of faith:
ENDA would force religious business owners and workplaces such as Christian bookstores, religious publishing houses, pre-schools and religious television and radio stations to accept as normal any employee who has had a sex-change surgery, any employee who has changed or is “transitioning” their public “gender identity” (regardless of whether they have had surgery or hormone treatments), transvestites (people who dress as the opposite sex on an occasional basis for emotional or sexual gratification), and drag queens or drag kings (people who dress as the opposite sex for the purpose of entertaining others).
Making matters worse, “perceived gender identity” status does not require sex-change surgery, so ENDA would allow some biological males (who claim to be female) to enter and even appear nude before females in bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers. Situations like this have already been reported in several states with ENDA like laws such as Maine, Colorado and California.
ENDA is yet another example of legislation running roughshod over religious liberty. It is vaguely-written, and will only be clarified through expensive and time-consuming litigation in our courts.
Please contact Senators Pryor and Boozman, and ask them each to oppose the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (S. 815).
Allen Harrison
Betty Ratcliffe