The Clinton Era policy was ruled Unconstitutional in a Court ruling in California. It would be better if a smarter policy was constructed Don't Care act with dignity. The truth is that most people don't care who is not gay. Just comport yourself with dignity and decorum.
In truth the issues of gender and preference in the work place are more confused and convoluted than ever. Women are granted very wide latitude in dress code. In my office men are required to wear a tie five days a week even when the heat index is over 100 and no visitors are present. Men have complained with some legitimacy that women can go to work in a sundress, but we can not remove our ties ever. Now if a man decided to wear a sundress he would not be acting with professionalism.
Many jobs do indeed have restrictions that can result in termination over matters in our private lives that have nothing to do with our jobs. In theory a person moonlighting as a WWE Wrestler, an arrest for DWI or a public scandal could result in termination of federal employment. Now if Bob is living with a same sex partner it isn't my business and I do not care. Similarly, if person X is committing adultery with a non coworker it is not my business. However, if the person is a coworker than serious legal issues may have been violated. There are those that would argue that a coworker moonlighting as Siegfried the Shmendrick in the WWE would create integrity issues, but I see this as low brow comedy.
In truth the atmosphere towards gays is often very lacking. People should get severely disciplined for using racial, ethnic or homophobic slurs. However, in reality only the dreaded N word is enforced. People who would end a career over an imagined slight will use the F term for gays and brag of their "gaydar" without a reservation. As a person who worked in the fashion industry for decades I am rather amused by people who claim that one can tell a persons preference by vocation. I endured this in Vermont with a nutty local who insisted because of my prior vocation, interests in art and theater as well and having lived in Soho deduced that I must be gay. A horrified HR person had a long talk with the person. I explained that as a NYC resident being gay is not a big deal.
I do not like the presence of laws that encourage otherwise law abiding citizens to break the law. Some of the worst asylum cases one sees are issues where people face abuse because of who they are. I would be much happier to live in a world where there would be no need for Lambda legal, but sadly there is. One of the oddities in the VAWA act is that it provides protections for heterosexuals, but none for gays. A very respected senior official said "abuse is abuse and someday I hope the law changes". I agree with her 100 percent.
The truth is that a coworker who is gay does not impact my job in any way. I will contrast this with enduring a coworker who is a vegan who calls my diet " the toe tag diet". I have been off full calorie soda for about five years. One of the oddities is that after this new sickness it appears that I can no longer handle carbonated beverages without horrible pain. I got a lecture about Hawaiian Punch but as I have great difficulty with solid food at the moment it is no big deal. The soup in the cafeteria was unfit for human consumption even by my low standards. However, I got a long lecture about Hawaiian Punch, Gator Aide and everything else. I am somewhat better and can eat 90% food that is scratchy like potato chips and nuts are still too painful.
We make all types of reasonable accommodations in the work place. I doubt that any of us would object to Kosher, Halal or Vegetarian meals at a party. None of us object to religious head coverings, facial hair in accordance with religious beliefs, appropriate alterations of dress policy. Do note I am not allowed to wear sunglasses while addressing the public. Similarly a person wishing to interact with the public while wearing a burkha would create similar issues. Now I do grasp that the military is a different situation, but the matter should only be addressed if problems arise. In a normal job gays require zero reasonable accommodations.
We will probably be a better society when we move to "Don't care and show some class".
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7 comments:
In truth the atmosphere towards gays is often very lacking.
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I hope it isn't so thin that they can't breath.
There is room for improvement Duck.
We need to do a better job in this area. The very same people who would lynch a person for the N word use gay slurs in a blase manner.
Sorry, but gays probably face more discrimination than Blacks in this day and age.
Sorry, but gays probably face more discrimination than Blacks in this day and age.
O.o?
Why's that? The Navy won't let faggots wear skirts?
"Sorry, but gays probably face more discrimination than Blacks in this day and age."
Yes, but not nearly enough.
Seriously, can't you see how cynical that statement is? You are marginalizing the historic suffering of blacks by the doings of whites in your country when you compare it to the fact that some disgusting fags can't "marry" in a couple of states. And you are spitting on the Scriptures, your forefathers gave to humankind, in the process.
For Heaven's sake, get a grip. This is how fags are disciminated against. This and this is about blacks.
Oh I forgot: DO follow the link provided in the German blog entry, Beak. That is how fags are discriminated against in San Francisco. How very "gay"!
Warning to others: Don't click if you have a weak stomach!
Editrix
I will not deny the history of discrimination against Blacks. It was a case of America no living up to its ideals. My mother was one of those people who marched in the Civil Rights Era.
We have had roughly 40 years of affirmative action and in many cases reverse discrimination. Many of the people who benefited were like Barak Obama whose sole connection to slavery in America was that some of his mothers family owned slaves. Other beneficiaries were West Indian and
African immigrants who had zero to do with that history. Then again there is the problem of penalizing people for their history that occurred before they were born.
There is a difference between outreach and trying to increase the pool of applicants and playing
games with test scores. A person who is white or Asian is required to have higher test scores for entry. Then when promotions come around the same pattern of discrimination promotes less qualified candidates.
I am also looking for studies done 20 years ago that showed Blacks were given higher grades consistently for the same work at the University level.
The USA has done a very good job in creating a work place that is fair to Blacks. Unfortunately, the Black leadership has been corrupt and the media has aided in this silliness by promoting non stories like the shortage of Blacks in NASCAR. Jesse Jackson has engaged in a series of ethically challenged behaviors some critics call shakedowns.
Meanwhile, the official Civil Rights ( mostly Commies) Industry
ignored the entry level hiring practices of many companies. I worked with one company in Brooklyn that had 300 workers and zero Blacks. I asked the owner and the Owner said "Blacks steal".
I left the company shortly after and learned that companies who hire illegal labor will readily abuse legal labor. While HS drop outs sat unemployed the official Civil Rights industry did next to nothing as this problem persisted and I observed it at multiple locations. There was nobody banging on the doors of the factories stating give native born
American Blacks a chance.
While the American workplace has done an excellent job at remedying
discrimination against Blacks gays were facing tougher obstacles. In immigration laws are designed to promote family unity thus excluded gays from spousal relationships. In the most outrageous inequity laws that protect battered spouses
fail to protect gay people because we do not recognize those relationships.
While there is a hyper hysteria about about protecting Blacks at work real abuse towards gays and lesbians or people who are viewed as such is tolerated. Many of the worst offenders are Black. Women swearing that they have "gaydar" or looking at applicants and deciding they are gay based upon appearances. The N word will end your career but the same people who would cut your throat have zero problem calling people homophobic slurs.
I would encourage you to ask HR professionals who see this all the time. Many people who are straight
and mistaken for gay will not say a word for fear of being stigmatized. Gays who speak out about these injustices fear reprisals at work and being labeled.
No person should face harassment on the job or discrimination based upon their orientation.
"We have had roughly 40 years of affirmative action and in many cases reverse discrimination."
I am a most vocal critic of that practice and of anti-white racism generally.
You can't do anything about being black, whereas homosexuals are provoking the heterosexual majority needlessly by shoving their disgusting sexuality in their faces. Nobody would be interested in them would they, as they ought to, keep private what ought to remain private. Different from race, sexuality is nothing of political and public interest. Different from blacks, homosexuals have brought it all upon themselves by politicizing the non-political, and that in a way of which every decent man or woman will be sickened.
Do you REALLY think the men in those pictures have a LEGITIMATE cause? Do you REALLY compare those disgusting, swinish perverts to the likes of Martin Luther King?
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