I agree, this is getting a bit out of hand, but my reason for thinking that
is probably different than that of the sender below, who indicated that simply
because an employer states it is an "Equal Opportunity Employer," it
does not discriminate against homosexual people.
The phrase "Equal Opportunity Employer" is generally added to job
announcements and other official documents because of federal employment
guidelines (ie. civil rights laws). NONE of those federal guidelines
include gay or lesbian people within their parameters. (Only 8 states and a
handful of smaller jurisdications have civil rights protection laws which
cover homosexuals; Many other nations already have such laws, including
most of Western Europe, some of Eastern Europe, and Canada).
Thousands of lesbian women and gay men are fired from their jobs, not promoted,
and not hired, every year -- many of those cases are with employers
which state they are "Equal Opportunity Employers" because they are
required by law to be such in respect to race, gender, physical abilities,
etc., BUT NOT with regard to sexual orientation. (There are no reliable
figures for these cases because the government does not track them. Why
would anyone report such discrimination if there are not laws which provide
recourse?)
That situation is one of the many reasons the gay rights March on Washington
happened last month, and why thousands of gay.lesbian, and bisexual
people in this country have to spend much of their personal life
struggling with governments to change laws, and working to end gay bashing
(in the late 1980s, a Justice Dept. report stated that homosexuals are THE
MOST persecuted and discriminated against group in the US -- Bush
tried to suppress the report; about the same time, an HHS report on youth
suicide reported that gay and lesbian youths are 30% more like to try, and
30% more likely to succeed with, suicide, than the national average --
one of our esteemed Senators publicly stated that to try to counter those
suicide rates would be anti-family).
Assuming that employers - or the government - follow "Equal Opportunity"
guidelines because they believe in the principle behind thim is false.
If everyone did believe in those principles, we wouldn't have the problems
with these issues we have. And we wouldn't need any government bodies to
enact civil rights legislation to protect homosexual people -- we also
wouldn't be having these unbelievably insulting and ignorant statements
in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
From: EDU%"PDOYLE@UCS.INDIANA.EDU" "Patricia Doyle*Geology Library*5-1494
" 25-MAY-1993 12:19:14.48
To: Multiple recipients of list LIBADMIN <LIBADMIN@UMAB.BITNET>
CC:
Subj: Re: equal opportunity employer
I think this is getting a bit out of hand. Hillsboro said they are an
"Equal Opportunity Employer" therefore there is no reason to believe they would
discriminate against homosexual persons. I found the preference to veterns
interesting because you rarely see that anymore. My dad is a retired Naval
Officer and he was given preference when applying for jobs post WWII. I am
glad Vietnam vets are finally getting the respect they deserve.
Interesting discussion!
Tricia Doyle
Branch Coordinator, Geology Lib.
Indiana U.
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