President Obama Strengthens ENDA by Rejecting DOMA [View All]

[Ian David]

President Obama Strengthens ENDA by Rejecting DOMA
Filed by: Guest Blogger

Editors' Note: Guest blogger Tico Almeida is a civil rights litigator at the boutique law firm of Sanford Wittels & Heisler LLP, which was recently named by Law360 as the only plaintiff-side law firm on the 2010 list of the Top Five employment law practices in the United States. Tico-Almeida.jpgFrom 2007 to 2010, Mr. Almeida served as the lead counsel on the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Some advocates within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community have presented a false choice between advocating for marriage equality and the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would outlaw workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The truth is that the steps we take toward one goal also bring us closer to the other goal. Equality begets equality.

In fact, this week's much-celebrated announcement by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in the litigation challenging the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) will likely bolster efforts to secure equal rights both in civil marriage and in employment. Because of President Obama's still-evolving position on marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples, we are one step closer to a federal ENDA statute that can survive an attack by conservatives who will surely challenge that statute's constitutionality in federal court sometime shortly after we have enacted ENDA into law.

For starters, the Obama Administration deserves credit for refusing to defend the constitutionality of the clearly discriminatory Section 3 of DOMA. According to Yale Law School professor Jack Balkin, the Obama Administration's new position likely increases the chances that at least some portions of DOMA will be struck down by the federal courts, including eventually the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Balkin is right, and I would add that the legal briefs submitted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in the DOMA cases will also increase the long-term chances that LGBT victims of workplace discrimination and harassment will one day have the opportunity to hold accountable their discriminatory employers in federal court.

That's because of the following key portion of the announcement by U.S. Attorney General Holder:

"After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a heightened standard of scrutiny."

More:
http://www.bilerico.com/2011/02/president_obama_strengthens_enda_by_rejecting_doma.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BilericoProject+%28The+Bilerico+Project%29&utm_content=Twitter



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