We all know that the marriage equality victory we just celebrated does not mean we have won all of our battles. This win may mean even more issues than we were focusing on before.
Gay marriage may now be legal across the United States, but that doesn't mean people won't get fired if their boss sees the wedding photos.
A week after celebrating a landmark Supreme Court ruling overturning same-sex marriage bans in 13 states, activists are gearing up for the next stage of a decades-long battle for equal rights. Less than half of US states have laws protecting people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Which means that more than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act outlawed segregated lunch counters, a Tennessee hardware store owner had every right to post a sign in his window declaring "no gays allowed" on Monday. – ndtv.com
How many states do not offer protection for us being us? Where in the nation should you still keep one foot in the closet when it comes to being out at work? I'm not sure I can answer that question. Do a simple Google search and the first three entries are:
Wait, it went up according to The Huff? The grey area is that you are and are not protected in the same state. It all depends on your employer. Click on the image below for a larger version.
The map is still looking pretty somber. As a positive, it does resemble where we were just about a half a year ago with our marriage equality map. We can make the change so things like this do not happen.
As the NDTV article title says "Married Sunday, Fired Monday."
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began prosecuting the cases of people fired for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender in 2012, using a convoluted argument that it falls under the recognized category of sex discrimination because they were targeted for failing to conform to gender stereotypes.
A lesbian fired from an Iowa casino after ten years as a marketing manager used that argument to sue for wrongful dismissal because her boss repeatedly told her to wear more feminine clothes.
The lack of explicit protection and a political climate in which homophobia is masked as religious expression encourages discrimination, said Jennifer Pizer, director of the law and policy at rights group Lambda Legal.
"People lose jobs because the manager or the boss believes they can fire the people with impunity," she told AFP. – ndtv.com
So is this the fight that will get more our community's attention now? Will we get a true countdown like we did for marriage equalilty and understand if it is 32, 29, or 27? And as well will we AS A COMMUNITY make sure all are included in our fight. We are more than LG. We also have BTI and Q.
There are an unbelievable 27 states that do not guarantee freedom from employment discrimination – meaning it is perfectly legal to fire someone for being gay, bisexual or transgender.
In two – Arkansas and Tennessee – employment protection laws are banned, meaning districts are prohibited from enacting their own laws on a local level.
Of those who do have some legal protections, three states do not protect on the basis of gender identity – New York, New Hampshire and Wisconsin. – pinknews.co.uk
Some states prohibit
Some states prohibit discrimination based on marital status. You should pull that data and share a map.