We’ve heard many arguments against ENDA, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act passed by the Senate last November, some less bright than others. This week, Nevada state Assemblyman and Congressional candidate Cresent Hardy (R) brought a new claim to the fore, that ENDA amounts to a new segregation law. Here’s the Las Vegas Sun with Hardy’s quote:
“When we create classes, we create that same separation that we’re trying to unfold somehow,” he said. “By continuing to create these laws that are what I call segregation laws, it puts one class of a person over another. We are creating classes of people through these laws.”
It is already illegal under federal law for an employer to discriminate against an employee’s race, religion, country of origin, gender, age or disability. ENDA would add sexual orientation and gender identity to that list of protected classes, thereby decreasing unequal and separate treatment for LGBT citizens, one might argue.
In 2011, Hardy voted against legislation similar to ENDA in Nevada. Hardy will challenge first-term Representative Steven Horsford (D) for Nevada’s 4th Congressional District this fall. Curious about his other positions? Read the Sun’s full rundown.
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Idaho’s Anti-Gay Segregation Bill is Even Worse than Kansas’
