Every day, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people experience discrimination in the workplace. Typically, it is rooted in homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia, or mere cultural incompetency of what reality is like for LGBT people—and the consequences are real. Workplace discrimination makes it difficult for Black LGBT workers to secure a job, and financially provide for themselves and their families. The negative treatment that LGBT people encounter, oftentimes solely based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, is further exacerbated for Black LGBT people.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would change this by allowing every worker to be judged on their merits, talents, and qualifications, not on who they are or whom they love. This change could be the first step to ensuring that LGBT workers, and especially Black LGBT workers, are economically secure.
The above excerpt was originally published in Ebony.
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