by Bryan Fischer, AFA Director of Issue Analysis

According to a far-left website, a gay activist by the name of B. Daniel Blatt has written that passing ENDA (The Employment Non-Discrimination Act) could well lead to the forced outing of both gays and transgendered folk in the workplace. (ENDA is a proposed bill that would grant special protections to employees on the basis of aberrant sexual behavior.)

Says Blatt:

Should [ENDA] pass, how would a liberal Administration enforce it, would the Holder Justice Department bring "disparate impact" lawsuits against corporations that don't have the proper amount of homosexuals in their workforce (sic). Would a lower percentage of gay people in the workforce (than in the surrounding jurisdiction) be evidence of discrimination as some liberals believe a lower proportion of minorities (than in the population at large) is prima facie evidence of discrimination? (See e.g., Sonia Sotomayor and the Ricci decision).

And how would an employer determine how many gays are in his employ (and a judge in his jurisdiction)? Would people be required to identify their sexuality when they take a job?

His point is simple: companies who do not have a sufficient number of minorities are accused of discrimination on that basis alone, and told they’d better work on diversity or else. If homosexuals and transgenders become official minorities, just like African-Americans and Hispanics, how is a company supposed to know if they have satisfied their legal quota of “queer” employees? (I use the term “queer” since gay activists seem to be so fond of the term when referring to themselves. It apparently is their label of choice.)

Remember that Sonia Sotomayor, now a member of the black-robed oligarchy on the Supreme Court, took the simple fact that not enough blacks and Hispanics passed the New Haven fire department promotion exam as prima facie evidence that the city was engaged in invidious discrimination.

The only way an employer can know if he has a sufficient number of homosexual employees to escape Sotomayor’s wrath would be to require people to identify their sexual orientation and gender identity when they are interviewed and hired.

After all, you can’t tell just by looking (at least most of the time). And you can’t even test for a gay gene, since they’ve never found one. You’d just have to ask. And I can flat out guarantee you that the first employer who does that is going to wind up in court.

Realize further that these same quotas would apply to every business, even ones run by Christian employers. Christian schools, Christian day care centers, Christian bookstores, Christian campgrounds, even tire stores owned and operated by Christians, would be liable to lawsuits if their workforce is not sufficiently diverse.

When even homosexual activists say ENDA is a bad idea, you can take it to the bank: it’s a bad idea.