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Catholic World News News Feature

US House passes gay anti-discrimination bill November 08, 2007

On November 7 the US House of Representatives approved a bill that would make it a federal crime to discriminate against potential employees on the grounds of sexual preference. But the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) still faces steep hurdles before it could become law.

Although ENDA provides an exemption for religious institutions, opponents of the legislation argue that the exemption does not go far enough, since it does not apply to individuals who would object to hiring homosexuals on religious grounds. "For any religious exemption to pass constitutional muster, it would have to apply to the individual business owner," said Matt Barber, a spokesman for Concerned Women of America. As it stands, he argued, ENDA would "crush individual business owners' guaranteed First Amendment rights."

Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri, the whip for the Republican minority in the House, noted that the bill-- which will soon be introduced in the Senate-- did not have enough support in the House to override an expected presidential veto. He argued strenuously against passage, saying that the legislation would create "a legal quagmire" and undermine the religious freedom of employers.