Civil & Human Rights

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In an editorial opinion for the Huffington Post today, President Obama writes Congress Needs to Pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act:

Here in the United States, we're united by a fundamental principle:
we're all created equal and every single American deserves to be treated
equally in the eyes of the law. We believe that no matter who you are,
if you work hard and play by the rules, you deserve the chance to
follow your dreams and pursue your happiness. That's America's promise.

That's why, for instance, Americans can't be fired from their jobs just
because of the color of their skin or for being Christian or Jewish or a
woman or an individual with a disability. That kind of discrimination
has no place in our nation. And yet, right now, in 2013, in many states
a person can be fired simply for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgender.

As a result, millions of LGBT Americans go to work every day fearing
that, without any warning, they could lose their jobs — not because of
anything they've done, but simply because of who they are.

It's offensive. It's wrong. And it needs to stop, because in the
United States of America, who you are and who you love should never be a
fireable offense.

That's why Congress needs to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,
also known as ENDA, which would provide strong federal protections
against discrimination, making it explicitly illegal to fire someone
because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This bill has
strong bipartisan support and the support of a vast majority of
Americans. It ought to be the law of the land.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On a host of social issues, from contraceptive coverage in the Affordable Care Act to access to safe and legal abortions, from the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) to marriage equality for gays, there is one recurring theme: religious organizations who are opposed to these measures want to be exempt from complying with the law because it conflicts with their religious beliefs. More importanty, they are arguing for an individual exemption, i.e., that one's personal religious beliefs should exempt them from complying with the laws.

Religion has long been used as justification for the most inhumane treatment of one human by another. Just look to our own American experience.

European settlers viewed the Native American cultures as inferior to their own. Some considered the native peoples subhuman. This mindset fueled the justification that Native Americans could be enslaved, forced to live in confined communities, or converted to Christianity under the concept of the white man's burden (the supposed or presumed responsibility of white people to govern and impart their culture to nonwhite people). In many other cases, entire native civilizations were simply wiped out by acts of genocide.

Europeans settlers held similar views of Africans, whom they viewed as inferior
because of the color of their skin. A prevailing religious theory at
the time taught that white represented light and godliness, while black
represented evil and the malevolent forces of the underworld, allowing them to justify  slavery of Africans. A New World: Colonial Societies. As with Native Americans, Europeans viewed Africans as subhuman, and thus, well-suited for mindless, grueling labor. The few critics of slavery focused on the inhumane treatment of Africans and not the practice of slavery itself. This led to the establishment of black slavery as lifelong and hereditary.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Red State lawmakers have been systematically stripping away labor and wage standards, according to a new research report. Report:
There’s a movement to unwind state wage and labor standards:

Rules have been enacted to prevent minimum wage hikes and
mandated paid sick leave, while others have made it harder to recover
unpaid wages or collect unemployment benefits.

“This is coordinated and national,” the report’s author,
University of Oregon professor Gordon Lafer, said during a Thursday
morning panel unveiling the report.
It was produced for the Economic Policy Institute, which focused on
the needs of low- and middle-income workers, and where Lafer is a
research associate.

The paper explores a series of free-market policies pursued
or enacted in 2011 and 2012. Four states limited the minimum wage or at
least to whom it applied, another four made it easier for children to
work and 16 imposed new limits on unemployment benefits.

Some states pursued legislation that would make it harder
for employees to collect overtime or recover wages that hadn’t been
paid. And others also passed or pursued laws that restricted the rights
of local governments to set their own standards. In Florida, for
example, an Orange County movement to require paid sick leave was
quashed when the state passed a law prohibiting counties and cities from
enacting such measures.

The report represents a shift from EPI’s typically wonky
fare. It ascribes a narrative, supported by research, to a recent policy
trend: wage and labor deregulation, driven by the agenda of a set of
national pro-business groups.

“The most powerful corporate lobbies in the country are
working across the country in every state legislature and on almost
every dimension of the labor market to lower wages and benefits,” Lafer
said on Thursday.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Public testimony continued in the Hawaii House until 11:00 p.m. Saturday night. The hearing will resume on Monday, November 4, at 11:00 a.m. in the Capitol Auditorium. Monday’s hearing will continue to be broadcast live by Capitol TV and on Olelo Channel 53.

Religious groups opposed to marriage equality are attempting a "citizens filibuster," similar to what pro-choice advocates attempted in the state of Texas earlier this year: thousands have signed up to testify in an attempt to run out the clock by talking the bill to death in the time scheduled for the Special Session.

In an attempt to appease religious groups, the House is looking at amending the bill passed by the Senate chamber, House looks to Connecticut law as model for Hawaii (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, subscription required):

Twisted in knots about how to balance same-sex marriage with religious freedom, state House lawmakers are looking to Connecticut as a potential model.

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that the state's marriage and civil unions laws violated equal protection because gay couples were denied the ability to marry, becoming the third state, after Massachusetts and California, to legalize gay marriage. Connecticut approved a law in 2009 implementing the court's ruling while adding a broad exemption to deal with religious liberty.