Congressman Steve King (R-OH) has suggested that LGBT workers implement their own version of Don't Ask Don't Tell in order to find and maintain stable employment.
King said LGBT employees should be responsible for omitting their sexuality from potentially homophobic employers who would not hire or even fire their employees based on their sexual orientation.
"You have private sector businesses here and they need to have freedom to operate," King said. "In the first place, I would think that unless someone makes their sexuality public, it's nobody's business, so neither is it our business to tell an employer who to hire."
There is currently no federal law protecting LGBT workers from being unjustly terminated or discriminated against by employers.
Apparently, Rep. King believes that there are some Americans who should remain in hiding rather than
discomfort heterosexuals with their personal lives.Tell Rep. King: Keep Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Out of the Workplace!
We the undersigned urge you to retract your statements concerning LGBT workers.
The LGBT community should not be forced to hide their sexual orientation for fear of homophobic employers.
Instead, employers should always enforce nondiscrimination policies in the workplace and throughout the hiring process.
You deny the United States an enormous deal of innovation and productivity from the hardworking LGBT community.
We please ask you to retract these statements in a public apology.
Thank you for taking our comments and concerns into serious consideration.
