Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) on Tuesday unilaterally rescinded rules that had protected state workers from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
"When an executive repeals that kind of order, it sends a terrible, terrible sign that we don't care about this -- these people are not deserving of protections, we're going to go backwards," Bonney told The Huffington Post. "That's against the flow of history, frankly."
He added that passing an anti-discrimination law in the Republican-controlled Kansas legislature would be a "Herculean task."
Thomas Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, said the order would cause LGBT state employees to be seen differently at work.
"If you work for the state, your measure of job performance is no longer the quality of your work, but rather who you love and go home to at the end of the day," Witt said in a statement.
Without the protections, Bonney said that "paranoia will set in" for LGBT state employees.
"If their bosses don't like gay folks, for instance, it'll be open season," Bonney said.
huffingtonpost.com
(With the Republican's controlling the House Senate, and so many State governments I fear we're going to see a lot of this. They will likely try to overturn the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They've said they want to. Also again try for the Constitutional Amendment against any rights regarding gender identity, and sexual orientation. We may have to re-start from scratch.)
"That's against the flow of history, frankly."
ReplyDeleteIt's by no means guaranteed that history flows in one direction only. The gains of lifetimes of effort can be swept away in a moment, as German gays learned in 1933.
Sorry I can't be more reassuring, but then I don't exactly feel like I have a horse in this race. Mine was taken out and shot a long time ago. You know what I mean.
Z