Kansas revokes Executive Order preventing sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination

President Obama’s Executive Order Final Rule, which was intended to prevent federal contractors from discriminating against potential employees on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Meanwhile, just last month Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback chose to rescind an Executive Order that was signed in 2007 by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, which prohibited Kansas state agencies from participating in employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. In its place, Gov. Brownback signed a new Executive Order, which stated that Kansas would uphold its commitment to bar discrimination for other Equal Employment Opportunity Commission-protected classes, which include race, ethnicity, gender and religion. “This Executive Order ensures that state employees enjoy the same civil rights as all Kansans without creating additional ‘protected classes’ as the previous Order did,” said Gov. Brownback. “Any such expansion of ‘protected classes’ should be done by the Legislature and not through unilateral action.” While Kansas maintains laws that prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in private hiring and housing, those that are employed by state agencies will no longer have the same job protection that was promised to them under the 2007 Order. However, because the law had already been in place for eight years, some employees may have chosen to disclose their sexual orientation or gender identity over that time. Those that did could find that their jobs are at risk now. “It’s an outrage, an absolute outrage. I can conceive of no justifiable reason for doing this,” said Equality Kansas Executive Director Tom Witt. The EEOC does not currently include sexual orientation or gender identity in its protected classes, though in November it filed its first lawsuits against private businesses on behalf of transgender plaintiffs, claiming that gender identity discrimination would fall under the umbrella of sex discrimination. However, it is unclear what power the EEOC has when enforcing this kind of coverage against a state government. Under the “Coverage of State and Local Governments” website, the EEOC states, “If a complaint against a state or local government agency involves race, color, national origin, sex, religion or disability discrimination, the agency is covered by the laws we enforce if it has 15 or more employees who worked for the agency for at least twenty calendar weeks (in this year or last).” No word yet on whether the EEOC will involve itself in the protection of Kansans.]]>