Brownback order rolls back LGBT protections

An executive order issued Tuesday by Gov. Sam Brownback left gay and transgender state workers feeling unappreciated and vulnerable and the state appearing intolerant and mean spirited.

Brownback rescinded an executive order that then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius issued in 2007 prohibiting discrimination and harassment of classified state employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity. He said that his order “ensures state employees enjoy the same civil rights as all Kansans without creating additional ‘protected classes.’”

Neither Congress nor the state Legislature has expanded civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination and harassment beyond race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age and disability. Therefore Kansans have no legal protection from being fired, harassed or discriminated against because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. That’s still true even though court decisions have enabled same-sex couples in at least 61 Kansas counties to obtain marriage licenses and marry legally since November.

Brownback declared that “such expansion of ‘protected classes’ should be done by the Legislature and not through unilateral action.” He knows full well that the conservative Legislature is unlikely to act (although Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, is pushing such a bill).

Brownback’s move has brought more negative national attention the state’s way, including in a segment on Wednesday’s “The Daily Show” in which Jon Stewart suggested “Brownback clicked his heels three times and said, ‘There’s no place like homophobia.’”

Far more important, it has let the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members of the state workforce know their governor would rather score a socially conservative political point than keep Kansas on record as opposing their harassment and firing.

For the editorial board, Rhonda Holman

This story was originally published February 12, 2015 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Brownback order rolls back LGBT protections."