Group to protest Brownback’s order ending LGBT protection

Gay rights activists will hold a rally on the steps outside the State Capitol on Saturday in response to Gov. Sam Brownback’s decision to strip gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender state workers of a protection established under former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Sebelius, a Democrat, issued an executive order in 2007 that said state workers could not be fired, harassed or discriminated against for their sexual orientation or gender identity. Brownback, a Republican, reversed that this week. He reaffirmed the state’s protections against discrimination based on race, religion and gender.

The rally by Equality Kansas, the state’s leading LGBT rights group, and Equality House, a Topeka-based group, will begin at noon. Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, will be the keynote legislative speaker.

Carmichael said there was no reason to end the protection for LGBT state workers.

“I am astounded to learn after four years of the Brownback administration that the governor has suddenly decided that there’s some good cause to allow the state of Kansas to discriminate in employment because of who they love,” he said.

Brownback said any changes to the state’s anti-discrimination policy should be made by the Legislature.

Carmichael decided to take him up on that and introduced a bill an hour after Brownback’s order was announced. HB 2323 would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s anti-discrimination law. This would prevent workplace discrimination against LGBT Kansans in both the public and private sectors.

Tom Witt, executive director of Equality Kansas, said gay and lesbian state workers – including those recently married after the federal ruling overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage – can now be fired based on their personal lives, especially if they have come out to their co-workers since Sebelius’ order.

“That closet door only works one way. It doesn’t work both ways,” Witt said. “Once you’re out, you’re out. And Brownback reneged on the state’s promise that these people would be safe in their jobs – that their job performance would not be judged based on who they go home to at the end of the day.”

Brownback’s rollback of Sebelius’ order has sparked national attention and criticism.

He has said Sebelius should not have created a “new protected class” by unilateral action, contending that any changes to the state’s anti-discrimination laws should be approved by the Legislature.

Rep. Steve Brunk, R-Wichita, dismissed criticism of the governor’s decision to rescind the protection eight years after it had been granted by Sebelius.

“The previous administration had gone around the Legislature to create a law of their own that did not even exist,” Brunk said. “And so the governor, I think rightly so, has simply said we’re going to follow the law, we’re going to follow the Constitution.”

Terry Fox, a Wichita pastor who rallied with Brownback against same-sex marriage before the election, said the governor had a duty to rescind Sebelius’ order based on his election promises to stand for traditional values.

“It was the right thing to do, no matter what the liberals or the left think,” Fox said in a phone call. “It was very encouraging to Christian conservatives in Kansas that we have a governor who’s not afraid to do something that will draw a lot of heat from the homosexual community.”

Fox said he does not think Carmichael’s bill will pass. “And if it does, you can be darn sure that the legislators who vote for it will be held accountable by the conservative Christian community in the state of Kansas,” he said.

No law currently prevents LGBT Kansans from being fired in the private sector. Witt’s group last year pushed for a bill to prevent that.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in both the public and private sector. An additional six prohibit discrimination on sexual orientation and gender identity for public employees, while five others prohibit discrimination against sexual orientation for public employees.

The federal government does not include sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes. President Obama signed an executive order in 2014 stating that companies that contract with the federal government cannot discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

This story was originally published February 12, 2015 at 10:42 AM with the headline "Group to protest Brownback’s order ending LGBT protection."