The Heritage Foundation: ENDA Threatens Fundamental Civil Liberties

on Religion and Civil Society

November 1, 2013

ENDA Threatens Fundamental Civil Liberties

By Ryan T. Anderson

 

Abstract

All citizens should oppose unjust discrimination, but the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 is not the way to achieve that goal. ENDA threatens fundamental First Amendment rights. It creates new, subjective protected classes that will expose employers to unimaginable liability. Furthermore, ENDA would increase government interference in labor markets in ways that could harm the economy. Yet ENDA’s damage is not only economic: It would further weaken the marriage culture and the freedom of citizens and their associations to affirm their religious or moral convictions, such as that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and that maleness and femaleness are not arbitrary constructs but objective ways of being human. ENDA would treat expressing these beliefs in an employment context as actionable discrimination.