Members of Congress Urge President Bush to Reaffirm Commitment to Rights of All Federal Employees, Regardless of Sexual Orientation

WASHINGTON, DC – Members of the House and Senate, distressed by the action of a Bush Administration official to undermine over twenty years of protections for federal employees against discrimination based on sexual orientation, today urged President Bush to reaffirm that discrimination against federal employees based on matters unrelated to their work is illegal.

The request comes in response to Special Counsel Scott Bloch’s decision to interpret the law in a fashion that allows disciplinary actions against workers on the basis of their sexual orientation alone, and his decision to remove language to the contrary from his office’s web site and from printed materials. At a press conference in Washington today, several members of Congress said that Bloch should resign unless he renounces this interpretation of the law.

A federal law passed in the 1970’s makes it a “prohibited personnel practice” to discriminate against employees for conduct that does not affect their or others’ job performance. Bloch has said that attending a Gay Pride event is conduct that is protected by this law; but he also says that conduct and sexual orientation “are not the same thing,” according to an interview he gave to the Federal Times on March 10.

And in a segment on March 26 on the NPR program “Day to Day,” Bloch said, “It was only beginning five years ago that the office under my predecessor began enforcing for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This new policy created a protected class based on orientation, which is not currently part of the civil rights law that protects people based on race, creed, color, national origin, religion and so on.”

However, clear documentation reveals this assertion to be untrue. For example in 1983, Theodore Olson, now U.S. Solicitor General, interpreted federal law to reach the conclusion that “it is improper to deny employment to or terminate anyone on the basis of sexual preference or conduct that does not adversely affect job performance.” Every administration has since interpreted the law this way.

Bloch, who had to be confirmed by the Senate, took office in January of this year. Members of both Houses of Congress have already sent letters to Bloch expressing their concern over his action, as have the Log Cabin Republicans.

The Members of Congress are sending a letter to President Bush to ask him to reaffirm his commitment to the rights of workers based on sexual orientation.