Bill Berkowitz: Obsessed by 'cross-dressers,' Tony Perkins' Family Research Council Attacks ENDA

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Bill Berkowitz

Despite what you may have thought, suspected, or maybe intuited, in this brave new world of tweets, Facebook and MySpace social networking, and You Tube's viral videos, there is still a place for direct mail fundraising appeals that are delivered to your mailbox by the U.S. Postal Service. And, at the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council (FRC), the six-page letter appears to be still king.

Direct mail fundraising appeal urges FRC supporters to stand against what it claims should really be called the 'Discrimination Against Christians in the Workplace Act.'

As has been the case for years with religious right organizations, the most popular direct mail subject matter -- and fundraising fodder -- is the gays. This time around, there's an added bonus; cross-dressers in the workplace.

Last month, the FRC sent out an appeal -- signed by Tony Perkins, the group's president -- headlined "President Obama and Washington D.C., radicals plan to impose homosexuality and silence Christianity in workplaces." Will you help me warn Congress?"

FRC's headline fertilized the imagination: Will American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert be dispatched by President Obama and his Washington D.C. "radicals" to the living rooms of conservative Christians across the country to recruit their children? Will evangelicals be forced to stuff their Christmas stockings with products endorsed by Ellen DeGeneres? Will Barney Frank throw out the first pitch at all the opening-day baseball games come next April? Will Neil Patrick Harris emcee the CMAs (Country Music Association or Christian Music Awards) ceremonies next year?

The FRC warned that "A grave threat to your traditional values and religious values is resurfacing" in the form of the Employment Non-Discrimination ACT (ENDA). It's a "sweeping" bill and one that is "one of the top priorities of the Obama Administration."

Perkins pointed out that the bill "truthfully should be called the 'Discrimination Against Christians in the Workplace Act.'" He noted that FRC was key to stopping ENDA when it looked like it would pass the "liberal-controlled" Congress in 2008. Now, FRC needs "your help to fight it again."

The way to help? "We need you to stand with us financially so that we can continue educating lawmakers and citizens about the disastrous impact ENDA will have on churches, small businesses run by Christians, and faith-based charities and exposing the truth about the damage this radical assault will do to your religious freedom."

As expected, Perkins reminds supporters that ENDA is "backed by the powerful Hollywood propaganda machine and sympathetic media [that] … believe they're nearing a great victory in their war on religious liberty."

While there may not be a Lambert visit to your home in your future, nevertheless the passage of ENDA could unleash dire consequences, Perkins pointed out: a business owner of "a Christian bookstore" could be prosecuted for "declining to hire an open homosexual or cross-dresser"; "your employer" might tell "you to remove the Bible from your desk because it is offensive to the homosexual or cross-dresser he was forced to hire"; "your church" could be "forced to" hire a "man who dresses as a woman"; or your teenage son might come home from a summer at a faith-based camp and tell "you his counselor was an openly practicing homosexual."

While Perkins doesn't come out and say it, all this talk of cross-dressers might actually be good for the fashion industry!

Perkins claims that while there are "religious exemptions" in the bill, they are "narrow and essentially meaningless."

In his closing remarks, Perkins urges supporters to "Act NOW" (his caps) "or it may be too late once the new year begins." After all, as Perkins states, "it will take funding to keep our expert staff on the front lines."

Despite FRC's caterwauling about "narrow and essentially meaningless exemptions," the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has pointed out that "ENDA exempts all religious organizations, which includes corporations, associations, and religious societies. In addition, all educational institutions are exempt if the educational institution is at least substantially controlled or owned by a religious organization or if the institution's curriculum is directed towards the propagation of a religion" (see "The Religious Exemption to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.")

A Raw Story piece noted that "The exemption is even more broad than that contained in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which allows religious organizations to discriminate on the basis of faith." The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights group goes on to outline:

"For example, in a 1987 Supreme Court case dealing with [the Civil Rights Act's] Title VII, the Court ruled that a gym operated by the Mormon Church could require its janitor to be a Mormon in good standing. Title VII does not, however, permit religious organization to discriminate on the basis of an individual's race, sex, or national origin. By contrast, ENDA permits religious organizations to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation."

The Human Rights Campaign points out that ENDA:

*Extends federal employment discrimination protections currently provided based on race, religion, sex, national origin, age and disability to sexual orientation and gender identity

*Prohibits public and private employers, employment agencies and labor unions from using an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity as the basis for employment decisions, such as hiring, firing, promotion or compensation

*Provides for the same procedures, and similar, but somewhat more limited, remedies as are permitted under Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act

*Applies to Congress and the federal government, as well as employees of state and local governments

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY

Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement and a frequent writer for Z Magazine, Religion Dispatches and other online publications. He documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories, and defeats of the American Right from a progressive perspective.