RE: U.S.America the fourth Reich- Several states petition supreme court to make it legal to fire LGBT employees
For the record... you can't be fired for race, religion, or national origin. But in most places, you can be fired for personal opinions, political persuasion, and even physical attributes. That is the nature of at-will employment, at least. So this post and source video strikes me as more than a little alarmist.
I can already see people aren't going to like my opinion on this, but I can certainly understand the reasoning behind this petition. I actually had to read the title multiple times, and then check the actual source, to understand what was being said, though. It's the ability to fire LGBT employees BECAUSE they are LGBT, not be able to fire employees who happen to be LGBT. Most positions are at will, meaning anyone can be fired at any time. What most people miss here is that employers will fire people for reasons that they shouldn't be allowed to(race, religion, suggesting a union). They then come up with a different official reason to justify it.
The flip side of this applies, too. A transgender employee might perform poorly and be fired for said poor performance, but then cry victimization. This can tie up the company in an expensive legal battle. Taking this off the table for LGBT people could potentially have the following effects.
The loss of this threat means businesses are more comfortable hiring LGBT people due to decreased risk of financial backlash upon termination if the employee doesn't work out. Also, LGBT people are more capable of getting their foot in the door as a comparatively lower risk hire than before. There position would be more based on merit. Speculation, I know, but the idea that the people proposing these changes simply hate LGBT people is similarly speculation.
Yes, I know I'm going to be called a bigot. I'm just trying to think practically, here. I wish we could get beyond the Nazi rhetoric, because it's hyper partisan and generally unproductive. The Nazis confiscated Jewish property, put them in concentration camps, and committed mass genocide. This is a minor change to a private companies options on under what pretenses they are allowed to let employees go. It does not say you can prevent them in any way from finding other jobs(I would ADAMANTLY oppose such things), or that a company can come out as pro-LGBT with a promise to never discriminate on that attribute. So maybe turn it down from eleven to about a three, otherwise everyone will already be deaf when we have something that actually does infringe on people's rights.
Nice that it strikes you as alarmist but it is not you who is being targeted here! We have a President and vice president who give talks at anti gay hate groups . Pence just spoke out for conversion therapy. SO sure have your opinion but living in a state that has become increasingly less gay friendly and very noticeably so I reserve the right to be more than worried! Also it did not start out like that with the jews ! first they lost rights, then they lost the right to work in certain places then they came for them and did the other stuff...
Right, there was a coordinated propaganda campaign against the Jews to dehumanize them and gain public support for abusing them. Is something like that going on with LGBT folks that I am unaware of?
I am trying not to get angry here as you seem genuine, but have you heard what some politicians are saying about us of late? Things like we need to have our marriage rights revoked, things like pence saying it's an illness and we need state funding for conversion therapy, things like we need to be banned from adopting children as we will rape them and turn them gay !The bathroom laws implemented and the reasons given for them! The way transgender service men and women have been threatened by our government and their service basically mocked, the way our current government wants to reinstate don't ask don't tell , I cannot believe you are not aware of any these things . The climate is getting progressively worse for us, especially in the southern states.
and to point to another minority group you do see how this is being done to hispanics and immigrants right now yes ?
I have a lot of respect for you not getting angry and calling me a bigot. That is what I honestly expected when I left my first comment. I am aware of most of these things you have listed, but the difference is I'm coming from the political right, and thus inhabit a different sphere where we view many of these issues much differently.
Most Republicans I know of actually don't oppose gay marriage, and I don't recall any threats to it being invoked in recent history. In fact, a Christian Baker was harassed by an online mob for not making a custom cake that violated his beliefs. He only barely won that case when it went to the Supreme Court, and only after irreparable damage to his reputation. To put into perspective, it would be like a gay baker being forced to make a custom cake stating something to the extent of "homosexuality is a sin". He shouldn't be forced to do that, and neither should the Christian baker. There were plenty of bakers willing to make the custom cake for the gay couple(that were located much closer to where their wedding was going to be), so the Christian appears to have been targeted with malicious intent.
The Pence thing about conversion therapy is a bit of a misquote. It was his position at a time, though he never advocated electroshock as some people suggest: (From Snopes) "Mike Pence once supported the use of federal funding to treat people "seeking to change their sexual behavior."" I don't see any mention of him still holding this position or making any moves towards acting upon it. I would be happy to review evidence to the contrary.
In regards to hispanics and immigrants... you know Trump's support is growing among them, right? He has always been against illegal immigrants only, which many legal immigrants are against as well. Imagine if you spent several years legally migrating to the US(costing both time and money), and meanwhile someone else just jumps the border and skips that whole process. You probably wouldn't be fond of them, either. This distinction of illegal vs legal is too many times papered over, as Trump has never advocated removing the rights of those who already immigrated here legally or were physically born here. That would be unconstitutional, and all law abiding people would oppose that. Including me.
There are two sides to these issues, and the hostile climate isn't caused by the issues themselves. It is caused by misinformation and demonization of the other side as an existential threat. Contrary to what some right wing pundits might tell me, I don't think you are actively working to destroy America through moral degeneracy. I think you have a different worldview/philosophy from mine, but in the end we both just want everyone to be treated fairly.
I'm sorry I can't go through and address all your points, but we might be here all night going back and forth if I do. And unfortunately, I've got work I should have done a while ago as well as more work in the morning. I just wanted to let you know that things aren't quite as bad as the news might have you believe, and there are perspectives you may not have considered.
But I will follow up with this one question, as I'm genuinely interested; has there been any policy of this administration that has affected you personally? As in, it wasn't just a news story, but one of the policies or removal of policies affected your actual day to day life? I won't count online harassment, by the way, since I receive plenty of that as well despite not being LGBT.
The healthcare one definitely will and the threat my my marriage rights will if they get their way. I take Marriage very seriously this is why I never married because I won't promise what I cannot keep. Should I however, ever find a man or woman I would want to marry I would be granted the one and denied the other if they get their way and they are really trying.
As for reporting I am aware of the baise on all sides so I generally research from different sides. I also never said that pence was for electroshock therapy I said that he support conversion therapy and believes it should be state funded .
As for the daily effect it is tangible, the way people act has changed you have to live it to understand it . But it has affected my daily life already in interactions with some people.
The way people act... can you describe what you mean by that?
things like people telling you not to kiss your girlfriend in public and then giving you long tirades about how unatural it is . Used to be the ocasional idiot not it is a lot more . People feel emboldened to harass you in public now a lot more, verbally. People telling you that you are going to make your kids gay , right in front of the kids . Comments , language , people making anti LGBT remarks it has all become a lot more. People writing things on your car and door all things I or friends of mine have experienced in the last months. We no longer really feel safe in some places it is not a good feeling ...
Sorry, but most of what you listed isn't the fault of any administration. It's cultural. Your rights are the same as everyone else's, and that includes free speech. They can voice their disapproval of your lifestyle, just like you can tell them to kindly f*** off.
The criminal actions like continued harassment or destruction of property can be prosecuted, no matter what orientation the victim might be. I recommend going to the police for that stuff, but I regret to inform you that just like others can't tell you how to live your life, you can't tell them what to think or say.
Personally, I've seen a metric ton of serious harassment coming from the political left(usually including feminists and LGBT rights activists) towards the political right(or really just towards cis white males in general), but that's partially because of the spheres I inhabit. In reality, everyone gets harassment.
Also, last I checked, Trump was very much in support of the LGBT community, and has been one of the first Republican candidates to do so. I remember him getting some flak for that support at the time, too. Is there some action that either him or Pence has actually taken to restrict LGBT rights in any way? The original post was talking about states, not people from the executive branch.