House Leader’s LGBT Comments Raise Eyebrows

Though the bill sponsors insist House Bill 1023 and Senate Bill 377 do not target the LGBT community, House Majority Leader Larry O’Neal has been quite direct in stating private business owners should be allowed to deny service to gay customers on religious grounds.

Here’s the Warner Robbins Republican referring to a hypothetical baker earlier this week.

“If I don’t want to sell you my angel food cake, I don’t have to. And why should a particular group of non-recognized — a group of people that do not have any basis for discrimination kind of cases — why should they have any more rights against that baker than me or any other citizen in society?”

When asked whether he believed LGBT people, in general, faced discrimination in Georgia or in the country, O’Neal was unequivocal.     

“I absolutely do not, no,” said O’Neal.

It cuts to the core of the issue for Georgia’s LGBT community. They are not a legally protected class. Workers can still be fired from a job due to their sexual orientation.

Jeff Graham of the advocacy group Georgia Equality said O’Neal’s comments don’t reflect reality.

“It’s blatantly false. Representative O’Neal should know that discrimination not only happens here in Georgia, discrimination happens by the state of Georgia against its own employees,” said Graham.

One of the most high-profile examples in recent years involved an employee at the General Assembly. Vandy Beth Glenn claimed the state fired her because she was transgender.  

“Her boss felt that her very presence in the Capitol would make other people uncomfortable and fired her. This went all the way up to the federal court and the state of Georgia lost,” said Graham.  

He went on to cite a 2011 Georgia Equality survey that showed 45 percent of LGBT respondents in the state experienced some type of workplace discrimination or harassment in the prior year. In addition, recent national studies show younger and older LGBT individuals and couples are more likely to face housing discrimination.

“Part of why there may not be a perception of discrimination is that there are no state or federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and so there is no official reporting mechanism for that but I can assure you that people face discrimination here in Georgia every single day,” said Graham.

State Rep. Karla Drenner, who is a lesbian, proposed a bill last year aimed at barring the state from using sexual orientation in employment decisions.

Drenner had this to say about O’Neal’s comments.

“I would ask the Majority Leader what facts he bases his opinion on. He’s not gay as far as I know and I’m sure he has gay constituents out there and I would ask his gay constituents to contact him and cite some examples on what it’s like to live in a world where you’re treated differently.”

After a set of hearings, Drenner’s bill has languished in the House Industry and Labor Committee.