Should employers be allowed to discriminate?

57 Comments

Employers should be allowed to discriminate based on sexual orientation I believe this because businessess are a private institution, and have been allowed to hire whomever they want to advance their business for years. If you feel that hiring another sexual orientation is bad for your businesss, then you have every right to not hire them.

Also, they have not yet proven that being "gay", is a biological fact. Until then, the business should be allowed to view homosexuals/bisexuals as an oddball, and thus view them as unsafe for other workers who may not want other sexual orientations working with them. Taking away the rights of free business is not the answer! After all, you wouldn't hire a criminal for Build a bear Workshop would you? Not as extreme but same concept....

I do not see why an employer cannot discriminate in general. If you do not want a Mexican or black person work for you, do not higher them. It is their business, let them run it. As far as gays go, they could give a bad reputation for the business. In some areas people do not want to go to a store if there is a gay person there. These people may boycott that business. In my opinion, it should be up to the employer, I would never higher a gay person if I could avoid it.

yes they have the right to discriminate	14
no thats wrong	21

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Comments ( 57 )

thegypsysailor

8 years ago | pl

There are plenty of countries in the 3rd world where you could happily live with your heinous views, but you've little or no chance of getting your antiquated views accepted in most modern 1st world countries.
I think you'd be quite happy in a place like Yemen or Ethiopia. At least until you opened your mouth.

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Motorhippy

8 years ago

Lol, dangerous? Is he going to seduce all the men and turn the break room into a hot steamy pile of body hair and cum? Yuh, prolly shouldn't hire any gays, someone could slip on that.

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VinnyB

8 years ago

Well if you live in the US you are in luck, because in most places in the US employers are allowed to discriminate against homosexuals. There are no federal protections for employment discrimination against homosexuals. There are city and state laws protecting them in some parts of the country, but it most of the country, no protection at all.

In fact, in 19 states it is both legal for same sex couples to marry, and also legal to fire someone for being a homosexual. So if a business owner doesn't want to offer spousal benefits to same sex couples, no problem! You can just fire them because they got married.

I personally think all of that is horrible. But as you think it is right and just as a said, if you live in the US you are very muc in luck. God bless the USA.

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- Incomplet
  
  8 years ago
  
  Lets also not forget that even though there are city and state laws protecting homosexuals in some cases, employees can still discriminate against them by citing some other bullshit reason to cover up their homophobia.
  
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[Old Memory]

8 years ago

*Hire not higher.

Higher was what you got before you wrote this.

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- anti-hero
  
  8 years ago
  
  http://isitnormal.com/story/and-speaking-of-tossed-salad-202658/comment-2051973
  
  "Only lowlifes correct grammar"
  
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  - anti-hero
    
    8 years ago
    
    Oh wait that isn't a direct quote because you said 'grammer'.
    
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    - [Old Memory]
      
      8 years ago
      
      I'm sorry for what the red man experienced, don't blame me for grammar correctness.
      
      Btw, you're still a pussy. Everything shows through here.
      
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      - anti-hero
        
        8 years ago
        
        Btw, you're still a hypocrite. You bring up my race, which is unrelated to deflect from your hypocrisy.
        
        Sincerely, The redneck
        
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        [Old Memory]
        
        8 years ago
        
        Hypocritical how? And I am not upset by what happened to the red skinned man. Although I should feel bad I guess. It was your land lol.
        
        I don't root against the redskins, so sell your self righteous bullshit elsewhere.
        
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westoptic

8 years ago

Fucking stupid. What the fuck does your sexual orientation have to do with your job?

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peaceful30

8 years ago

Instead of criticizing your perspective, I'll just leave it at this: I am sorry that this is how you see things. It must be such a sad life to lead when confronted with hatred towards other human beings on a daily basis. I will pray that you learn and grow from within to be able to understand that differences are key and that a human being is worthy, despite their sexual orientation, their colour, their culture, their language, etc.

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ReginaFalange

8 years ago

I was going to say that you were talking nonsense and that this kind of thinking didn't even exist nowadays... but then I remembered that walking-while-being-black is still a crime in some parts of the US and I got confused.

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modernism

8 years ago

That's such a horrible thing and frankly disgusting. Why does ones sexuality or race or gender have to do with ANYTHING concerning work ethic? Please tell me. I'd like to tear your pitiful argument down.

I'll just turn lesbian, create a hugely successful business, and discriminate against all heterosexuals - banning them from using my product.

Or I'll turn black and ban all white people.

Or I'll turn male and ban all females.

Utterly idiotic. There ARE personal preferences, but in history, we see that segregation with "Whites Only" signs or anything of that nature didn't exactly work out.

Have some morals. We're all worthy humans here.

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jethro

8 years ago

Businesses discriminate every day. They just don't say that they are doing that. The law says that they can't discriminate based on sex, sexual orientation, age etc. They will just say "someone who better fit the requirements of the position was selected" not you are too old or too gay or two black or too fat or too female etc. They have been sued enough times that the lawyers have shown them how to do it so you don't get sued. So if you think you get a fair shot at a job, you are sadly mistaken. If you have a college degree, why do they care when you graduated high school? So they can figure out how old you are without asking you your age. That would be illegal or discriminatory. They can ask if you are over 18 for insurance reasons but not how old are you. So take your best shot. If you get the job fine. If not try again somewhere else.

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- Riddler
  
  8 years ago
  
  Yeah and do you have any evidence of them asking "are you gay" on a application or during an interview? If not you are probably full of shit. Generally they will ask age, gender, ethnicity(Are you Hispanic), are you married. They dont ask "Are you gay, how many partners have you had in the last month, how many babies have you aborted, have you ever contracted an STD"? That is not in any way relevant to if you can work either.
  
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  - jethro
    
    8 years ago
    
    There are plenty of gays that are visibly gay or effeminate and considered gay. You don't have to ask. It will come out at the interview.
    
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    - Riddler
      
      8 years ago
      
      Well now you are stereotyping since not all gay men are effeminate and not all gay women are overly masculine where you would mistake them for men.
      
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      - jethro
        
        8 years ago
        
        Isn't that the whole point of the original question? Discrimination. An effeminate man would be assumed gay and a butch woman would be considered a dyke. Regardless of their actual proclivity. This wasn't a personal attack on you so get over it. Unless you have had a bad incidence in this area. Still, get over it.
        
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        Riddler
        
        8 years ago
        
        You are assuming that if someone is effeminate male they must be gay, and a overly masculine female must be gay as well. However that is not the case and you cant always tell someone is gay from that. I also never mentioned anything about me I am saying your justification for how to spot a gay person is flawed.
        
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  - VinnyB
    
    8 years ago
    
    I was once asked in an interview if me and my "wife" were enjoying a new part of the country that we moved to. I answered "yes me and my husband like it here very much". I figured if I get the job, coworkers generally talk and ask about family, and this was better than having to lie throughout my employment, or acknowledge that I had mislead with my answer if I simply said "yes".
    
    Because homosexuals are not a protected class under federal law, unless there are local laws that prohibit in in a particular area, asking if someone is gay is not illegal. But I would be shocked if an employer actually asked the question. It would be a rare occurrence if it happens at all. But like my situation above, Facebook checking, and other methods, it is possible for it to come up in other ways like it did in the above situation.
    
    Because of written testimony to the legislature and committees that I have served on regarding equality initiatives, my homosexuality is a matter of public record. With the information I would provide on a job application a simple google search, common in screening applicants today, would easily reveal that fact. Even if it didn't, upon hire I would have to reveal my same sex spouse as part of the new hire paper work for benefit purposes.
    
    My husband took my last name, so he has to provide his birth name and the reason for the change if the job requires a background check prior to hiring an applicant. So that is another way it might come up. I can assure you, there are many ways that this can come up. An employer doesn't have to sak "are you gay" to know that you are.
    
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    - Riddler
      
      8 years ago
      
      Actually asking any kind of personal information like that is against the rules. You can answer it if your like me who honestly does not care if they know this. You can report them if they ask something which you find too personal as well.
      
      Granted most people do not know this. However I was told this by my job coach and they listed the questions they can and can not ask. They can not legally ask about family, loved ones, sexuality and those sort of questions. However like I said if you dont care "Like myself" you can go ahead and answer.
      
      I generally dont make a huge deal about this kind of stuff myself so I am more than happy to answer anything they feel like asking me that isnt "Do you masturbate" or something along those lines. I would gladly answer to if I am a virgin, my religion or even my race as I simply am not ashamed of it.
      
      So no they can not legally ask those sort of things but of course not everyone understands what is and is not a legal question. So I dont really fault you for not realizing it. There is a lot of questions people would assume is an okay question as well but are not for whatever reason.
      
      Like for example they can ask if you been convicted of a crime but not if you have been arrested. The reason being if you were arrested but not convicted that means you are not charged with any crimes. Now a lot of applications do in fact ask "Have you ever been arrested" which is legal but since I had no run ins with the law I usually am completely upfront and honest about this myself. I mean you can make a complaint and some might but I honestly would not care.
      
      The only things where I have seen them legally go against this is maybe jobs like CIA, Cops, and military which do extensive background checks. Are often government ran programs and very hard to get into. Which also can disqualify you for just about anything as well. Including family history. Apparently the Marine corpse also use to make you sign a paper ensuring you were never gay as well. According to my mother and I dont doubt that at all given their reputation.
      
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      - VinnyB
        
        8 years ago
        
        You are not quite right. But I am going to explain that part last as it is complicated and not the point. The point was they don't have to ask to find out. They can find out through a simple google search in my situation. In my husband's situation, he has to disclose our marriage if the job requires a background check because he has to explain his name change, if hired I have to disclose my marriage as part of the new hire paper work for dependant benefit purposes. There are many ways to find out without asking and that was my point.
        
        To what you said about the law, as someone who has been involved in the applicant screening process for a large cooperation, as well as someone who has ran his own small business, I can tell you that you are not entirely correct. There are questions that Illegal to ask (and what you said about arrested vs convicted is correct) questions about race and other things also fall into this category.
        
        But under federal law, "are you gay" is not one of them. Because homosexuals are not a protected class, there is basically no mention of homosexuals is federal labor laws, basically they don't legally exist in terms of labor. Because of this nowhere in the law is such a question specifically banned. It is also not Illegal to ask if someone is married, because it never specifically mentions that question in the law. Though in my situation no one asked if I was married, they saw my wedding ring and made an assumption. I always looked for a ring myself when screening applicants.
        
        All that being said, most people still consider the question "are you married" illegal, because even though the question itself is not illegal, the answers can reveal information that is illegal to ask about. As a result, most companies will avoid the question all together for legal reasons. The same goes for "are you gay". As I said in my last responce, it would be a shock if someone actually asked, it just isn't done.
        
        As far as answering the question you are not legally required to answer. But you are not legally required to answer ANY question in a job interview. It is your legal right to sit through an entire job interview and answer every question "I don't fell I should have to answer that". Just don't expect to get hired if you do.
        
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        Riddler
        
        8 years ago
        
        http://www.businessinsider.com/11-illegal-interview-questions-2013-7
        Any questions that reveal your age, race, national origin, gender, religion, marital status and sexual orientation are off-limits.
        
        That means orientation of any kind and marriage to any person. You are not suppose to ask that.
        
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Riddler

8 years ago

Yeah they legally cant and I never seen a application that asked "Are you gay or straight"? Legally they cant even ask if you are arrested. So unless you are living in India I dont see how you could get away with this in a first world country. Since its against the rules. they have unions.

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VirgilManly

8 years ago

No.

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______________

8 years ago

I can make sense of this. A personal business is like one's house - you have the right to choose who goes in, right?
It should be that the employer clearly says who will be declined at the job description so that nobody wastes any time.
In the same way, a gay person could decline any straight people a job in his business. Hooray for free will.

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- [Old Memory]
  
  8 years ago
  
  That's the problem though. I don't know how the environment in most private businesses are like, but in government the trend seems to be an overall goal of a diverse workforce instead of an efficient one.
  
  If it was my business and my money, I'm hiring the best person for the job, because if I don't and we don't and I don't make money, I'm screwed.
  
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  - dirtybirdy
    
    8 years ago
    
    Screwed right in the ass by the gay guy?
    
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    - [Old Memory]
      
      8 years ago
      
      Actually the gay guy in my building is a hell of a nice guy. Probably a good worker also, he's not on my floor though.
      
      It's more of the "ethnic" workers that tend to just be dead weight.
      
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      - dirtybirdy
        
        8 years ago
        
        I love gay people! Their happiness is contagious..
        
        I usually only encounter the ethnic types down on my level. That seems to be where they do the best work. Manuel labor and whatnot.
        
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- VinnyB
  
  8 years ago
  
  You may feel it is the same, your home and your business, but the law does not see it as the same in the US. There are already laws on the books, upheld by the Supreme Court as constitutional valid, that prohibit discrimination due to race, gender, and other reasons, regarding both who your business serves if it provides a service and who it hires. Such laws have been around more than 50 years.
  
  Even though this doesn't apply to homosexuals in most parts of the country, there is still very much a legal difference between your right to restrict who walks through the doors of your home and who walks through the doors of your business. This is why you can not tell someone they can not eat in your resturant just because they are black. The Supreme Court determined that the Commerce Clause of the constitution grants the government the authority to make this distinction. I agree with such laws.
  
  You may not agree with those laws, and it is your right to try and have them changed of you wish. But from a legal standpoint, it is not the same thing.
  
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[Old Memory]

8 years ago

As a libertarian, I agree that discrimination is a human right.

Employers ALREADY discriminate CONSTANTLY anyway with absolute impunity: Have tattoos? Get out. Don't have eight years of experience? Get out. Got arrested once a long time ago? Get out. Straight White male? Get out.

To any of you misguided liberal cretins who disagree with me, consider this: YOU exercise discriminatory practices when you decide who to have sex with, who to hire as a babysitter, who to allow into your house, et cetera. Now you may say "But True, it's really not quite the same" - and perhaps that's correct. Regardless, the point stands. Until you're willing to determine who's left alone with your children by throwing a dart at a random list of names, don't you DARE tell me who I have to associate with.

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- [Old Memory]
  
  8 years ago
  
  In what job did you apply for that you were rejected because of being a straight white male? Or seen a straight white male rejected for?
  
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  - [Old Memory]
    
    8 years ago
    
    I don't know; it's not like the maggots are going to tell me. But affirmative action exists; it's alive and well, and that's an irrefutable fact.
    
    You yourself said that in your line of work a great deal of emphasis is placed on creating a "diverse" workplace, at the expense of efficiency. Come on now, what does that mean?
    
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    - [Old Memory]
      
      8 years ago
      
      Absolutely. I was asking seriously, I didn't mean to phrase it cynically.
      
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  - VinnyB
    
    8 years ago
    
    I can tell you that in Hawaii, being a white male is a serious hurdle to overcome if you want a government job, as well as many private sector jobs. It is best to be Polynesian or Japanese. I believe that discrimination is just as bad as any other.
    
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    - [Old Memory]
      
      8 years ago
      
      I just reread my post, I see the feeling of asking cynically. I was asking seriously. I get it at my job, and I'm a white male.
      
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Holzman_67

8 years ago

Where does the buck stop? People have all kinds of flaws and character behaviours that could be bad for business. I think you'd be opening up Pandora's box going down that road.

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anti-hero

8 years ago

I should be able to be a hooters waitress then... oh wait I can't. Guess employers can discriminate after all.

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- Riddler
  
  8 years ago
  
  Would be so funny if a man argued for this right.
  
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  - anti-hero
    
    8 years ago
    
    To you ladies maybe.
    
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    - Riddler
      
      8 years ago
      
      Just because you dont find something amusing is no reason to insult others. A man can not work at hooters if you look at the reason women work there to begin with. They wear tight shirts and show off their big boobs. If its a man with boobs he is probably overweight and so not that attractive anyways. So what are they going to do get a skinny guy with tight shorts? Even though he is within his rights to fight to work there.
      
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      - anti-hero
        
        8 years ago
        
        You change your opinion with the wind. You are a spineless coward.
        
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neonclam

8 years ago

Would you be upset if stupid people were discriminated against?

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Are You Normal?

Should employers be allowed to discriminate?