Is the Labor Movement an LGBT Issue? Law Profs Disagree in Dueling Essays
Gay-rights groups need to get behind labor unions as they fight a Republican backlash, according to a University of Pennsylvania law professor.
Writing for the Huffington Post, law professor Tobias Barrington Wolff asserts that the the labor movement is an LGBT issue. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual Americans have the same demographic and economic origins of all Americans, he says, and “huge numbers” lack health insurance or adequate coverage. If anything, matters are worse for LGBT Americans because they have no federal workplace protections from discrimination, he says.
Wolff says labor unions have supported gay equality for years, and the LGBT community needs to be part of the fight to reclaim the political agenda. “Pushing back against the current assault on American workers should be one of the highest priorities of the LGBT community today—fully on a par with the effort to secure employment discrimination protections or relationship rights,” he writes.
At least one law blogger disagrees with Wolff. Writing at Truth on the Market, University of Missouri law professor Thom Lambert suggests gays would make more gains with more of a grassroots approach. “Gays should stop running to the government for additional protections from private actors (though they should vigorously oppose state-sponsored discrimination), and should instead concentrate on changing the hearts and minds of their friends and neighbors,” he writes.
“So, if you’re a gay person and you think collective bargaining by public sector unions is bankrupting state and local governments while fattening the civil service class, go gripe about it to your Republican neighbor over a beer. In doing so, you’ll be promoting the sort of social change that will ensure real equality for gay people in the future.”
