Will Sunrise Children’s Services become the new poster-child for the movement to require all religious organizations to affirm and hire gays and lesbians? This article from the Christian Post points in that direction:
The New York Times in an editorial denounced the religious exemption clause found in the U.S. Senate bill that bars employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
In the editorial, the newspaper denounced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act’s exemption for religious employers as “terribly broad.”
“The exemption would extend beyond churches and other houses of worship to any religiously affiliated institution, like hospitals and universities,” wrote the NYT editors.
“And though the law would protect millions of workers from bias, the exemption would give a stamp of legitimacy to the very sort of discrimination the act is meant to end. Any attempt to further enlarge the exemption should be rejected.”
Ross Murray, director of News at the pro-Employment Non-Discrimination Act organization GLAAD, told The Christian Post that he believed religious organizations would eventually conclude on their own that non-discrimination against sexual minorities was the best way to operate rather than diminishing ENDA’s current exemption.
Murray drew upon the example of Sunrise Children’s Services, formerly known as Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, whose president recently announced that the group may begin to allow for hiring openly gay individuals.
“As we’ve recently seen with KY Baptist Charities, many of these institutions are learning that employment non-discrimination is the best way to run an organization,” said Murray.
