This morning, Jon Trouten posted an entry on his blog about Rep. Steve King's recent statement that a policy of "don't ask don't tell" should apply for private businesses. If the business doesn't like gay people, they can fire them or not hire them. If those gay people want the job they can just not mention that they're gay. How's anyone going to know?
Trouten correctly points out that King has broken his own rule by making it public knowledge that he is married to a women—so don't ask don't tell only applies to LGBT people in King's mind. If they stay in the closet, never talk about their personal life, never bring family members to company events, or lie when asked about their home life, everything is just peachy.
Except I know King would see it differently if his statements were adjusted slightly. Here Steve King's original quote (again, thanks to Jon Trouten):
KEYES: Would that encompass, for instance, the government being able to tell businesses who they can hire and fire?
KING: Yeah, they shouldn’t be able to do that [to] a private business.
KEYES: Even if those were to be regulations say on a matter of sexual orientation or gender or other stuff like that?KING: How do you know someone’s sexual orientation? I don’t know how you discriminate against someone because of their sexual orientation. That’s their business.
KEYES: I guess if it became public knowledge that an employee were lesbian or gay.
KING: You have private sector businesses here and they need to have freedom to operate. In the first place, I would think that unless someone makes their sexuality public, it’s not anybody’s business, so neither is it our business to tell an employer who to hire. He won’t know who to discriminate against in the first place.
Let me do a little mental exercise here. How would King feel about the following statement:
KEYES: Would that encompass, for instance, the government being able to tell businesses who they can hire and fire?
KING: Yeah, they shouldn’t be able to do that [to] a private business.
KEYES: Even if those were to be regulations say on a matter of religion or faith or other stuff like that?
KING: How do you know someone’s religion? I don’t know how you discriminate against someone because of their religion. That’s their business.
KEYES: I guess if it became public knowledge that an employee were Christian or Jewish.
KING: You have private sector businesses here and they need to have freedom to operate. In the first place, I would think that unless someone makes their religion public, it’s not anybody’s business, so neither is it our business to tell an employer who to hire. He won’t know who to discriminate against in the first place.
My guess is that Rep. King would argue that workplace discrimination should apply to someone's known sexual orientation, but not to their known faith.
Ponder.
