View Rac Talks

LGBT RIGHTS Cory Epstein

Hello. My name is Cory Epstein and I am from Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel. I am eighteen years old and a senior at Columbia High School in Maplewood. Today I will be speaking to you about equal rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender, L G B T, Americans.

Let’s imagine that I’m looking for my summer job. I won’t have to worry about being a man when I’m looking for the job, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects me from employment discrimination based on my sex. And being a white Jew is no problem at all, this law protects me from discrimination based on my color and religion too. However, as of this moment, I could not be hired in thirty states because there is no federal law that fully protects me from employment discrimination. I am a gay American and this is a perfectly legal reason for an employer to not give me a job in these thirty states.

Clearly, equal rights for LGBT Americans is a deeply personal issue for me. This is also an issue of deep national importance. Equal protections for LGBT Americans is a matter of civil rights. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, he stated that all men are created equal. This idea has been heard in our country’s many battles for civil rights, and it’s time that we apply this cherished ideal to LGBT Americans too. In two thousand and seven, the House voted two hundred and thirty five to one hundred and eighty four in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but the Senate never brought this legislation to a vote. I am urging you to encourage Senator Lautenberg to support AND co-sponsor this legislation when it is introduced in the current legislative session.

This legislation is vital. It would protect the civil rights of gay Americans with regards to a most important right, the one to work. This right provides all Americans with financial stability, something immensely important during these tough economic times. It is completely unfair, unjust, and un-American to deny this right to anyone.

As a Jewish American, LGBT rights, any civil rights in fact, are of much importance to me. For centuries, my people, Senator Lautenberg’s people, have been oppressed and given unequal rights and protections under the law. We are a people that believe greatly in equal rights for all. Exodus chapter twenty-three,

verse nine states, “You shall not oppress a stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.” As Jews, we are also firm believers that we are all created b’tselem elohim, in the image of god. This idea compels us to give equal rights to all of god’s children, no matter their sexual preference or gender identity. In addition, Senator Lautenberg is a member of a Union for Reform Judaism congregation, my congregation, and in nineteen seventy-seven, the Union for Reform Judaism explicitly resolved to support equal rights for LGBT Americans. This is yet another reason as to why supporting the Employment Non Discrimination Act is so important.

In nineteen seventy-four, Jewish Representatives from New York State, Ed Koch and Bella Abzug drafted the first legislaton that would grant lesbian and gay Americans equal rights and protections in regards to employment. More than thirty years later, this legislation is closer than ever to being passed. President Obama has pledged his support for the Employment Non Discrimination Act. Also, Republican Senator Susan Collins has stated her intention to co-sponsor this bill in the Senate and when the bill passed in the House two years ago, thirty five Republicans voted with the Democrats to support equal rights. This bill is truly a bipartisan, American issue. Finally, it’s important to say that luckily, New Jersey has its own Employment Non Discrimination Act protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender citizens of the garden state from discrimination at work. Therefore, I will be fully protected when applying for summer jobs. But across the country, countless LGBT Americans do not enjoy this right as I do in New Jersey. I hope that you realize how important this legislation is for LGBT citizens, including myself, throughout this country. Senator Lautenberg has supported LGBT issues in the past, and I hope that you will encourage him to support and co-sponsor the Employment Non Discrimination Act in this congress. Thank you very much.