Former Douche of the Week Rep. Allen West (R-FL), who called TK and once equated sexual orientation with having a preference for a certain ice-cream flavor, said job discrimination isn’t a problem for gay people, in an interview with ThinkProgress.
When asked by writer Scott Keyes what he thought about laws that ban employment bias based on sexual orientation, West answered:“That don’t happen out here in the United States of America… I don’t see that as being a big issue with small businesses. I sit on the Small Business Committee. You know what they’re concerned about? They’re concerned about onerous tax policy, regulatory policy, and lack of access to capital because Dodd-Frank is absolutely decimating small community banks.”
As the site rightly points out, 29 states—including West’s precious Florida—allow employees to be fired simply for being gay. (That number jumps to 34 if you include transgender.) And between 8% and 17% of gay and transgender workers have been fired or not hired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Here’s a funny tidbit: In June 2011, West fired an intern for retweeting a gay-friendly Twitter post. Guess actions speak louder than words.
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paul berman
closet case
Mark
This man is such a waste of space ‘n oxygen.
J Bocca
Anyone who doesn’t know the difference between “don’t” and “doesn’t” shouldn’t be taken seriously. Ugh.
Jawsch
Really, it doesn’t? Pretty sure I’ve been fired from a job because of my sexuality.
Then again, I live in Kentucky. So all is to be expected when you have religious bosses who tell you about church, how homosexuality is a sin, and how they’re going to force you to attend a religious NA Meeting. When I refused, I was fired for “dress code violation”. Lol
Shame KY is an At Will Employment state and all the lawyers I spoke with said I had no proof…
w.e.
Ho hum, the GOP hates the hell out of the gays. This is not news.
kawneekwa
Ain’t no discrimation goin on out heer, oh no suh! he no dat, I no dat, u no dat! Lordy pleese
QJ201
…and taxis stop to pick up black passengers in midtown manhattan…
Mac
What an idiot and hypocrite. It’s not surprising that he’s Republican and against LGBT people.
Cam
Really? Except for on Mitt Romney’s campaign huh?
Oh, ok
@SSGestapo: @kawneekwa: @QJ201: Stop being hypocrites.
Let's be real here
While this guy is a tool and complete hypocrite there’s no need to reply back with racist comments and be just as bad as he is.
Let's be real here
While this guy is a tool and complete hypocrite there’s no need to reply back with ra cist comments and be just as bad as he is.
Queerty please stop censoring words.
MKisNE
Aside from the fact that it DOES happen, it certainly USED to happen even more, and therefore is still a problem for gay people because their work history reflects it.
RN
Apparently passing English don’t happen much either.
Andy
West don’t know shit.
SaM
Why does Queerty try to potray all african americans in a very negative and misleading light?
The staffer was not fired becuase of a personal gay twitter( which definately would be homophobic) but because he used an official account to do so.
while I dont agree with the Rep. West’s statements as discrimination towards LGBTQ people, sure does happen in the US; I think he is in deep denial rather than being hompophobic.
Cam
@SaM: said…
“Why does Queerty try to potray all african americans in a very negative and misleading light?
The staffer was not fired becuase of a personal gay twitter( which definately would be homophobic) but because he used an official account to do so.”
_____________
So in your opinion should West be portrayed in a favorable light? Additionally, that account had been used for partisan and other anti-gay tweets. THAT tweet just happened to get a backlash and so the staffer became the sacrificial lamb.
Pat Duffy
I certainly was. The Nursing home I was working at was bought out by a Christian company. Not only was I openly Gay, I wasn’t Christian and POLITELY refused to join staff Prayer circles chaired by our Director of Nursing. Within 6 month there wasn’t a single Gay man left, no matter how Positive their work had been….
monroeplace
This guy is illiterate, a homophobe and another good read to get the hell out of Florida.
EmmaMTF
HA! He complains about small business owners being affected by the Dodd-Frank Act, right after complaining about taxpayers paying for bailouts, eh? God forbid we stop the corruption of the banks. The small business owners might suffer!
What backwards swamp logic. How are these people elected?
villa viper
@SaM: Why is it that a group (Blacks) that experienced historical oppression have become so incredibly oppressive now. African Americans are hands down the most oppressive and conservative group when it comes to GLBT and Immigration issues. Maybe your community needs to take a good hard look at who has been the oppressor in the 21st Century 🙁
Macmantoo
If this guy took his head out of his ass long enough to see the light he might realize something.
Tessie Tura
Excuse me, Miss Thing. I have been fired from three jobs only because I am gay. You need to wipe that smell of bacon grease and affirmative action off your upper lip and face the truth.
FrankWhite
@villa viper: name one black person that has oppressed you. I know homophobic Jews and Racist gay people being oppressed doesn’t have anything to do with being a bigot. So please with that failure of a comment
prettygirls
@villa viper: being oppressed ain’t got nothing to do with being a bigot, I know homophobic Jewish people and Racist gay people.
Mike
Villa Viper, that’s not true about how black people are somehow the most oppressive or homophobic/biphobic or even transphobic of all groups of people. Homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia can happen from anyone and a lot of it happens from people of all races and genders, and even from within the LGBT community.
Doe
An employer should be allowed to hire/fire who they want. I don’t care for the gay lifestyle but I wouldn’t fire someone simply because they are gay, now if they brag about their lifestyle to me or other employees then I would fire them. They had a gay business owner discriminate against straight people..why isn’t that been covered by the gay agenda? Oh because you people don’t care about equality you only care about what benefits you
annonny
I’d like to hear the educmacated Mr. West’s opinion about racial discrimination. Think that don’t happen too, Allen?
Hephaestion
I know of two gay owners of an antique shop in DC who were kicked out of the building when the building was bought by a Moslem man from Iran. He kicked them out solely because they were gay, even tho they never broadcast it. I thought we were protected from such things in DC, but apparently that kind of shit it legal even here in gay-friendly DC.
Geo
@Doe
“Oh because you people don’t care about equality you only care about what benefits you”
Yes, because one of the best ways for somebody to prove he/she isn’t at all a bigot is to refer to a minority as “you people.”
Sam
@SSGestapo:
He is not a coloured person. He is a republican and thus a Uncle Tom, white person.
MileHighJoe
Even the military didn’t want to have anything to do with this uneducated hot-head. They threw him out.
Now he’s found another way to live off the public payroll!
BOB
I agree. how can someone be discriminated for being gay?
for the person who pointed out that they were fired for not joining prayer circles, why would you work at a place where you know they’re christian and going to do things like that? that’s like working at mcdonalds if you’re a vegan. it’s your fault not theirs. they should be able to fire you for being disrespectful.
Jamar
@villa viper: That is weird. I could have sworn it was white people who created the most and most of the anti gay laws in this country. You are right, black people are definitely the worst. /scarcasm.
NovaNardis
Not to defend Allen West, but said intern was fired because he used West’s ‘official’ Twitter account without authorization. That’s grounds for termination anywhere, although why an intern was allowed access to a Member’s Twitter account I do not know.
Andy
@SaM: “Why does Queerty try to potray all african americans in a very negative and misleading light?”
They do a good job without Queerty’s modest help.
villa viper
@Mike: Mike the Pew Institute has released reports about the way various minorities feel about various issues such as gay rights/marriage, immigration and inter-racial marriage etc.. And Blacks have continually come up as the most conservative (oppressive)group in regards to sexual orientation and immigration. This reflects not only homosexuality but also negative views about other non-black minorities i.e immigration.
It was well publicized that Blacks were the ones who mostly voted to block gay marriage in California, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise it is happening again in the South.
Let’s face it the oppressor as we have traditionally known it to be (white conservative Christians)is still there, but the oppressor is making new friends with former foes. That is not to say that Conservative whites are not as equally oppressive! However given the oppression Blacks have experienced you would think they would be more tolerance and compassion..um…NOT SO!!
doug105
Why former douche? some people work so hard they should be listed as premanent douchebags .
hf2hvit
@Doe: “I don’t care for the gay lifestyle but …”
You just happen to enjoy lurking on gay web sites…you probably lurk in bath houses like a bad disease because that is what you are.
Danny
Contact your local Chamber of Commerce and ask them to support laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. That is the best action to take to move things forward.
Tackle
@villa viper: You don’t know what you are writing about and your thread is full of lies and exaggrations and is a perfect example of who racism blinds. In your first thread you foolishly write that Blacks are hands down the most opperssive & conservative, when it comes to GLBT and Immigration issues. So out of a U.S. population of 311.million with Whites at 72.4% of the U.S. population and Blacks at 13%, Blacks outnumber Whites at being more opperssive and conservative??
And on your second thread, you show your ignorance of NOT knowing about the demographics,ethnic make-up and electro vote numbers by state.
The state of California has 37,691,912 people.
Whites: 57.6% at 21.4 million At 63% of the California electro vote.
Hispanic/Latino:37% at 13.7 million. 13% of the California electro vote.
At 13Asian:13% at 4.9 million: 7% of the California electro vote.
And the Mighty Blacks. The group with all this power. To deny GLBT people the right to marry, account for (drum roll) 6.2% at 2.2 million and 9% of the California electro vote.
Even if Blacks had voted twice over, their small electro numbers in California, would not have changed anything. To me it’s more about religion then race. But some want to make this a racial issue. And I guess that Blacks were responsible for the other 30 states that passsed simular prop 8 mesures?? And only a fool would believe that Blacks raised over 83 million to defeat prop 8. This idea that Blacks were responsibe for for the defeat of prop 8 seems to remain an urban legend among certan gay men who want a reason to express their latent racism.
Spike
We don’t got no discrimination, now ax me another question, fool.
What an embarrassment. Doesn’t realize the only reason the republicans allow him to hang around is so that they aren’t accused of discrimination.
Jack
First of all, job discrimination *is* a problem. I would NEVER question that. I’m just wondering how someone knows that they weren’t hired because they were gay? I have been on many interview committees and the reasons we choose candidates may surprise job applicants. Sometimes we choose someone with less experience because we see something in them. So unless someone says, “We aren’t going to hire you because you’re gay,” how do we know for sure? As for being hired or being discriminated against or mistreated at work because of sexual orientation (real or perceived), that’s much easier to prove. I’ve just never understood the hiring part.
Jakey
So small business don’t discriminate because small business don’t tell him “hey, we’re worried about all of this discrimination we’re doing”? Excellent metric there, genius.
slaughter
@Andy: So I take it that you have talked to all african-americans personally?
villa viper
@Tackle: Tackle apparently you did not read the articles Queerty published about Prop 8 that specifically talked about the black vote that pushed the Prop 8 measure over. Nor did you read the Advocate issues called Gay is the New Black which went into detail about the same issue. There is another good article on an online website called Color Lines that specifically speaks to what is happening right now with the Black vote and gay marriage.
I also mentioned the South’s EXTREMELY conservative views about immigration which the Pew went into detail showing which racial groups sway towards pro and con, and Blacks were by far the most conservative.
You are not doing anyone a favor by denying bigotry. We have to look at our baggage and become accountable for it. Pretending it does not exist is called DENIAL!! Not Cute..
slaughter
@villa viper: “you are not doing anyone a favor by denying bigotry”. Well you aren’t doing anyone a favor by generalizing all black people.. Bigotry or homophobia crosses all color barries, homophobes comes in all colors not just Black.
slaughter
@slaughter: *barriers*
Chad
@Doe: now if they brag about their lifestyle to me or other employees then I would fire them
What about straight employees that brag about their lifestyle? you know like wearing their wedding rings, talking about their kids or spouse and such?
Tackle
@villa viper: Your full of lies. There is no artical from Queerty that speaks of Blacks in California pushing the prop 8 measure over. Inatially it was falsely reported by a CNN exit poll taken at majority Black precents with around 323 Blacks, asking them how they voted. Supposedly, 70% said the would support prop 8. This is the number that triped-up many people and it was NOT a reflection of the true number. This is the reason why after the dust settled, and the true nubers were reveled, none of the MAJOR news papers,
The Wall street Journal
USA Today
L.A. Times
N.Y. Times
Boston Globe
Chicago Tribune
The Huffington Post,
Would dare make a foolish claim or touch a story that Blacks in California were responsible for prop 8 not passing. Because they did research. And knew that a mere 2.2 million people who represent just 9% of the California vote, could not have been a factor in prop 8 passing.
And that is another reason why none of the major GLBT groups
GLAAD
Human Rights Campaign
National Gay&Lesbian task force
L.A. Gay& Lesbian sevice center
would not even entertain such a thought now. Because unlike you, they did research and know the truth. That’s why I say it still remains an urban legend among bigoted gay men like yourself who loves scapegoating Blacks.
And more of your lies.The Advocate Issue: Gay is the new Black, I’m gald it’s still up so people can see how you lie and distort things. The main theme of the artical is comparisons between Gays & Blacks, and their fight for equal rights. It’s about their struggle for civil rights. In fact, the artical goes out of it’s way NOT to blame Blacks for the passage of prop 8. I don’t know what the hell you were reading, but as I said before, racism blinds. And the on-line website called Color Lines is NOT blaming Blacks for ANYTHING (as you would want others to believe) Nor or they dealing with what happed in California.Neither the Advocate nor Color Line did some grand expose with acatual racial breakdowns on numbers and the voter electro here in Cafifornia. So keep reaching.
And BTW, even if this country was all White, there would still be majority against Illegal Immigration. And who are the Pew Institute. You speak of them like it’s comming from the mouth of god. So their 100% accurate?? Were you there when they did their so-called research?? Did they do an equal sample number of Blacks and all other groups??
Poll and stats can be twisted and manipulated. Like the the 70% exit poll numbers later found to be false.
Funny how the Mormon church raised around 30 million and their 97% White
Church of Scientology raised and gave millions:93% White
Chtholic Church raised millions and gave millions:83% White
Southern Baptist raised and gave millions to defeat prop 8: 80% White.
In all over 83 million raised by majority of White people yet you still want to blame Blacks. But it’s not surprising. Because Your a bigot.
villa viper
@Tackle: Tackle I am glad you are worked up about this, because you should be. I don’t know if you are black and this is why you are so upset or maybe you are a white guy who is dating a black guy and feel obligated to defend him. Whatever the case trying to defend bigotry is useless! Instead of acknowledging a possible problem with the community you become EXTREMELY defensive and deny there is ANY problem. If this is your community, you are not helping them or yourself.
I have also pointed out that the Pew has made comments about blacks not only being intolerant about gay issues but about immigration as well, which you continue to ignore.
Bottom line you can write all you want and defend this or that but ultimately take responsibility for you communities, especially if they have baggage that needs to be worked on. By the sounds of your written rants is sounds as though you would be a tyrant to live with and date. Sounds like you have a TERRIBLE temper and are VERY controlling. Good luck with that partner of your 🙁
Say No to Hate
@Tackle:
Thank God, finally someone stood up to this hate mongerinng magazine, free of a gay agenda except the white one.
Statistics clearly prove that at no point in the voting college of the marraige ammendment polls across the states, did blacks even have 25% voting power to be able to pull out their apparent homophobia.
Looking at the horrible racisim among gay white men it has become clear to me that this is another attempt by whites to blame the blacks ( Jews in medevial Europe) for anything that is wrong within that paticular society. In all these polls, Whites and Latinos( white conscious folks, often more white than many modern non racist Anglos) were the overwhelming majority and the results of these anti same sex marragie represent white values and not supposed black homophobia.
If gay white magazines and organizations don’t stop this campaign of hate and lies against black, it will cause a deep rupture within the LGBTQ movement.
Micro Sper
I am so happy that you folks are going to HELL. You dads hate you and so does the rest of the world. Pathetic bastards.
Micro Sper
Allen West is bloody brilliant. Gays are racist. When they are discriminated against, it’s just a PREFERENCE! Remember that. When you are treated poorly, it’s not discrimination, just a PREFERENCE.
Bellerophon69
This Idiot in Office can’t even be a reverse bigot in proper English, “…that don’t happen…”. What an ignoranus!
Say No to Hate
@Micro Sper:
Gay white men repeatedly discriminate against gay black men and gay asians and claim it is just preference.
Is it such a big deal if some similar preference happens against gays
We are tired of your victim mentality. Society doesn’t owe you anything just coz you are gay.
Say No to Hate
@Micro Sper:
You Ignorant gay white person, get out of your bigoted head. It is called black English and it is perfectly acceptable to speak it.
Parthenia Beachum
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