Fourth, it will prohibit both quotas and preferential treatment. The limited scope of this bill should be enough to win its passage. We recognize that many people have religious objections to homosexuality, but those objections cannot be allowed to dictate public policy. Eighty-four percent of Americans agree that people should not lose their jobs because of their sexual orientation. Senators should follow the wishes of the American people by passing this bill.
Sexual orientation is perhaps the most profound of human behavioral characteristics.
Comparison of the two is a convenient but invalid argument. General Powell was right on target. Current law provides extensive legal protections in employment for people based on benign characteristics such as race, but it does not provide protections for anyone based upon what they do. The bill before us will change that by providing employment protection for some people based upon their sexual practices. We object to this change both because we object to forcing some Americans to embrace behavior which they find morally objectionable and obscene, and because we understand the tremendous practical problems that will arise when an effort is made to enforce this law on one of the most personal of all subjects.