Late GOP U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, popularly known as “Senator No” because he opposed federal spending except for his precious tobacco program for North Carolina growers and manufacturers, was fearless when it came to demagoguing and humiliating the LGBT community over matters like marriage equality, now settled by GOP Associate Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee to the court.
In 2015, it is time for Congress to end the reign of workplace bigotry for LGBT employees Helms nurtured during his five senate terms, 1973-2003, and end his legacy of legislative hate of the LGBT community. Unlike many LGBT activists, I know firsthand how Helms hated gay and lesbian workers.
On July 19, 1994, Helms, enraged over my “promoting the gay agenda” as a Foreign Service Officer with the government, took to the Senate floor and CSPAN cameras to condemn me for my effort to make the federal workplace a bit more fair for LGBT workers, long subjected to management hostility, discrimination, physical abuse, unfair terminations, blackmail, and poor working conditions that bordered on slavery.
Helms was a passionate hater of his fellow man and the U.S. Congress is no place for someone with a hate agenda. On the July date, Helms tried to have me fired for “recruiting homosexuals” for jobs he wanted only straights to have. The Senate Chaplain, in his opening prayer, said as much.
“Almighty God,” Rev. Richard Halverson preached, “We need you when tempers rise, emotions boil, frustration enervates, and suppressed anger explodes.” I do not believe Jesse Helms was listening that day as he later exploded on me with hatred like I had never experienced. He called me a “pervert” with “twisted values.” Those words, which bother me still, are preserved forever in the Congressional Record.
Though I was diagnosed with depression, I vowed to get mad, get over it, and get even by a lifetime of activism dedicated to workplace equality for LGBT personnel. For me, that means Congressional passage of the Employment Non-discrimination Act that Helms despised and vowed over twenty years ago would never pass Congress. ENDA has not passed. Helms did pass on July 4, 2008. His hateful legacy of workplace discrimination against LGBT workers remains a reality but its days are numbered.
With the U.S. Supreme Court decision that state bans of same-sex marriage are not legal, an important step toward full LGBT equality is nearer. It is time that families be families without regard to sexuality of the family members. Likewise, it is time for all workers to be treated fairly so they can support their families.
It is time for Congress to make ENDA the law of the land and end the economic suffering discriminatory employers have heaped on their LGBT workers for decades. I suffered economically from the discrimination Helms heaped on me from the U.S. Senate in 1994. Other senators are doing the same to other LGBT workers in Washington and across the country by delaying passage of ENDA.
Helms never met a gay or lesbian he liked, especially me. As a government economist and diplomat, I managed a program of work to help fellow gays and lesbians effectively compete for positions historically denied them, not because of their skills but because of their sexuality. It was not right in 1994 and it is not right in 2015.
My work was “the right side of personnel management,” “the right side of a productive government workplace,” and “the right side of economic history,” to paraphrase an overused phrase. My work was also on “the wrong side of Jesse Helms.” I consider that a great honor.
There is much injustice in the world and it can take years to address it effectively, even with laws to end it. It ought to take only a short time for Congress to pass ENDA, as it would be aid to the economy to end legalized discrimination and the pain, suffering, and heavy social costs it brings to our country.
Congress should end discrimination against LGBT workers in 2015. The time for tactical senate delays to this just law by the likes of Jesse Helms are over. It is time for dignity in the workplace. It is time for ENDA.
Human Rights Advocate Jim Patterson is a writer, speaker, and lifelong diplomat for dignity for all people. In a remarkable life spanning the civil rights movement to today’s human rights struggles, he stands as a voice for the voiceless. A prolific writer, he documents history’s wrongs and the struggle for dignity to provide a roadmap to a more humane future. Learn more at www.HumanRightsIssues.com
