Abstract: | The Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides protections against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Sexual orientation and gender identity, however, are excluded and LGBTQ citizens can be legally discriminated against in many fundamental areas that others take for granted as a legal right. The LGBTQ community in America comprises approximately 3.4 percent of the US population, or roughly 9 million citizens. Regardless of the size of the population, this book argues, all US citizens deserve the same rights granted under the US constitution - i.e. in addition to marriage equality, LGBTQ citizens deserve equal protection in employment, housing, medical decisions, military service, and adoption - to name but a few. Using social equity theory and intersectionality but written in an accessible style, this book demonstrates some of the ways in which LGBTQ citizens have been marginalized for their identity, and argues that the field of public administration has a unique responsibility to prioritize social equity. Discrete categories utilized by the US Census Bureau (male or female, heterosexual or homosexual), for example, must shift to a continuum to accurately capture demographic characteristics and citizen behavior. Evidenced based outcomes and disparities between heterosexual and LGBTQ populations are carefully delineated to provide a legal rationale for a compelling governmental interest, and policy recommendations are provided - including overdue federal legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Lorenda. |
