But let's be honest: it's just a license to discriminate.
Senator Jim Banks' recently introduced bill isn't about truth. It's about control. And cruelty. It would allow employees to misgender their transgender colleagues with impunity and prohibit employers from enforcing any workplace policies that require respect for a person's gender identity.
If this bill becomes law, no employer with 15 or more employees could:
- Establish or enforce rules on the use of pronouns that align with a person's preferred gender;
- Permit employees to use bathrooms, locker rooms, or changing areaa that align with a person's preferred gender;
- Otherwise force an employee to respect the gender identity of another employee; or
- Retaliate against any employee who speaks out against discrimination based on the rights described above.
Employers who do try to enforce such basic dignity rules could be sued.
Senator Banks, the bill's sponsor, says it's about protecting workers from being compelled to affirm left-wing gender ideology. "This bill is about protecting common sense,” Banks says. "Americans shouldn’t fear losing their jobs simply for acknowledging the basic reality of biological sex."
This is not about protecting speech. It's about protecting harassment.
Letting one employee invalidate another's identity—on purpose, and as policy—isn't free speech. It's targeted harm. And it strips employers of the ability (and responsibility) to create a safe, inclusive, and respectful workplace.
When your "freedom" depends on denying someone else their dignity, their humanity, and their right to exist, you're not fighting for liberty. You're just a bully.
Respect isn't ideology.
Dignity isn't political.
And bigotry wrapped in legislation is still just bigotry.