I reported earlier about how Republican appointee Scott J. Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, (the agency that is supposed to protect government whistleblowers and others from retribution), had taken out references to sexual orientation from "a discrimination complaint form, training slides, a brochure titled "Your Rights as a Federal Employee" and other documents." Bloch has now determined it is legal for federal employees or job applicants to be fired, demoted, or denied jobs merely for being gay.

365Gay explains:

Bloch said that the while a gay employee would have no recourse for being fired or demoted for being gay, that same worker could not be fired for attending a gay Pride event. In his interpretation, Bloch is making a distinction between one’s conduct as a gay or lesbian and one’s status as a gay or lesbian. ... Bloch's position is a marked departure from how the previous special counsel, Elaine Kaplan, enforced the law. “The legal position that he is taking, that there is some distinction between discrimination based on sexual orientation and discrimination based on conduct, is absurd,” Kaplan told Federal Times. 

So, the right-wing assault on gays continues. The ultimate goal, I imagine, is to push gays farther and farther back in the closet until they are nothing but a distant memory - except for the occasional prosecution and execution under sodomy laws, of course. Preventing them from getting married ensures their second-class status, but denying them basic job protections ensures that they will be well-motivated not to tell anyone that they are gay. By keeping them out of the public eye, it will be easier to paint them as evil and unworthy of rights or consideration.

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