Republican congressman: Anti-gay workplace discrimination doesn’t exist

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

A Republican congressman says he doesn’t believe anti-gay workplace discrimination is a problem.

Kevin Cramer, who represents North Dakota in the House of Representatives, said: “I’m not even sure that this is a problem.”

“I have to be honest, I don’t get many, if any – I don’t know that I’ve ever received a phone call in my office from somebody that says they’ve been discriminated against based on their sexual orientation.”

On Monday, Barack Obama confirmed plans to sign an Executive Order banning homophobic workplace discrimination among federal contractors.

Obama has been under pressure to sign an Executive Order due to the stalling of the broader Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the House of Representatives, by Republicans including Cramer.

Cramer dismissed Obama’s actions as a political move, and said that he would continue to oppose ENDA in the House.

Last week, several prominent LGBT groups have dropped their support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act over a ‘religious freedom’ exemption added in the House of Representatives, which they claimed made it a ‘license to discriminate’.

The current language of the act would allow religious institutions – including churches, hospitals and schools – to continue to discriminate against LGBT employees, despite numerous teachers fired for being LGBT.