wild@SUN.COM (07/29/86)
Return-Path: <wild@SUN.COM> Date: Wed, 16 Jul 86 13:47:10 PDT From: wild@SUN.COM (Will Doherty) Message-Id: <8607162047.AA11902@oscar.sun.uucp> Subject: We need the laundry list From: Hoffman.es@Xerox.COM Enumeration of minorities is a never-ending, impossible, and unnecessary task. Instead of prohibiting discrimination of the basis of every conceivable irrelevant personal attribute, I'd like to see employers adopt a policy stating something like, "Only job-related characteristics shall be considered in hiring, firing, and promotion decisions." A small handful of universities have such statements in place of the usual laundry-list of prohibited discriminations. I don't think we need a "gay rights amendment" to the Constitution. We need a PRIVACY RIGHTS amendment! The right to privacy which the Supreme Court has been struggling to define (and to which they've now stated an abhorrent limit) is nowhere explicit in the Constitution. I'm afraid I have to disagree with you here, Rodney. As long as our culture continues to enumerate these groups of people with "irrelevant personal attribute[s]," such as blacks, women, and lesbians and gays (among the many), so as to relegate them to a status other than human being status, then the people in these groups need to struggle for human being status. As these characteristics become unimportant (at least as far as hiring, firing, etc.), then we can forget about pushing for protective laws. But we aren't there yet. The problem with the policy that you propose is that someone decides what "job-related characteristics" are, and if we leave that open to the interpretation of many people in corporate management, then we won't see any change in the composition of the people in the workplace. And if we don't force the change in composition of the workplace, then the people working there won't get exposed to attitudes which may produce a resulting attitude change in themselves, and in society at large. Will Doherty UUCP: ...sun!oscar!wild ARPA: "oscar!wild"@sun.com -------