Iowa Rep. Steve King on Wednesday
advised gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees to remain in
the closet at work.
King, an ardent opponent of gay rights,
told ThinkProgress.org
that gay workers don't need workplace protections because they could
simply not disclose their sexual orientation.
When Scott Keyes asked, “Would that
encompass, for instance, the government being able to tell businesses
who they can hire and fire?” King responded, “Yeah, they
shouldn't be able to do that [to] a private business.”
“Even if those were to be regulations
say on a matter of sexual orientation or gender or other stuff like
that?” Keyes added.
“How do you know someone's sexual
orientation? I don't know how you discriminate against someone
because of their sexual orientation. That's their business.”
“I guess if it became public
knowledge that an employee were lesbian or gay,” Keyes expanded.
“You have private sector businesses
here and they need to have freedom to operate,” King answered. “In
the first place, I would think that unless someone makes their
sexuality public, it's not anybody's business, so neither it is our
business to tell an employer who to hire. He won't know who to
discriminate against in the first place.” (The video is embedded
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(Related: NOM
tapped Rep. Steve King to spearhead Iowa gay marriage repeal effort.)