The Force of Law: The Effects of Sexual Orientation Antidiscrimination Legislation on Interpersonal Discrimination in Employment

Except for some U.S. states and localities, gay men and lesbians are largely unprotected from employment discrimination. In debate over national legislation (Employment Non-Discrimination Act), some legislators have questioned the efficacy of antidiscrimination legislation. To address this issue, we conducted three studies. In Study 1, we documented public awareness of sexual orientation employment antidiscrimination laws by contacting 111 households in areas that do and do not offer city-wide protective laws. In Study 2, we examined the discrimination directed toward applicants who portrayed themselves as gay (lesbian) or nongay while applying for 295 retail jobs in neighboring cities with or without legislation. In Study 3, we conducted a lab experiment in which prior to interviewing a gay or lesbian confederate applicant for a management position, 229 participants were led to believe that their area either does or does not have sexual orientation antidiscrimination legislation. Our results, taken as a whole, reveal that public awareness of sexual orientation laws is heightened in communities with (vs. without) legislation (Study 1), that gay/lesbian applicants experience decreased discrimination when they have protective legislation (Study 2), and that reduced discrimination still occurs when legal awareness is randomly assigned and manipulated in a laboratory setting (Study 3). We discuss the theory behind these findings and aim to inform legislative debate with some of the first-known empirically based research estimates for the likely efficacy of pending national legislation (i.e., Employment NonDiscrimination Act).