By Christina Coleman, USA TODAY
The Rams’ decision to draft Michael Sam could actually have huge legal implications for gay couples and employees across the state of Missouri.
The Rams drafting Sam has raised some deeper issues about openly gay athletes in sports and in the workplace in general. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) posted on Twitter: “Michael Sam could still be fired for just being gay according to MO law. Let’s fix that in Jeffcity.”
The board president of the LGBT Community Center of Metropolitan St. Louis, Dara Strickland, is also a family law attorney. She says an individual can be refused employment because of their sexual orientation under current state law.
Statement by David Weissman: “Similar to the law in Missouri, Arizona state law does not prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. (Though several municipalities in Arizona have ordinances prohibiting discrimination on this basis, including Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff.) So, if Michael Sam had been drafted by the Arizona Cardinals, he would face the same lack of legal protection as he does in Missouri. Interestingly, if Sam had been drafted by many of the other teams in the NFL, he would be protected from discrimination under the laws of those teams’ home states.
“That being said, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2103 (ENDA), which would prohibit sexual orientation discrimination at the federal level, has already passed the U.S. Senate and is pending in the House of Representatives. So, the day could soon be here when openly gay players like Michael Sam cannot be legally discriminated against based on their sexual orientation, no matter which team they play for.”
If you’d like to discuss employment or health care law, contact David Weissman, dweissman@roselawgroup.com
If you’d like to discuss family law, contact with Kaine Fisher, chairman of Rose Law Group Family Law Department, kfisher@roselawgroup.com.
