Rand Paul says he doesn't think LGBT employment protection is necessary

(Image credit: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

published 15 October 2015

In Iowa on Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said because "society is rapidly changing" and there are "plenty of places" that will hire someone who is gay, there isn't a need for employment protections for LGBT people.

When the Republican presidential candidate was asked if an employer should be able to fire someone based on their sexual identity, NBC News reports, Paul responded: "I think, really, the things you do in your house, just leave those in your house and they wouldn't have to be a part of the workplace, to tell you the truth." If the LGBT community becomes a protected class, he said, it would "set up a whole industry of people who want to sue. So if you happen to be gay, you get fired — now you have a reason you can fire them. But it's almost impossible sometimes — you know, people don't put up a sign, 'I'm firing you because you're gay.' It's something that's very much disputed. And so I don't know that we need to keep adding to different classification to say the government needs to be involved in the hiring and firing."  

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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