Many people believe that legislation already exists to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in the workplace.  Not the case.  However, most employers and many states already do have formal policies and laws protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation.   So the pending ENDA legislation will not drastically alter the workplace practices in America.  Hopefully Republicans and Conservative Democrats won’t try to grandstand and vote NO for this legislation.  The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has a good chance of being enacted into law and there is bipartisan support.  The pending law, as now written, exempts the military and religious organizations and does not require employers to provide benefits to domestic partners of their employees.   However, again, many employers already do offer medical insurance coverage for domestic partners and have done so for many years.  Including Walmart!  So the legislation needs to be passed to reflect the world of work realities and to protect anyone who could be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.  

Bottom Line:  the new law will not drastically alter the existing workplace landscape — it will reflect what employers are already doing.