Sam Brownback rescinds discrimination protections for gay and transgender state employees

The Great Kansas Leap Backwards marches on with each new day, bringing worse news than the last.

On Tuesday, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed an executive order that unraveled one issued by Kathleen Sebelius in 2007, which added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of job protections for state employees.

Brownback then issued a subsequent order that bans discrimination based on race, color, gender, religion, national origin, ancestry or age, but excluded sexual orientation and gender identity from that list.

“This Executive Order ensures that state employees enjoy the same civil rights as all Kansans without creating additional ‘protected classes’ as the previous order did,” Brownback said in a written statement. “Any such expansion of ‘protected classes’ should be done by the legislature and not through unilateral action.”

Thomas Witt, executive director for LGBT advocacy group Equality Kansas, said Brownback’s maneuver declares “open season” on LGBT employees who work for the state.

“If you work for the state, and have felt comfortable being ‘out’ at work knowing you had protection from bigotry,” Witt said in a statement, “that protection is gone.”