On Nov. 7, the Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) by a vote of 64-32. The act proposes protections against workplace discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation or gender identity, while at the same time prohibits preferential treatment and quotas. This historic vote marked the first time any United States’ legislation has so explicitly provided protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The contents of this bill outline what everyone should already know and practice regarding workplace discrimination. But prohibiting discrimination against the LGBT community in the workplace is not yet a nation-wide law. In fact, in 29 states, there are no laws that prohibit an employee’s termination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

If you think that’s borderline lunacy, you’re not the only one. Nearly 73 percent of Americans support workplace protections for gay and lesbian Americans, and that number is lofted to 81 percent among younger Americans. Support for these protections is also in the majority among Republicans as well as in every major religious group.

So that’s it, right? Argument over. The House, in a rare victory for the 113th do-nothing Congress, will pass ENDA because it’s what most people want.

Probably not. So far, the 113th Congress has passed 36 public laws. The 112th Congress, dubbed “least productive Congress in modern history,” by Ezra Klein in the Washington Post article, “John Boehner’s Congress is a train wreck,” passed 283 public laws. If the 113th Congress keeps up its less than lackadaisical pace, it’s on track to become the new unproductive title holder. I think a hearty “congratulations!” is in order.

Combine this pattern of laziness with House Speaker John Boehner’s opposition to the bill, because it will “increase frivolous litigation and cost American jobs, especially small business jobs,” according to his spokesman Michael Steel, and the chances of ENDA passing the House, or even being put up for a vote, don’t look good.

It’s almost unbelievable that we live in a world where ending workplace discrimination for the LGBT community still needs defending, yet here we are. And it doesn’t need to be defended from the majority of the public, as statistics clearly show. It mostly needs to be defended from a group of people in charge of passing national legislation who can’t seem to grasp the essentiality of protecting the LGBT community from unjust and cowardly mistreatment.

Legislation regarding workplace discrimination based on gender, race and religion, have been passed and upheld in this country for decades. These characteristics, just like sexual orientation and gender identity, have absolutely no impact on a person’s job performance. But these characteristics were, and still are, the basis for mistreatment as well as employee termination, where, “We just don’t feel you’re right for the job” is actually, “We just don’t feel you’re right for the job because you’re gay/black/transgender/Muslim.”

Timothy Carney, senior political columnist at the Washington Examiner, recently made a comment during a conversation on Twitter regarding ENDA, asking “Is it wrong to lie to your mom? Should there be a federal law banning it?” Assumedly, he’s trying to make the point that ENDA blurs the lines of what “bad things” are appropriate for Congress to ban, a common (and tiresome) argument for this type of legislation.

Unfortunately for Carney, his comparison is dismissive – “lying to moms” is not quite as serious an epidemic as say, oh I don’t know, the LGBT community’s historical subjection to discrimination under a “system of oppression worsening the lives of million,” in Washington Post reporter Dylan Matthews’ words.

Matthews is right. This kind of systematic oppression ruins lives and makes it harder for society to progress in equality. Legislation like ENDA helps to break this pattern of discrimination, to promote behavior that falls in line with the equal protections we’re afforded under the Constitution. Not to mention, this isn’t a question of where to draw the line: this legislation is born out of necessity. It provides protections for the LGBT community that are unfortunately not given to them willingly by many potential employers.

Boehner should at least agree to put ENDA up for a vote in the House – then maybe this do-nothing Congress will finally agree to do something important.

Jillian Correira is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].