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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.motss,net.politics
Subject: re: "Gay Rights"
Message-ID: <1206@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 18-Nov-84 14:28:56 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.1206
Posted: Sun Nov 18 14:28:56 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Nov-84 15:27:29 EST
References: <1058@ulysses.UUCP>
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 34

=================
... I'll make an equally sweeping counterclaim -- that any refusal
to hire someone based on anything other than their ability to do the job
is morally wrong, and should probably be legally wrong as well.
...

                --Steve Bellovin
=================
At first sight, this claim seems obviously correct, but when you look
a little deeper, you find that it is hard to determine what are the
bounds on "ability to do the job".  If the presence of a heavy smoker
(good at the job) impairs the ability of a co-worker to do the job,
is this grounds for at least separating the two, or perhaps to not
hire the smoker?  The overall efficiency of the company may be reduced
as compared to hiring an equally able non-smoker.  Now carry this over
to psychological (and many would say unrealistic) ill effects caused
by prejudice.  Where do you draw the line?  If someone gets very
irritated every time he sees a white person working nearby, and therefore
cannot function properly in the presence of a white co-worker, is this
reason for the firm not to hire whites?  If someone gets so turned-on
by a pretty woman that he can't work properly, is it a reason not to
hire women?  Somewhere, there is a boundary between reasonable and
ridiculous, but simple "ability to do the job" cannot be the place.
I don't know where I would put it, but for me it would probably be
reasonable not to hire a particuarly abrasive person for work in
a close-knit team, or a heavy smoker for work in a close environment.
But then, I don't worry about people's sexual preferences or skin
colour, but I do worry about getting upset by smoke or interpersonal
agression.
-- 

Martin Taylor
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