Further evidence that the issue is hardly a headline-maker can be found in the Tribunal Service's recent annual report on its workload (PDF format), which records just 470 claims under this jurisdiction last year, fewer than under any other heading.

So the heat this issue generates in the United States serves once again to underline just how different the cultures of the UK and US are.

A few days ago, the US House of Representatives voted by 235 to 184 to ban workplace discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Good news, no doubt for all those who have been campaigning to have sexual orientation added to the grounds on which employers could no longer take arbitrary action simply because they did not like an employee.

However, as excellent US blog HR Capitalist points out, the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) only got through the House on condition that its supporters drop protection for transgender workers from the Bill.

Even watered down to that extent, it remains unlikely that the Bill will ever become law. First it would have to pass the Senate, and then it would need approval from the president. Since George Bush had threatened to veto similar previous measures, this is a long shot.

This does not mean that there is no legal protection for gay and lesbian people in the US. Many individual states have either legislation or court rulings that apply locally, as the current Wikipedia entry on ENDA explains. A larger version of the map shown here, which indicates states that have legal protections, is also available as part of the article.

Although many civil rights campaigners in the US have backed ENDA, the exclusion of transgender individuals has split gay rights groups, some 200 of which have declared that they would rather the measure was lost altogether than passed in its current form.

Looking ahead, the issue could even become a dividing line in the US presidential elections, with Democrat frontrunner Hillary Clinton (below) having declared her support for ENDA and for the inclusion of transgender individuals within it.

Her potential Republican rivals for the job, meanwhile, appear not to be able to make up their minds where they stand.