Saturday, September 29, 2007

More on ENDA

Sorry for keep harping on the ENDA, but you see we saw this before. In 2002, in New York state we were sold down the river with the removal of gender identity form their Anti-Discrimination law with the promise that it would be passed the next year. Well here it is five years later and still no law in New York state.
Added 2:20pm

A Statement released on Friday by Representative Barry Frank…

“The question facing us – the LGBT community and the tens of millions of others who are active supporters of our fight against prejudice – is whether we should pass up the chance to adopt a very good bill because it has one major gap. I believe that it would be a grave error to let this opportunity to pass a sexual orientation nondiscrimination bill go forward, not simply because it is one of the most important advances we’ll have made in securing civil rights for Americans in decades, but because moving forward on this bill now will also better serve the ultimate goal of including people who are transgender than simply accepting total defeat today.”

So basically what he is saying is: we can get our cake and we don’t care if you get your piece of the cake. But the only other "Out" legislator does not feel that way

“Significantly, Democrat Tammy Baldwin, a lesbian who represents Madison, Wisconsin, and is the only other out LGBT member of Congress, did not put her name on the new bill.” (Gay City News)

And the HRC finally spoke up…

“Since 2004, the Human Rights Campaign’s policy has been to only support civil rights legislation that is inclusive of gender identity. That's why we fought tirelessly for and won Congressional approval for a fully inclusive hate crimes bill. We’ve been fighting to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act for more than a decade. The breaking news that the House has decided to move forward on a non-discrimination bill that is not inclusive of gender identity is devastating. The Human Rights Campaign remains dedicated to the fight for full equality for our entire community and, in light of this new reality, continues to consult with members of Congress and our lobbyists to determine how we can achieve that goal.” (HRC Backstory)

2 comments:

  1. I'm glad the HRC finally spoke up, but what took so long?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Their response was slow and not very strong. I am still taking a wait and see approach.
    There is a good write-up about there response by a trans HRC Board memeber here

    ReplyDelete