October 30, 2007
Employment Non-Discrimination Act update
It is possible that the House Rules Committee will consider ENDA tonight, a necessary precondition to ENDA getting into the floor schedule, which would mean a vote on Wednesday – and it seems just as likely the Rules Committee will NOT consider it, which gets us closer to there being no vote at all on the non-inclusive bill (which is what we're asking for). So, the more calls and visits made in the next 24 hours, the better!
There is still uncertainty. Leadership is not saying anything until they have decided whether they are going to do a vote at all. If it doesn't move this week, they will have to say something.
The Baldwin Amendment has not officially been taken off the table. Blogs and rumor reports are that Baldwin is dead. That being said around in the bazaars is somewhat useful in that it angers those members of congress who thought they ought to have a chance to vote up or down on Baldwin.
United ENDA now wants folks to re-connect with the offices of their representatives. We do not want a non-inclusive bill. If we get through the week without a vote, ENDA will be shelved for a period of time from couple of months to a year. Congressional Staff is saying there is so much on the schedule that there doesn't appear to be time before the end of the year to get ENDA in if it doesn't run this week. Therefore, the thought about re-connecting is that there may be those on the Hill who think that by waiting these couple of days it gets quieter and they slip the non-inclusive by us. So United ENDA doesn't want a lull in what they are hearing. Hence the call to re-connect.
Information about how to contact your representative is available in All-Member Emails from last week, by scrolling down on the front page of lcna.org in News. Or, on Contacting the Congress you can type in your ZIPcode, then click on your representative and find the district offices. Further information on ENDA.
Further Talking Points are posted below.
WHY LGBT PEOPLE INSIST ON A UNIFIED INCLUSIVE ENDA
Gender Identity is Non-Negotiable
- More than 350 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations have joined together to work for an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that includes protections based on both sexual orientation and gender identity.
—These organizations oppose any ENDA (including HR 3685) that excludes either gender identity or sexual orientation.
- Transgender people, who make up a core segment of the LGBT community, desperately need gender identity protections that a unified, inclusive ENDA would provide.
—Transgender people are among the most vulnerable and susceptible to discrimination in America.
- Gay, lesbian, bisexual and even heterosexual people need gender identity protections.
—Five leading LGBT legal organizations believe that gender identity inclusion provides important protections for gender non-conforming people regardless of their sexual orientation or transgender status.
- State and local governments are only passing gender identity inclusive anti-discrimination laws.
—No state has passed a sexual orientation only law since New York did it in 2002. Every state that has passed protections since has passed gender identity-inclusive protections. Currently, 13 states have laws that protect people based on both gender identity and sexual orientation and another eight states protect only based on sexual orientation. Just this year, states such as Iowa, Colorado and Oregon have passed laws that include both gender identity and sexual orientation.
- State and Local Efforts will be and are already being hurt by the divisive HR 3685.
—Already in October, a state legislator in Florida who had planned to introduce a gender identity inclusive anti-discrimination bill, changed position to introduce two separate bills, citing the new "Washington Strategy" around ENDA.
- The House (and the Senate) passed a hate crimes bill this year that includes both sexual orientation.
—A large majority of House members are already on record supporting gender identity protections.
- A unified bill would have the support and energy of a unified LGBT community.
- Strategically, HR 3685 just does not make sense.
—Particularly because no ENDA is unlikely to become law in the 110th Congress, it simply does not make sense to pass a bill that is divisive for the LGBT community and potentially damaging to state and local legislative efforts and the rights of LGBT people.
- Congress has never passed a civil rights bill that was not supported by the community it is supposed to help.
—More than 350 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations have joined together to work for an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that includes protections based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. These organizations oppose any ENDA (including HR 3685) that excludes either gender identity or sexual orientation.
