TGForum Special Report: ENDA & GENDA

In the beginning, there was ENDA. And it was good. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act would prohibit job discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity orientation, or appearance. The head of the Human Rights Campaign said they would not back ENDA without the gender specification. And then it all turned to shit. Pardon my French.

It’s been a furious few days in Washington and across the Internet, as ENDA was put forth, cleaved in two, melded back into one thing, and then… split again. All under the gun of a threatened veto.

So, let’s try to make sense of it all, shall we?

ENDA has a lengthy history, dating back to the mid 1970’s. (Wikipedia has a listing, but it’s going to change, so I’d suggest only reading the first couple of paragraphs. Besides, you never know who is changing things there. It’s probably not Angela Gardner doing the editing, so I wouldn’t trust it very far.)

It was just last month, at Southern Comfort Convention, that Joe Solmonese, the head of the Human Rights Campaign, made a historic speech promising inclusion of the transgendered provisions in the bill. (See the remarks on YouTube.)

But late last week, one of the sponsors of the bill in the House, Rep. Barney Frank, the only openly gay member of the House of Reps, announced, as reported by The Advocate, he didn’t have the votes necessary to get passage of ENDA. And, he said it was the “trans” part that was holding it back.

So, instead, he offered a split: one version would be offered to the House with gender identity included, and one without. (Read more at the Washington Blade.)

As you can imagine, that set off a bit of debate. The only transgendered member of the board of HRC resigned. (Read more from The Windy City Times. Some groups were in favor of the new version of ENDA, while some were opposed. People for the American Way, for example, said no to the split. As did PFLAG. And Lambda Legal. And the National Center for Lesbian Rights. And the National Stonewall Democrats. And a dozen other organizations that don’t necessarily represent the transgendered community directly. The Log Cabin Republicans have not updated their website lately.)

The furor forced the ENDA sponsors to pull the bill from consideration until later this month.

The Human Rights Campaign is calling on it’s 70,000 members to lobby Congress in favor of an inclusive ENDA. But they earlier said that while they wouldn’t support a bill that doesn’t include gender provisions, but they won’t oppose one that doesn’t either. (More coverage from the Washington Blade.)

There was a protest outside Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office in California. 365Gay.com covered it.

Now, this coming Saturday, October 6th, there’s a protest planned outside the HRC’s National Banquet. It starts at 4:30pm, outside the Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW, (near 9th St and Mass Ave.).

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That’s the news. You want my opinion?

The ties between the GLB and the T haven’t always been strong. But, the outcry over the split from smaller organizations and individuals is impressive. Moving, really. Oh sure, there are those who say the T will be added later, or that the T hasn’t done enough to earn this, but one of the best comments I’ve heard came from my friend Laura Carrillo, in Florida: ““By picking and choosing who to include in their non-discrimination bill, these legislators are discriminating. It’s self-contradicting.”

Another interesting point: the fight over ENDA has received next to no coverage from the national, mainstream media. Why? Because even if ENDA passes Congress, President Bush has pledged a veto.

Category: All TGForum Posts, Transgender Community News