ENDA Passes the House but Equality MD Not Celebrating

Equality Maryland issued the following statement via email after the passage of the Employment and Non-Discrimination Act by the U.S. House of Representatives (no link because I cannot find it on the EM website):

Yesterday, the United States House of Representatives voted 235-184 to pass H.R. 3685, a non-inclusive version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which protects workers from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation alone, and not gender identity. This is the first time the United States House of Representatives has passed an employment nondiscrimination act that, if enacted, would ban discrimination against most lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people in the workplace. The bill has an uphill battle in the Senate and would almost certainly be vetoed by President Bush.

For some, the passage of a non-inclusive ENDA feels like an important symbolic victory, even though it will not be signed into law to tangibly help lesbian, gay or bisexual Americans in the immediacy. Equality Maryland acknowledges three decades of work by our allies in Congress and by national LGBT organizations who have been passionate and determined to bring this civil rights legislation before Congress. Certainly, passing ENDA may serve an educational value for society as a whole as to the discrimination faced by some in our community. Still, Equality Maryland remains concerned that passage of a non-inclusive bill damages efforts to pass truly inclusive legislation both in Maryland and at a time when such legislation will have the support of the President of the United States.

Equality Maryland is part of the United ENDA coalition which issued the following negative statement (reproduced by Equality Maryland):

While the passage in the House of Representatives today of this stripped down ENDA is deeply disappointing, we have seen a tremendous shift in the commitment of a growing number of legislators to only support an inclusive ENDA in the future when passage in the Senate and the signature of a new President make the enactment of comprehensive employment protections a possibility. We remain frustrated and disappointed that an inferior bill was brought to the floor. The stripping away of gender identity not only abandons transgender people - the most vulnerable within the LGBT community - it ignores the reality that gender identity and expression are at the root of much anti-gay discrimination.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Campaign issued the following upbeat statement:

"Today, we witnessed the making of civil rights history in the U.S. House of Representatives by the passing of ENDA," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "This vote by Congress is an important step at ensuring that millions of gay and lesbian Americans will never again have to go to work in fear of losing their jobs because of who they are."

In 31 states, it is currently legal to fire someone based on their sexual orientation. In 39 states, it is legal to fire a person for being transgender.

The Human Rights Campaign helped introduce ENDA 13 years ago to prevent workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. This year, for the first time, HRC and allies on the Hill included gender identity in the bill to also protect transgender workers. One month ago, House leadership made it clear that Congress did not have the votes to pass HR 2015, which prevents discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This week, House Rules Committee reported out Congressman Frank’s HR 3685, a bill that protects only sexual orientation, to the floor.

While HRC was disappointed that HR 3685 did not include protections for transgender Americans, it believes the successful passage of Congressman Frank’s bill is a step forward for all Americans, and that it paves the way for additional progress to outlaw workplace discrimination based on gender identity.

"Our fight for equality will not be won overnight," said Solmonese. "It will be won one step at a time, and we will not give up until we reach the finish line. This is a critical piece of legislation and a major step toward the finish line for all Americans."

Throughout history, Congress has often taken an incremental approach toward equality for other civil rights and business regulatory legislation. For example, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was introduced in five consecutive congresses for eight years and was vetoed twice by former President Bush before it was finally signed into law on February 5, 1993, by President Clinton. Each time the FMLA was introduced, Members built upon the protection from the previous year’s legislative action.

Additionally, each piece of civil rights legislation passed by Congress -- in 1957, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1990 -- continued the legislative path of the expansion of essential civil rights protections in law.

On Tuesday, the Human Rights Campaign joined the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR); the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), among other organizations in the civil rights community, in support of the bill that would make it illegal for employers to discriminate on sexual orientation. The letter was signed by 10 national civil rights and worker protection organizations representing millions of Americans.

The Advocate reports that 70% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people supported HRC's position that an ENDA without protections for transgender people is better than no ENDA at all.

I expressed my thoughts immediately after the passage of ENDA here. Below is an except from the transcript of the YouTube which I posted yesterday of Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) fighting with his usual passion and skill for the passage of the bill on the floor of the House. I found it far more eloquent and moving than any official statements or polls:

Mr. Speaker, we say here that we don't take things personally, and usually that is true. Members, Mr. Speaker, will have to forgive me. I take it a little personally.

Thirty-five years ago, I filed a bill to try to get rid of discrimination based on sexual orientation. As we sit here today, there are millions of Americans in States where this is not the law. By the way, 19 States have such a law. In no case has it led to that decision [i.e. same-sex marriage]. The Massachusetts law passed in 1989, that did not lead to the decision in 2004. Unrelated.

But here is the deal. I used to be someone subject to this prejudice, and, through luck, circumstance, I got to be a big shot. I am now above that prejudice. But I feel an obligation to 15-year-olds dreading to go to school because of the torments, to people afraid that they will lose their job in a gas station if someone finds out who they love. I feel an obligation to use the status I have been lucky enough to get to help them.

I want to ask my colleagues here, Mr. Speaker, on a personal basis, please, don't fall for this sham. Don't send me out of here having failed to help those people.

Thanks Barney.