never ENDAing story…?
the past two weeks have made a proud queer and a disappointed cautiously optimistic american.
in case you haven’t been following the insider baseball, there’s a massive political fight going on in Washington over including gender expression in the Equal Non-Discrimination Act. the last time the bill had a chance of passing, back when Clinton was in office, queer leaders dropped transgender inclusion with the hopes that by pushing a more palatable version of the bill the gay community could have some sort of watered down victory. only it didn’t work. ENDA was narrowly defeated by one vote, the political tide turned, queer organizations took a huge setback and then changed course starting to spend all their money and oxygen on marriage equality.
now with the Democrats in control ENDA has risen again. it seems common knowledge that the bill has no real chance of getitng affirmed by the White House, but the strategy was to do the hard work of getting a vote in the House and Senate now, so that when, if, god and diebold willing, a Democrat wins the big race that ENDA can easily sail through both chambers and up to the Oval Office.
well, that was the strategy… and then things got sticky. the democratic leadership quickly realized they didn’t have the votes to push through a gender-inclusive ENDA, but eager to please their gay and gay friendly voters decided to move forward with a less comprehensive version of the bill. party leaders figured that gays would be so thrilled about the ENDA votes that no one would notice dropping gender equality. only we did. as i type this 3,000 miles away from my political hometown, i have been inspired by the progressive and uncompromising stance queer organizations have taken demanding gender inclusion. even HRC, who notoriously drops gender when faced with a hurdle, finally took the high road to push for an all inclusive ENDA. (which they now take credit for pushing all along “Our strategy throughout has been to stay at the table and fight for the ultimate goal that we all share.”)
things seem murky from here… the House Education and Labor Committee will reportedly mark up and review the limited sexual orientation version of the bill, however Speaker Pelosi has also annouced to “fast-track a transgender-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act once there are enough votes to pass it.” sounds to me like a bit of an empty, or perhaps shallow, promise with an easy out if she doesn’t get the votes. here’s hoping Congress will do something brave for a change.
and kudos to all of the queer organizers who have been fighting day and night for the last two weeks to keep the bill inclusive. even you HRC. you’ve made me proud for once.
>> Visit the Task Force’s ENDA Action Center today!
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