Senate seen as
bottleneck for LGBT bills
Published 12/10/2009
by Matthew S. Bajko
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=4386During a recent appearance at an LGBT leadership conference held in San Francisco, two of Congress' three openly gay members predicted the House of Representatives would pass a number of LGBT bills in the coming months but cautioned that the pro-gay rights measures could be waylaid in the Senate.
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colorado) both held out hope that three key pieces of the country's LGBT rights agenda would be sent to the Senate by March. The two out lawmakers said they expect the House to pass a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act in early January followed by votes to repeal the anti-gay "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy and to extend full domestic partner benefits to the spouses of LGBT federal civilian employees.
