The ENDA football
Transmissions
Published 05/20/2010
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
http://www.ebar.com/columns/column.php?sec=transmissions&article=137In 1994, when I was a freshly out transgender woman still laying the groundwork for living full time in my preferred gender, I heard of a bill that was heading to the 103rd Congress. That bill was the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 1994. It never made it out of committee. That year, as the battle over ENDA started in earnest, I found myself in Houston, Texas on a hot, sweaty summer's day, attending the Transgender Law Conference.
In one particularly contentious panel, a representative from an organization then known as the Human Rights Campaign Fund tried to quell rising anger about the lack of transgender protections in ENDA. Those assembled were told not to worry, that this was all a first step, and HRCF would not leave us behind. We were informed that Congress was simply not ready to deal with transgender issues, and the bill would not be able to muster enough votes if transgender rights were included. Indeed, this HRCF wonk suggested that if this non-inclusive ENDA was passed, they would come right behind to start work on an ENDA that would specifically protect transgender people – oh, and can they have a donation?
