ENDA Passes House WITHOUT Trans Protections
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/11/110707enda.htm
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
11/07/07
'WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act but without protections for trans-workers after more than 5 hours of debate, wrangling, maneuvering, and lobbying.'
\\AAARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!//
what a suprise.... dropped to get what they want.... although im suprised that you could trust lgbt organisations that well, they will save thier skins first.... LGB escape the flood waters by climbing the corpse of the T....
R :police:
I SO want to see the vote for this...
Karen
I watched it on C-Span this afternoon and cried when I heard what Tami Baldwin said.
The right wingers were fairly predictable (as usual) and failed to get their meddling to come to fruition.
Hopefully the bill will now die in the Senate and we can start working anew on a truly inclusive ENDA . . .
. . . without the HRC >:(
Emelye
Hmmmmm....I guess it is time for everyone to relocate to the twelve (is it twelve?) states that currently have laws to protect the transgendered.
tink :icon_chick:
(or the UK)
I'm holding out for Canada.
Let's just invade any of these states, cities and counties >:D
http://www.transgenderlaw.org/ndlaws/index.htm
Actually there are thirteen states (plus D.C and a total of 92 cities and counties nationwide) that protect the transgendered according to the above link, and the number is still growing....
tink :icon_chick:
Yes I agree that this was not a big surprise but a big disappointment nonetheless. Several reps from New York and New Jersey were the only ones who voted no on the grounds that there was no gender identity protection. So yay for them. What a pointless, divisively symbolic act and what an enormous amount of moral cowardice.
I watched the coverage on cspan via streaming internet and my goddess... I have never heard so much talking about how it didn't go far enough to protect religious institutions rights to hate.
I second the vote for Canada. I have been thinking and podcasting about it for a while. I think Washington state will be my next move as a bridge to a lovely spot in Vancouver.
Transgender rights are not explicitly estabalished in Canada.
The various courts will probably uphold trans right by saying gender does include gender identity, but it is not written on laws in most provinces. In Ontario, the ontario human right commission protects transgender rights, but gender identity /gender expression is not explicitly written in the Ontario Human Rights Code. Gender identity/expression are also not covered under the federal hate crime bills.
Although, they're not specifically protected in Canada, except the Yukon I think, its been postulated that if it ever went to the supreme court, its certain they would extend the 1982 language of the Human right charter to cover transgendered.
Changing the constitution is such an ordeal in Canada, that nobody wants to touch it and prefer relying on specific protection through court judgements of charter case leading to specific laws (like the gay marriage law that followed court judgements)/
Did you hear about the case where the court said it is okay for a vancouver rape relief center to ban post op transsexual women from being volutneer because they are not not born women? It's the Nixon case.
And srs is also not covered under the public health insurance in Ontario.
The demise of the transsexual-inclusive ENDA can be laid squarely on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), its president, Joe "Liar" Solmonese, Representative Barney Frank, and the "Speaker" of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Ms. Pelosi "dedicated herself" to a transsexual-inclusive ENDA. So did Joe the Liar.
It is doubtful that the ENDA in its present form will pass the Senate and go to "the decider" this year. It will likely rise again in the next session of the Congress.
Now I ain't politically astute and someone here might think that the HRC is acting to protect transsexuals. That is their privilege. I provided a place to stay for several of our sisters when they were in town for Legislative Action Days. I was living in the Virginia suburbs at the time.
I know the pressure that has been laid-on the Hill and we have been sold by the organization that says that they are watching out for our interests: the HRC.
This is what I found in my e-mail. I never contributed a cent to them but I get their mail to keep an eye on things.
It happened today!
From: Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign (hrc@hrc.org)
You may not know this sender. Mark as safe | Mark as unsafe
Sent:Wed 11/07/07 6:46 PM
Reply-to:notice-reply-wns88nb2a777tkwe@hrcactioncenter.org
To: Paula Koval (paula_hw@hotmail.com)
Dear Paula,
Today, I witnessed something that just a year ago seemed nearly impossible. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
We are one step closer to our ultimate goal of ensuring that all GLBT Americans no longer live in fear of losing their jobs.
The progress we've made today is historic - it is the first time either house of Congress has passed employment protections of this kind. It took over 30 years of lobbying and grassroots political work to get to this point, and while the bill that finally passed was not the fully inclusive version we sought, this represents a major advance - and the best way to move towards our long-term goal of protecting our entire community.
HRC first helped introduce ENDA 13 years ago, to prevent workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. This year, gender identity was added to the bill. Unfortunately, gender identity was not covered in the version that passed today, but this vote was a first and absolutely necessary step towards equality for GLBT people in the workplace.
That's why HRC joined with a coalition of major civil rights groups who declared support for the bill before the final vote, including the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR includes more than 192 national civil rights organizations), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), and the National Education Association (NEA).
Supporting this version of the bill was a difficult and painful decision. But, without a doubt, the only path to achieving a bill protecting our whole community was by achieving the successful House vote today. A defeat of ENDA would have set back the possibility of an inclusive bill for many, many years.
HRC remains 100% committed to doing the hard work necessary to pass legislation that protects our entire community, including transgender workers who remain especially vulnerable to workplace discrimination.
Today, we continue our determined march towards progress. And we recommit ourselves to educating our leaders and our neighbors, to speed the day when our community will be protected, as one.
Your support has enabled HRC to lead the way in this struggle. We have formed strategic alliances in Congress, activated an unprecedented number of grassroots supporters, met with editorial boards, brought clergy to Washington to lobby their elected officials, and worked with the corporate community to expand GLBT workplace protections.
We spent years defending ourselves from anti-GLBT attacks from the radical right. Now we are on the offense. But make no mistake: the extremists who work against us every day will be working overtime to hold back our progress.
Our fight will not be won overnight - it will be won one step at a time. This has been a grueling few weeks for our community, but we have never once given up on achieving our ultimate goal of workplace equality for GLBT Americans.
Along this road, there will be challenges, but we must not allow them to divide us. We know we are working towards the same goal: equal rights for all.
We can get there, together, and we will.
Warmly,
Joe Solmonese
President
P.S. I would also like to share with you some insights of former HRC Executive Director Vic Basile - whose op-ed was published last week. I think it helps put today's victory into context as we continue down the road to a fully inclusive ENDA.
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Human Rights Campaign | www.hrc.org
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Wing Walker
I listened to the hearings on CSPAN all afternoon. I was very moved by a couple of eloquent speeches in support of transgender people, and also quite disgusted with some of the hypocrisy.
I have a solution for the next ten years or so until transgender protection is added to ENDA. Since many transphobic people believe that men who wear dresses are gay, if I'm fired for wearing a skirt, I'll just say that I'm gay male ::)
Oh, and by the way, I think we should all apply for jobs at Christian bookstores >:D
Zythyra
Quote from: Emelye on November 07, 2007, 08:38:52 PM
I watched it on C-Span this afternoon and cried when I heard what Tami Baldwin said.
The right wingers were fairly predictable (as usual) and failed to get their meddling to come to fruition.
Hopefully the bill will now die in the Senate and we can start working anew on a truly inclusive ENDA . . .
. . . without the HRC >:(
Emelye
I didn't watch. What did Tami Baldwin say?
Quote from: Nero on November 08, 2007, 03:04:25 PM
I didn't watch. What did Tami Baldwin say?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEqUpEfOZDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0f8TtoteRQ
So if I understand right, she introduce the amendment to show "we are not forgotten", but planned to withdraw it anyway?
The message that keeps failing to be sent to these politicians is discrimination is discrimination, no matter how you package it. If they can discriminate against one group what's there to prevent them from doing so to another? As long as what they do gets them more votes they will do it. Those who don't support an all-inclusive ENDA should be painted as being prejudiced bigots, plain and simple.
To be labeled a bigot hurts your voter appeal. The public has to see them as they are, bigots, and not allow the exclusion of trans people to be isolated and portrayed in such a way as to allow them to get away with being discriminatory.
Julie
not when a large portion of voters dont consider not supporting trans inclusion biggoted, but right....
sad aint it?
R :police: