'New' HRC Policy Statement On ENDA Seems A Half Step
by: Autumn Sandeen
Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 04:00:00 AM EDT
http://pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=A22BF7EEAC764C964CBF9231CDEEB11D?diaryId=10081 (http://pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=A22BF7EEAC764C964CBF9231CDEEB11D?diaryId=10081)
Equal SignHere is the new, hard to find (well, at least I found the statement hard to find), Human Rights Campaign (HRC) policy statement on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) for this congress:
HRC Board ENDA Policy
It's the policy of HRC that the organization will only support an inclusive ENDA. In 2007 House leadership informed us that there were insufficient votes to pass an inclusive bill, so they decided to vote on a sexual orientation only bill. We made a one time exception to our policy in 2007 because we strongly believed that supporting this vote would do more to advance inclusive legislation. We will not support such a strategy again. We look forward to Congress sending President Obama a fully inclusive ENDA for his signature.
The policy, as described by then HRC Executive Director Cheryl Jacques, is as follows (emphasis added):
In early August [2004], HRC's Board of Directors took the historic step of adopting a policy that HRC would not support a version of ENDA that doesn't include gender identity or expression.
Maybe they heard enough voices from the trans community?
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
It is just politicalspeek
"will not support" allowes them a lot of wiggle room. Just try nailing them down to a "Will oppose non inclusive enda" statement of policy and you will see some real wiggling done.