Just days after Speaker Pelosi pledged to ensure to bring a trans-inclusive ENDA to the floor when their were sufficient votes, a 'gay-only' bill (House Resolution 3685) is moving in the House.

For a look at the national and statewide groups only supporting fully inclusive legislation and for a list of the 171 co-sponsors of this version of ENDA, visit www.unitedenda.com.

From the Washington Blade:

In a private meeting late Friday on Capitol Hill, congressional leaders told gay and transgender activists that they would move ahead with a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that lacks trans protections.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, and Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, attended the meeting and confirmed to the Blade that House leaders would first seek to pass the sexual orientation-only version of ENDA.

But in what Solmonese called an unprecedented commitment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed to give the trans-inclusive version of ENDA a floor vote "the minute" enough votes are secured to pass it.

"Our strategy throughout has been to stay at the table and fight for the ultimate goal that we all share," Solmonese said. "Today, that strategy has proven to be successful."

Keisling, however, said her organization would stand among the groups that continue to oppose the amended version of ENDA introduced by gay Rep. Barney Frank.

She said that bill, known as House Resolution 3685, lacked the support of "a single LGBT or other civil rights organization," and was inferior to the trans-inclusive version, House Resolution 2015.

"I can't stress enough how we are focusing on passing 2015," she said. "The truth is we feel the strategy around 3685 is bad strategy. We think it's been handled badly, we think it is harmful and we oppose it."

The decision by House Democrats to move ahead with the sexual orientation-only ENDA comes two weeks after Pelosi delayed a vote on that measure to give gay and transgender rights groups more time to persuade House members to back a trans-inclusive ENDA.

Solmonese said it was determined at today's meeting that there were not sufficient votes to pass the trans-inclusive measure and House leaders would press ahead with the other version.

Read the entire article over at the Washington Blade.

Labels: anti-discrimination, ENDA, federal

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 at 3:17 PM. Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.