ENDA: The Controversy
For those not aware, there is currently a bill before congress that would ban discrimination on sexual orientation and gender expression. Or at least it used to. Barney Frank, one of the sponsors of the bill and a man who I have great respect for, has introduced a reduced version of the bill that does not cover transgender individuals or gender expression. The reason given was that this reduced bill would stand a better chance of actually passing and provide protection for some of our community, if not all. Honestly, when I first heard this I was extremely torn. I don’t particularly want to abandon any of our community, but the chance of getting something actually passed seemed to almost be worth it. (Not my proudest moment, I know.)
What totally changes things though, was reading Lambda Legal’s evaluation of the new bill. Not just does the new bill not cover transgender folks, it doesn’t cover anyone who is fired based on gender expression. You can’t be fired for being gay, but you could be fired for “acting gay”: talking with a lisp, wearing makeup at work, etc.. While this wouldn’t bother many straight acting folks on first glance, we all know how easily this could be bent. And besides, do we really want to walk away from the rest of our community like that? This new bill really gives us next to nothing.
I honestly do think that Representative Frank introduced this new bill with the best of intentions, but passing it would be a major mistake. I’m extremely proud of our community leaders (NGLFT, Lambda Legal, Triangle Foundation, etc., but NOT HRC) for actively opposing this bill. (Even before I personally was ready to do so.)