ACT On Principles

United ENDA, a coalition of hundreds of LGBT groups across the nation, has designated today as National Call-In Day for ENDA. They are asking us to call our U.S. legislators today — your Representative and your two Senators.

The idea is to show how much support there is out there for ENDA and LGBT rights. You should call regardless of whether your legislators are already supportive of the bill, or are undecided, or even if they are totally unsupportive. You should call even though you’ve called before. This isn’t about them so much. It’s more about us.

Many of us have been critical of the Administration and Congress. We are tired of being jerked around. Let’s show them that we are not to be trifled with. United ENDA’s pitch is here: http://bit.ly/2TwGuw

The House Committee on Education and Labor, which was due to mark up the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) on Wednesday of this week, has announced that it is postponing its markup. A terse statement on the Committee’s website states simply that “This markup has been postponed.”

I had posted on Wednesday about rumors of a possible slow-down on ENDA. DC insiders said there was no slow-down, and that the bill is “on track.” However, it appeared, after comparing statements made when the bill was introduced with later statements, that the House vote, initially thought to be in October or November, was now being discussed in a “December or February” timeframe. That would put the bill up before the Senate during midterm election campaigns, which could make it more difficult to gain support among conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans.

Since the House is not in session next week, the earliest date for markup would be in December. That would make it difficult to obtain a House vote on ENDA before year’s end.

More info here: http://bit.ly/22qfhl

U.S. Representative George Miller, Democrat of California’s 7th Congressional District, is the Chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, and a supporter of H.R. 3017, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He will be presiding over the mark up of the ENDA bill this Wednesday at 10 am. You can view it as the Committee’s website (see Live Webcast on the top right).

“Markup” is a meeting of the Committee to consider whether the bill should be reported back to the House floor for a vote of the full House. The markup will involve the full Committee, consisting of 47 voting members. Amendments are likely to be made at that hearing, some friendly, some not so much. There are 27 definite yes votes for ENDA on the Committee, which is a majority, so the bill expected to pass the Committee. You can see the positions of each of the Committee members here.

Once a bill is reported back to the House, it is given a number and will normally be considered when all the bills reported out before it have been considered. That could take a while. However, the House has a procedure to consider bills out of turn when it is important to the leadership. The Committee on Rules can issue a special resolution to permit this. The rules for getting the bill to the House floor for a vote via this mechanism are complex, but the bottom line is that the House could vote on the measure by Thanksgiving.

But ENDA could also be left until February, as recent comments by Congressman Frank suggest. I have also heard from someone in the know that the Senate may be in no rush to consider the bill, and might also be in slowdown mode, with markup in March and a vote in June.

That would put the ENDA Senate vote in the midst of midterm election campaigns, making support of the measure into a vulnerability for Senators up for re-election. The fragile coalition-building that has been going on in the Senate with the more conservative members of Congress is more likely to collapse in the heat of a likely-to-be very dirty, mudslinging election in which the Republicans struggle to gain a toehold in the most conservative parts of the country. That would increase the chances of ENDA dying in the Senate.

What will control the timing here, and how can we make it sooner, rather than later?

For more info, click here: http://bit.ly/18wJRN

Congressional offices are closed today for Veterans Day, so we can take a break from calling our Senators. As you know, we have been working on moving the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the U.S. Senate, where the real fight is expected to take place. We are missing 4 votes in the Senate, but the House is considered by insiders to have a solid grip on ENDA.

If hints of rumors that I’m getting are good indicators, however, then their grip may be slipping, just a tiny bit. I have heard from D.C. insiders that some of the more conservative House Democrats are beginning to raise concerns about ENDA. The right-ward shift indicated by the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races and the Maine vote makes them nervous, and they don’t want to be forced to vote on controversial legislation. This crisis of confidence is not unexpected, of course, as the same thing happened in 2007. ENDA was considered to have very good chances of passage in 2007, but when crunch time came, first-term Democrats in conservative districts came forward to express their concerns. The device used to mollify them was the removal of gender identity protections from the bill, and the bill then sailed through the House.

Could the same thing happen again? Fortunately not. It would be impossible because Representatives Frank, Baldwin and Polis have emphatically stated that they would not permit that to happen.

Wait….just kidding….these are politicians we’re talking about. Of course it could happen again, and from what I’m hearing, we’re not moving in a good direction.

Am I misinterpreting? Read on, and you tell me.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/40K4Xp

From Americablog.com

“It is not enough to look back in wonder at how far we have come; those who came before us did not strike a blow against injustice only so that we would allow injustice to fester in our time. That means removing the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding that still exist in America.” – Democratic Party Platform, 2008

President Obama promised to be a “fierce advocate” for LGBT Americans. But while making modest progress on a scant few issues, on the major campaign promises made to our community, the President and the Democratic party have failed to keep their commitments.

There has been little, if any, pressure from the White House for votes on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The administration continues to send mixed signals on the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). And we’ve been told not to expect the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to even be considered until President Obama’s second term. In the last two weeks alone, we were angered that the Obama administration continued to defend DOMA in the courts — last June, the administration’s lawyers even compared loving gay relationships to incest and pedophilia — and we were saddened that the White House and the Democratic party refused to help us defeat anti-gay ballot initiatives in Maine and Washington state. LGBT Americans, our families, and our friends kept our promise at the ballot box, we now expect President Obama to keep his in the White House.

Until the Democratic Congress passes, and President Obama signs, legislation enacting ENDA, repealing DADT, and repealing DOMA, we ask you to join us in pledging to postpone contributions to the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America, and the Obama campaign. This temporary (we hope) boycott is sponsored by AMERICAblog, and cosponsored by Daily Kos, Michelangelo Signorile, and Paul Sousa, among others.

This isn’t forever, the Democrats have it in their power to end this today — all it takes is choosing to keep their promise.

Please join us in taking the pledge, below. And find out more about why we believe this action to be important and necessary in the post below the pledge. Thank you so much for your support.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/6006/t/5410/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=727

The Senate held hearings to a nearly empty Committee chamber last week regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Only five Senators showed up, all Democrats, including the Chair of the Committee, Senator Harkin, the lead sponsor, Senator Merkley, and three other Senators, Senators Franken, Casey and Bennet. It left me with some fundamental questions about the process.

There was a stark difference between the House hearings, held in September, and the Senate hearings. The House testimony took a broad approach, full of stories by LGBT employees and statistics regarding discrimination, as well as discussions about various potential objections to the bill. The Senate hearing, to the contrary, was more narrowly focused on business and religious objections to the bill. There was one gay witness and no transgender witnesses. There were two government witnesses, a law prof, one witness from industry, and two witnesses who presented objections to the bill.

The question I have been asking myself is: Why did the Senate hearing look like this? Is it indicative of lack of interest in the bill by the Senate? Was it a sign that ENDA is going down in flames? Does the Senate care so little for transgender people that they included no transgender witnesses?

Click here to read more: http://bit.ly/4xLTWD