Barney Frank is holding a press conference right now about ENDA being reintroduced with over a hundred cosponsors. It's trans-inclusive and has a real chance of passing the House, but only if we push for it to get through.
ENDA is the "Employment Non Discrimination Act," a bill that would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression in employment. In 30 states it's still perfectly legal to fire someone because they're gay, lesbian, or bisexual,and it's still legal to discriminate against transgender people in 38, and this bill seeks to change that at the federal level. It'll also be the first antidiscrimination bill to mention LGBT people at the federal level, and is very popular as 89% of Americans support such protections for gay and lesbian people, and 65% support them for transgender people.
After a few weeks of asking/telling/demanding the Obama Administration to move forward with LGBT legislation, we now have our chance to help move a piece of legislation forward and prove our guff as a constituency. DOMA repeal has been put off at least until next year, and it's not going to happen if we aren't engaged and committed enough to get ENDA through. If we don't have it together enough to get a bill passed that says that we should have the right to work, then how are we going to get a bill passed that says our relationships should be recognized by the federal government the same as straight ones?
First, join the Inclusive ENDA Facebook group set up to help pass the bill. You'll also find an excellent, constantly-updating spreadsheet of where our Representatives are on ENDA as grassroots activists from all over the country phone in and ask them what they think.
Second, contact your US rep to ask them to support the ENDA and to find out how he or she is going to vote. When you find out, email ENDAcampaign@gmail.com and let those people know what you heard.
Third, sign up to visit your House repso that the Inclusive ENDA campaign can put pressure on undecided representatives this summer before the bill gets voted on this fall.
You can absolutely help out if you're straight. If you believe in this legislation, please take the time to call and ask your representative to support the ENDA.
In 2007 we were caught with our pants down as we didn't even have the votes to get an inclusive ENDA through the House. It divided the community as some people advocated dropping transgender protections, and most of the rest of the LGBT activist community opposed it.
This year we're going to take that option off the table by making sure we have support for the trans-inclusive version of the bill before it comes up for a vote. We have about three months to do this, so let's get to work!