Transgender protesters and their allies picket at Saturday’s HRC National Dinner. They denounced a decision by HRC’s board to not actively oppose a version of ENDA that excludes trans protections. (Blade photo by Henry Linser)
The fate of at least two more gay-related bills pending in Congress in addition to ENDA and the hate crimes bill is uncertain and they may have to wait until after the 2008 election, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the Blade this week.
Pelosi said she supports pending legislation to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays in the military and the Uniting American Families Act, which would allow foreign nationals who are domestic partners of U.S. citizens to receive the same immigration rights to live in the U.S. as foreigners who marry American citizens.
“Let’s see how we do on ENDA and hate crimes,” Pelosi said.
She noted that President Bush and many Republican members of Congress have said they favor keeping “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in place. And she said all immigration-related bills in recent years have been bogged down in controversy, making it difficult to generate support for any immigration measure.
“Our country has to move on those issues,” she said. “We have to do it when the timing is right and we have to lay down the foundation for them.”
The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal bill and the Uniting American Families Act are among a list of 10 bills, including ENDA and the hate crimes measure, that gay advocacy groups have been asking Congress to consider for the past several sessions.
One of the bills that has languished in committee under the previous Republican-controlled Congress calls for providing health insurance benefits to the domestic partners of federal employees. Another would change the IRS code to allow domestic partners of employers that offer partner benefits to receive the same tax exemption on those benefits as married spouses. Under the current IRS law, domestic partners must pay taxes on employer partner benefits as if they were regular income while married spouses receive those “spousal” benefits tax-free.
The Early Treatment of HIV Act, which has been pushed by gay and AIDS activists, would allow low-income people with HIV to receive Medicaid benefits before developing full-blown AIDS, with the aim of keeping them healthy for a longer period of time.
“I’ve been on that for years because it makes sense,” Pelosi said. “Early intervention is very important, so hopefully we can move ahead with that.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she strongly disagrees with calls by some gay and transgender activists that Congress should refuse to vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act unless it includes transgender protections.
Pelosi, during an exclusive interview with the Blade Tuesday, said she continues to work behind the scenes to push for a trans-inclusive ENDA but said it was uncertain whether there are enough votes to pass such a bill any time soon.
“While we are having this debate, while we are trying to be as inclusive as possible, there are those who are trying to undermine any bill,” Pelosi said, referring to the anti-gay conservative groups that have long opposed ENDA. “And we have to win that fight.”
She said support appears solid for a version of a bill that bans job discrimination based on sexual orientation, which includes gays, lesbians and bisexuals. But she said that as of two weeks ago, there did not appear to be enough votes in the House to pass a version of the bill banning employment discrimination based on gender identity, which would cover transgender people.
“So we have to calibrate the approach we take,” Pelosi said. “What is to be gained? What would you say, 20 million people or more would have discrimination ended in the workplace?” she said, referring to a sexual orientation-only bill. “Or not have a bill so that we can fight another day for an entire bill or fight another day for a piece of the bill?”
Pelosi’s comments came at a time when the leaders of more than 150 state and national gay and transgender advocacy organizations have signed a statement demanding that members of Congress oppose any version of ENDA that does not include protections for transgender people.
Led by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the groups last week launched a nationwide campaign called United ENDA, which they said was aimed at ensuring that trans protections remain in any version of ENDA considered by Congress.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization, came under fire from a number of activists associated with the United ENDA effort after HRC declined to sign on. HRC President Joe Solmonese said HRC strongly supports a trans-inclusive ENDA and does not support a sexual orientation-only version of the bill.
But Solmonese said HRC would not call on members of Congress to vote against a sexual orientation-only version, saying to do so would jeopardize the group’s longstanding relationship with members of Congress who have supported gay rights.
Speaking from her office at the U.S. Capitol, Pelosi told the Blade of her and her Democratic colleagues’ deep disappointment in having to compromise with the Senate recently by agreeing to remove health insurance coverage for children of legal immigrants from a bill to renew the federally funded State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP.
The compromise bill, which President Bush has since vetoed, called for increasing the number of children covered by health insurance from 6.6 million to 10 million. Supporters say they are hopeful that Republicans will join Democrats to override the president’s veto.
“It broke my heart watching these immigrant children not get health care,” Pelosi said. “But this is what could pass. They couldn’t pass it in the Senate. So to have a bill, we had to say, ‘OK, if we get SCHIP then we’ll fight another day for the immigrant children.’”
She noted that both the House and Senate earlier this year passed a hate crimes bill with protections for gays and transgender people after earlier versions of the bill in previous years passed separately without transgender language. The earlier versions died because both bodies did not approve them together in a single session of Congress.
“We never get everything,” she said. “If we went into Congress saying all or nothing on all of our bills, we might as well just go home because it doesn’t always happen all at once.”
Pelosi said she remains hopeful that her decision two weeks ago to delay a House vote on a sexual orientation-only bill would give gay and transgender rights groups more time to persuade hesitant House members to back a trans-inclusive ENDA.
She said wavering House members have told her and other House Democratic leaders that they have not heard much, if anything, from ENDA supporters in their home districts. At the same time, many of these members have heard and continue to hear from those who oppose any version of ENDA, she said.
“I don’t know how anybody can make an argument for discrimination,” Pelosi said. “But the realities of life are none of us has done our job thoroughly enough in the districts of these members.”
She said gay Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), the only openly gay members of Congress, have made “an excellent presentation” to their fellow House members on why a trans-inclusive ENDA should be supported.
“We’re going to do the best we can,” she said. “We have to be very optimistic that we can change some votes. Lobbying Congress, though, does not mean finding the three biggest champions for your issue and banging them over the head.”
Although she did not say so directly, Pelosi appeared to be referring to gay and transgender activists who have criticized her, Frank and other Democrats for raising the issue of a vote on a sexual orientation-only ENDA if the trans-inclusive version could not pass.
“We’re trying to say to people talk to them where they’re listening — in their districts,” Pelosi said. “These advocates have to be coming to their districts. They can’t expect it to happen here if it’s not happening in the districts.”
30 votes short
On Wednesday, Frank announced he would hold a news conference on Capitol Hill Thursday (after the Blade’s print deadline) to address his concerns about activists’ demands for an “all or nothing” version of ENDA.
“The subject will be the obligation of the Democratic Party to govern responsibly when confronted by a demand to react emotionally by a deeply committed, single-issue faction insisting on putting ideological purity over achievable advancement of our values,” a Wednesday press release issued by Frank’s office said.
Frank told the Blade Wednesday it would be a “very grave error” to kill ENDA this year because it could not pass with a transgender provision but likely could pass with sexual orientation protections.
He said an official “whip” count of Democratic House members nearly two weeks ago found that the ability to pass a transgender-inclusive version of ENDA would fall at least 30 votes short. Frank said that if Democrats brought a trans-inclusive bill up for an actual vote, it would likely lose by about 50 votes because more members would likely switch their votes to no once they saw the bill was headed to defeat.
Pelosi avoided numbers when asked by the Blade for her assessment of the whip count.
“Well, I didn’t have any confidence to go forward,” she said in discussing a trans-inclusive version of the bill. “I don’t mind making a fight and not winning but I want to make a good showing. I don’t want to show weakness on this issue.
“I would rather show great strength on gay, lesbian, bisexual — as a sign of strength that more is coming — than show weakness by having all of them in there and not having a solid vote, even if the vote fell a little short,” she said.
“Hate crimes [legislation] and this are the two big civil rights issues in our country,” Pelosi said. “I appreciate the patience and the satisfaction and the relentlessness of those who want everything or nothing.”
She said the approval by both the House and Senate of a trans-inclusive hate crimes bill this year confirms her belief in the benefit of a two-step approach to passing ENDA rather than the all or nothing approach.
“I would die if we didn’t have any bill,” she said of ENDA. “There’s just so much to gain. If we had no bill, there’s so much to lose.”
Patrick Sammon, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, the national gay GOP group, said Log Cabin, like HRC, would not oppose a version of ENDA that does not include transgender protections. But he said his group would prefer that trans protections remain in the bill and criticized House Democratic leaders for giving up “too soon” on the transgender issue.
“It’s a shame the Democrats have made such a mess out of this,” he said. “They clearly did not get enough input from the community. I feel the Democratic leadership surrendered too quickly,” creating “divisions in the community,” he said.
Frank called Sammon’s comments an “opportunistic, partisan position” that ignores the fact that nearly all of the congressional opponents of any version of ENDA are Republicans.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, has said advocates for a sexual orientation-only version of ENDA should not fear a close vote or even a losing vote on a trans-inclusive ENDA.
Keisling and other advocates for a trans-inclusive bill note that most experts on Capitol Hill believe even a sexual orientation-only version would likely lose in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster led by Republican opponents. Keisling and others also note that President Bush would likely veto any version of ENDA should it clear the House and Senate, with supporters lacking the votes to override a veto.
Thus, why not take a chance on a vote on the trans-inclusive version or put off a vote until after the 2008 elections, when Democrats hope to elect more gay- and trans-supportive lawmakers?
Frank and Pelosi have said approval by the House of a sexual orientation-only version of ENDA would improve chances of passing a trans-inclusive version in later years, even if the bill fails in the Senate or is vetoed by Bush.
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Bobbi C. on 10/17/078:16 AM:
Regretably, the democratic leadership is quickly becoming a watered down version of the republican leadership of the past decade in all matters including rights. This brand of 'leadership' will not wash with the voting public for very long and they will find themselves (democrats) once again in the minority after the next election. They must take a stand on principle and use the bully pulpit to pass a trans inclusive ENDA bill but judging from their track record I highly doubt they will.
Lori Buckwalter on 10/12/076:59 PM:
Trans people have so much to learn before we can converse in parity with those who ponder our fate…
We must learn not to expect to work or be seen in public.
We must learn how to hide our anger when we are betrayed.
We must learn to accept indignity as our natural lot.
We must learn to doubt our own sanity when we think ourselves whole.
We must learn to bleed properly for the satisfaction of violent bigots.
We must learn to hate ourselves.
But then again, maybe not...
kellib on 10/12/076:36 PM:
The Pelosi,Frank political express is continuing to steam roll over 11/2 million people. In frank's speach he says"they are making it impossable to govern" They meaning us. And inpossable to govern meaning he can't cram lies down our throats. Pelosi is lieing. She has been deluged with outrage.They want to sacrifice the weakest to claim political amunition for the presidental race. SHAME ON THEM!
tribble3@verizon.net on 10/12/072:24 PM:
I would like to refer Madam Speaker to a speech Barbara Jordan (who no doubt paved the way for Pelosi to be in her current position) delivered in 1976 @ Dem Nat Convention,
"First, we believe in equality for all and privileges for none. This is a belief- This is a belief that each American, regardless of background, has equal standing in the public forum -all of us. Because -- Because we believe this idea so firmly, we are an inclusive rather than an exclusive party. Let everybody come.
