 |
 |
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.” |
|
| |
| |
|
|
| | |
HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
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 ...
|
