Oct 05, 2007  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) this week postponed plans to bring a revised version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, to a vote in the House without protection for transgender persons, following a groundswell of opposition from gay activists.

Pelosi’s action came after representatives of more than 90 prominent national and state gay and transgender rights organizations presented her and all members of the House with a petition expressing strong opposition to any version of ENDA that does not include transgender protections.

“We ask you to keep working with us on an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that protects everyone in our community and to oppose any substitute legislation that leaves some of us behind,” the petition states.

Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders said they strongly support a trans-inclusive ENDA but they determined through an internal vote count of House Democrats that such a bill would be defeated on the House floor. Rather than sacrifice the entire bill, their initial response was to move forward with a “sexual orientation only” version of ENDA this year and push for a separate bill protecting transgender persons over the next few years.

Last week, Gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) took the lead in advancing that strategy by introducing a sexual orientation version of the bill, which covers gays and bisexuals, along with a second bill prohibiting job discrimination based on gender identity, which covers transgender persons. Frank called for a quick committee hearing on the transgender bill but acknowledged it didn’t have enough support to merit a vote this year.

Frank released a four-page statement in support of the two-bill strategy, saying he believes approving a sexual orientation version of ENDA this year would lead to the approval by Congress of transgender protections sooner than through what he called an “all or nothing” strategy proposed by the groups signing the petition.

The list of groups opposing a non-trans-inclusive ENDA was said to have exceeded 140 as of late Wednesday, drawing attention to a sharp rift between many of the nation’s leading gay and transgender groups and Democratic leaders in Congress who have long been their allies.

Signs that the rift had spilled over into the gay rights movement surfaced this week when the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay advocacy group, declined to join the other groups in calling on Congress to reject the sexual orientation-only ENDA.

In a statement Tuesday, HRC said its board voted to reaffirm the group’s 2004 position “not to support ENDA” without transgender protections.

But HRC President Joe Solmonese angered transgender activists and leaders of many of the other gay groups when he added that while HRC isn’t supporting a sexual orientation-only bill, the group will not “encourage members of Congress to vote against” such a bill.

Solmonese told the Blade that HRC would put itself in an untenable position to completely break from gay-supportive Democratic leaders in Congress should those leaders decide to move forward with a sexual orientation-only bill.

HRC’s decision prompted the only transgender member of the group’s board to resign in protest. Transgender activist Donna Ross, in an open letter, said HRC’s position amounted to an endorsement of a “divisive strategy” to separate transgender persons from the gay and lesbian community.

“I cannot align myself with an organization that I can’t trust to stand up for all of us,” Ross said in her letter.

In a separate statement, HRC board co-chairs Lawrie Demorest and Henry Robin said HRC was “deeply saddened” over Ross’s resignation. “We respect Donna’s decision and wish her only the best,” they said.

On Thursday, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition announced plans to picket HRC’s annual National Dinner Saturday night in Washington.

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), the only open lesbian in Congress, said she agrees with Pelosi’s assessment that Democrats don’t have enough votes to pass a trans-inclusive version of ENDA. But Baldwin has told gay leaders she informed Pelosi that she favors taking a vote on a trans-inclusive bill because it would inform the community of which members support or oppose the legislation.

Baldwin told the Blade this week that the controversy that erupted last week over whether the House should vote on a sexual orientation-only bill appears to have prompted more gays and transgender persons to contact their members of Congress in support of a trans-inclusive ENDA. Baldwin and Frank have said that prior to last week, many of ...