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‘This schedule will allow proponents of the legislation to continue their discussions with members in the interest of passing the broadest possible bill,’ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in announcing a delay in voting on ENDA. Pelosi is the featured speaker at this weekend’s HRC National Dinner, which trans activists plan to picket.
(Photo by Susan Walsh/AP)
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
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their congressional colleagues told them they had not been hearing from constituents in support of ENDA.
“I would say there is significant evidence that the community’s activity over the last week has had a significant impact on Congress,” Baldwin said. “I want to make sure that this continues unabated.”
This week, Frank said it would be up to the gay and transgender leaders who oppose the two-bill strategy to generate the support needed to pass a trans-inclusive ENDA. He said that from talking to his House colleagues, it appeared unlikely that the votes needed to pass such a measure could be lined up over the next few weeks.
But if a consensus emerges among the gay and transgender groups in favor of an up or down vote on a trans-inclusive ENDA, Frank said he would not oppose such a vote.
“Last week, they told me pull it back,” Frank said. “We’d rather hold off on a vote.”
Frank said he and other House Democratic leaders believe it would be harmful in the long run to lose a vote on the transgender question because lawmakers who vote against it would be less likely to change their votes later once they are on record opposing it.
“No one wants to be labeled a flip-flopper,” he said.
Frank and HRC’s Solmonese said they also worry that once marginally supportive House members see that a vote on a trans-inclusive ENDA is losing, they are likely to “jump ship,” causing the measure to lose by a far larger margin.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said gay and transgender groups throughout the country were seizing on Pelosi’s two- to three-week postponement of a vote on ENDA to build support for a trans-inclusive bill.
“I’m feeling very optimistic,” she said. “Our allies on the Hill are hearing from people. The LGBT community is really motivated in letting members of Congress know how they feel about this, that they want a single, unified bill.”
The row over ENDA began last week when Pelosi and Frank disclosed that an internal Democratic “whip” count of House Democrats showed there was not enough support to pass the legislation if it was trans-inclusive.
The version of the bill introduced earlier this year calls for banning job discrimination based on sexual orientation, which is defined to include gays and bisexuals, and gender identity, which covers transgender persons.
Frank said the whip count showed that a minority of Democrats opposing a transgender provision in the bill would give Republicans enough votes to kill a trans-inclusive bill.
With Pelosi&
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