Nov 16, 2007  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

Among the 35 House Republicans who last week voted to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which bars workplace discrimination against gays, were several GOP members who did not support gay issues last session.

Republicans from Louisiana, Ohio and Virginia were among the 13 who received Human Rights Campaign’s lowest congressional scorecard rating in 2006, yet voted Nov. 7 to support ENDA.

Such support was up from May, when four Republicans with zero ratings supported the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which helps prosecute violent hate crimes that target gays.

Patrick Sammon, president of the gay partisan group Log Cabin Republicans, said the votes demonstrate how GOP attitudes toward gay issues are changing.

“The people that we see on this vote is a sign of the progress we’re making,” he said. “It really is uncharted territory for some of these folks, and we appreciate the strong support they gave this bill.”

Sammon said Republican support for ENDA also shows some GOP congressmen are aiming to win over moderate voters next year.

“You have folks who are looking ahead to 2008 and they see the landscape is going to be very difficult and they need to reach out to moderate voters,” he said. “This is one issue to do that on.”

Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University government professor, agreed.

“This helps them at election time,” he said. “It’s a minimal kind of support, but it’s still an issue that resonates in American culture.”

Wilcox also said it’s interesting that supportive House Republicans “see the risk now as opposing ENDA,” rather than “ticking off the religious conservatives.”

“I think it’s the change in American society about issues like this,” he said. “It’s becoming harder and harder to justify a vote against ENDA.”

Among the Republicans with zero scorecard ratings that supported ENDA were Reps. John Campbell of California, Tom Davis of Virginia, Phil English of Pennsylvania, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Vito Fossella of New York, Randy Kuhl of New York, Jim McCrery of Louisiana, John McHugh of New York, Candice Miller of Michigan, Jon Porter of Nevada, Jim Ramstad of Minnesota, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Patrick Tiberi of Ohio.

English, Kuhl, McCrery and Porter also backed the hate crimes measure.

Sammon said Republicans who supported ENDA, which passed the House 235-184, did so knowing that the legislation was tenable among the GOP base.

A survey partly underwritten by Log Cabin found earlier this year that 77 percent of Republicans believe an employer should not have the right to fire an employee based solely on his or her sexual orientation.

The survey of 2,000 self-identified Republicans, conducted in May and June by pollster Tony Fabrizio, also found that 67 percent of social conservatives don’t believe an employer should be able to fire someone for being gay.

Sammon said the information helped convince several GOP lawmakers they could safely support ENDA.

“And without those Republican votes, this bill wouldn’t have passed,” he said. “You need votes from both political parties to advance gay initiatives, and Log Cabin is doing a lot of the difficult work to get Republicans on board.”

But a conservative activist said gay Republicans shouldn’t consider the ENDA supporters among their permanent allies.

Peter LaBarbara, president of the anti-gay Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, said some Republicans likely supported ENDA because opposition to the measure was limited.

“The problem from our side, call it the pro-family side, was there was less grassroots action on ENDA than in years past,” he said. “If there’s grassroots action, they’re not going to make those votes.”

LaBarbara said conservative activists are already moving to kill ENDA in the Senate and curtail Republican support for all future gay-related initiatives.

Sammon, however, said the GOP support for ENDA gives gay Republicans “some good momentum” going forward.

“It’s a sign of the progress we’re making as a movement,” he said, “and it’s a sign of the progress Log Cabin is making within the party.”

Further analysis of last week’s ENDA vote shows freshmen Democrats supported the measure as strongly as the party’s elder statesmen.

Among the 43 House Democrats serving their first terms, 38 voted for the measure, whereas three voted against it and two did not vote.

Reps. Yvette Clarke of New York, Nick Lampson of Texas and Heath Shuler of North Carolina voted nay, while Reps. Bruce ...