Jan 23, 2009  |  By: Chris Johnson  | COMMENTS     

Activists are working with lawmakers in the 111th Congress to take up and pass legislation that would grant new rights and protections to gay Americans.

The legislation that sources agree would be taken up first is the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would allow the federal government to prosecute hate crimes targeting gays.

As in the last Congress, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the longest-serving openly gay lawmaker, is expected to introduce the legislation in the House and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) is expected to push the bill in the Senate.

Kennedy, who has brain cancer and suffered a seizure Tuesday at a Senate luncheon in honor of President Obama, was later reported to be recovering.

In the last session of Congress, the House approved a hate crimes bill, but the Senate took no action on the legislation. Bills that only pass through one chamber of Congress must be reintroduced in the next session if they are to become law.

The Human Rights Campaign has called on Obama to work with Congress to pass hate crimes legislation within six months of his tenure.

Frank told the Blade on Jan. 16 that he expects the House to pass hate crimes legislation in the spring and Congress will have the bill on Obama’s desk by summer. The lawmaker said Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), chair of the Judiciary Committee, is taking the lead on “getting a list of sponsors right now.”

Becky Dansky, federal legislative director for the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, said hate crimes legislation would be the “first to move” among gay-related bills. She said the bill would come up in the next couple of months in the House, but the timetable in the Senate is less clear.

Dansky said there “may or may not” be hearings on hate crimes legislation this session because the bill has been around for a long time and “people know this bill — they know what it does.”

“There is the potential that the new attorney general or a representative from the White House may want to go on the record testifying in support of the bill, so that could potentially lead to a hearing,” she said.

Dansky said she’s “pretty confident” that there are enough votes in Congress to pass the legislation, adding that the roadblock for the last eight years has been “we haven’t had a president who would sign.”

Trans-inclusive ENDA possible

Also on the docket for gay activists is a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Like the hate crimes legislation, Frank is expected to introduce the House version of ENDA and Kennedy is expected to introduce the Senate version. In the last session of Congress, the House approved a gay-only version of ENDA, but the Senate took no action on the legislation.

Dansky said she expects ENDA to be introduced in the spring and passed by Congress this fall, although she said the Senate would wait to see what House does with ENDA before acting on it. Frank also predicted Congress would approve ENDA in the fall.

Dansky said she didn’t know whether hearings would happen with ENDA and that activists are “not talking about them at this point.”

Frank, who two years ago was criticized for advancing the gay-only ENDA, said the “key question” is whether lawmakers “have the votes for a fully inclusive bill.”

“We introduced it without checking, frankly,” he said. “We assumed we had it. We didn’t have it.”
He said efforts toward passing ENDA would be helped by the addition of 21 more Democrats in Congress.

“That’s not 21 more votes for transgender-inclusive [legislation], but it’s at least a dozen, which helps,” he said. “And then plus the various coalitions, including transgender groups are doing what wasn’t done previously, which is lobbying member by member.”

Dansky said “education on the grassroots level” would be key to informing members of Congress about the meaning of the gender identity language.

She said lawmakers are already “meeting trans people in their district or the families of trans individuals or allies … who are supportive of a trans-inclusive bill.”

Different views on ‘Don’t Ask’

The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which prohibits open gays from serving in the military, is another priority for gay activists in this session of Congress.

Robert Kellar, a spokesperson for Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), said the lawmaker intends to introduce legislation in the House that would repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and replace it with a non-discrimination policy — similar to the bill she introduced last session — within the next couple of ...