Tag: ENDA

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Sen. Marco Rubio opposes ENDA as “special protections based on orientation”

When asked if he planned to support ENDA should it come up for a vote soon, Sen. Marco Rubio said  “I haven’t read the legislation,” Rubio told Scott Keyes of ThinkProgress.  “By and large I think all Americans should be protected but I’m not for any special protections based on orientation.”

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/gaysouthflorida/2013/06/video-sen-marco-rubio-r-fla-on-enda-im-not-for-any-special-protections-based-on-orientation.html#storylink=cpy

So, “all Americans” unless you are gay?

Freedom to Work, the national LGBT group supporting ENDA and workplace nondiscrimination, has condemned Rubio for his position:

“Freedom to Work condemns Senator Rubio’s retrograde stance against basic workplace protections for gay and transgender Americans,” said Tico Almeida, a first-generation Cuban-American who is President of the LGBT organization Freedom to Work.

“Like Rubio’s family, my parents also abandoned Communist Cuba because America is a place where every individual should be empowered to build a successful career based on talent and hard work rather than getting held back because of irrelevant characteristics like sexual orientation or gender identity.

“It’s just plain sad that Rubio is mimicking the kind of anti-gay discriminatory positions that the Castro regime took during decades past. It seems the Senator has learned too little about American values.”

More at the Miami Herald.

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First Lady heckled at Washington, DC fund-raiser

First Lady Michelle Obama was confronted by a protester tonight at a private DNC fundraiser in Washington, D.C.

Ellen Sturtz, 56, a lesbian activist, interrupted her remarks to demand that President Obama sign an anti-discrimination executive order.

The First Lady apparently walked over to address Sturtz eye to eye, according to witnesses.
“One of the things that I don’t do well is this,” she said to applause from most of the guests, according to a White House transcript. “Do you understand?”

Sturtz was escorted out of the room. Sturtz said in an interview later she was stunned by Obama’s response.

“She came right down in my face,” Sturtz said. “I was taken aback.”

“I said I want your husband to sign the executive order,” Sturtz said. “Her husband could sign this order tonight and protect 22 percent of the work force in this country.”

I have to say – Sturtz was “taken aback” that the First Lady walked over to her eye to eye? So, Sturtz was hoping to have an anonymous, well-distanced protest?

The proposed executive order that prompted Sturtz’s outburst would prohibit federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. That would be a good thing. The First Lady, however, is not the person to protest.

I believe the President signing an executive order to outlaw LGBT discrimination in the workplace by federal contractors is a good thing. I do. But protesting the First Lady isn’t the place to get the message across.

(source)

UPDATE – CNN has video of the heckling and Mrs. Obama’s reaction:

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Sen. Harry Reid on ENDA

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid – yep, MY senator – has long supported legislation to ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

However, yesterday he revealed a more personal reason for his support.

“My niece is a lesbian,” Reid said during a sit-down with reporters. “She’s a school teacher. Her employment shouldn’t be affected with that. We should have a law that says that, not just the good graces of wherever you work.”

Although she passed on making any pubic statements herself, Reid’s spokesman says she was fine with Reid making her sexual orientation public.

Reid spoke about being approached by the HRC in the 1990s for support regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The bill would prohibit employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

The bill has been reintroduced in several Congresses and has gotten some hearings, but hasn’t had a vote on the House or Senate floor since Nov. 2007, when it passed the House by 235-184. ENDA was introduced in this Congress by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) in the House and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in the Senate.

Reid said there’s “a chance” he’ll bring up ENDA for a vote this year, noting that he had a meeting about it just last week. He wondered aloud why it doesn’t have broad support to pass.

“It’s hard to comprehend that we haven’t done a better job,” he said.

(source)

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Employment Non-Discrimination Act to be reintroduced in US House Thursday

According to the Washington Blade, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is set to be reintroduced this Thursday:

The Senate version of the bill will have five original sponsors: Merkley and lesbian Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) will be two Democrats, Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) will be two Republicans and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will round out the quintet.

The number of original co-sponsors in the House remains to be seen. Conchita Cruz, a Polis spokesperson, said many House members have told her boss “they want to make sure that they are included” as original co-sponsors.

The bill will be reintroduced in the House by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), the most senior openly gay member of the chamber, who’s taking over the legislation now that former Rep. Barney Frank has retired. In the Senate, the legislation will be reintroduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). The lawmakers’ offices confirmed they would introduce ENDA concurrently on Thursday.

Read more at the Washington Blade.

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Why an executive order banning LGBT discrimination is a big, $250 billion deal

In lieu of passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which seem out of reach at this time, LGBT advocates have asked President Obama to at the very least issue an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Some states with large federal contracts have protections on a state level already, but check the graphic above – all those orange states offer no protections while taking in billions in federal contracts.

The White House has repeatedly said that a legislative solution that would affect all employers is the best solution for the problem. White House folks say an executive order could be repealed by the next President.

But with the political priorities what they are today, why not issue the executive order?

From Buzzfeed:

Nearly $250 billion in federal contracts given out in the last fiscal year went to contractors operating in states where the companies could fire a worker solely because the person is gay, lesbian or bisexual, a new report has found. A group of organizations that have been urging President Obama to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers will be releasing the new report Tuesday as a step in increasing pressure on the president to act during tax time.

The report, a copy of which was provided to BuzzFeed Monday night, also has found that nearly $300 billion in federal contracts were given out in states that have no specific state-level protections against anti-transgender discrimination.

Although federal government employees are protected from anti-LGBT discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, there is currently no protection for employees of federal contractors against sexual orientation discrimination and protections against gender identity discrimination are unclear. And while most of the top federal contractors have policies against LGBT discrimination, the report aims to draw attention to the limits employees would have in states without legal protections.

As Joe Jervis at JoeMyGod points out, even though an executive order would only affect companies that do business with the federal government, it’s a start.  A start with $250B in federal money attached to it.

(via JMG)

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110 members of Congress ask President Obama to issue executive order as ENDA stopgap

Last year, 72 members of the House of Representatives wrote to President Obama asking him to issue an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating in the workplace based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Today, 110 members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama asking for the same action.

In lieu of the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, those members of Congress are asking the President to at least put in place a stopgap measure to end workplace discrimination against members of the LGBT community.

From the Advocate:

On Wednesday 110 Congress members wrote, “We remain committed to passage of the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would ban employment discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. However, you can take action today to help prevent these types of unfair labor practices and to lay the groundwork for passage of ENDA.”

At least 16.5 million Americans would be protected under the proposed executive order, according to the Williams Institute, as federal contractors are one of the largest employer subsets in the country. But currently, it is legal to fire people on the basis of their sexual orientation in 29 states, and legal to fire people on the basis of their gender identity or expression in 34 states. Because of this, approximately 43% of LGB people, and 90% of transgender people have experienced some sort of workplace discrimination.

“With a majority of American workers living in states that have not passed laws granting LGBT employees legal protections from workplace discrimination, an executive order will provide broad protections that will level the playing field,” the Congress members wrote.

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Sen. Tom Harkin promises movement on ENDA this year

Senator Tom Harkin, the Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, promised during remarks this morning at an event at the Center for American Progress that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will “move thie year.”

ENDA has clearly been a huge concern for LGBT activists for years and the glacial pace of the bill through Congress has been frustrating to say the least.

Here’s hoping we see SOMETHING happen this year.

(via Towleroad)

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Second GOP Congressman announces support to repeal DOMA

Rep. Richard Hanna

Rep. Richard Hanna of New York declared his support for legislation to repeal the 1996 law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples. The announcement makes him the second Republican lawmaker to back the measure.

Hanna, a first-term incumbent from upstate New York, announced his co-sponsorship of the Respect for Marriage Act in a statement provided to The Advocate.

“New York State allows all its citizens the freedom to marry the person they love,” he said. “Under the Tenth Amendment, the federal government has a Constitutional responsibility to respect New York’s right to set its own laws. It’s my job to see that it does.

“It is right to extend equal protection under federal law to all couples who are legally married without infringing upon religious freedom and beliefs,” Hanna continued. “This legislation does not tell states who can be married or who must be treated as married, nor does it require any religious institution to violate their own convictions.

“I respect the deeply held beliefs on both sides of this issue,” he said. “The simple fact remains that the federal government has a responsibility to ensure all legally married couples are treated equally under federal law – and this bill would achieve that proper standard.”

His announcement continues the sea change taking place around the measure that passed both houses of Congress by large majorities 16 years ago and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Hanna joins Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, the first Republican lawmaker to back DOMA repeal.

More at the Advocate.

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ENDA unlikely to see legislative action in next Congress

“I hope to continue to increase the number of sponsors of ENDA in the next session. I am confident we will be able to do that.

“We still face opposition from Republican leadership, both in the committee and within the wider House, and their opposition makes it very unlikely that we will be able to bring it to the floor even if we’re able to get a majority of members to commit to support it.”

– Rep. Jared Polis, confirming to Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner that ENDA has little chance of passage in the next Congress.