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In case you have not yet been informed, In April of this year a revised version of the 1996 Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was introduced to the 110th United States Congress, one of the drafters being our district representative Tammy Baldwin. This bill "provides employment protections similar to those of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (also known as "Title VII"), but specifically directed to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees. The bill is different from Title VII in that it contains exemptions for religious organizations and specific provisions about employer dress codes."

The bill is loosely based off of the "gay-rights" bill from 1974, and specifically the first ENDA of 1996, which did not pass, most likely because of backfire due to the sucess of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The newest bill distinguishes itself from the others, however, because of its inclusion of provisions for the protection of transgender people in the workplace. On September 27th, "with no consultation with the community, members of Congress announced that they had decided to rush a new version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that does not include gender identity to a vote in the House of Representatives."

This new development in the bill not only denies protection to those who identify as transgender, but also those who identify as male or female but who do not conform to social norms of what is considered typically male or female. This is really unfortunate from a gay rights history standpoint, figuring the majority of gay rights developments were due to the actions and support of transgender people. The first group to discontinue work with ENDA in 1999 was the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force because of this reason, believing that sacrificing Transgender inclusivity in order to pass ENDA would be unacceptable.

So get involved! Contact your representatives and let them know how you feel about this issue! Or comment or contact qlisted@gmail.com if you want to post an entry!