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Members of the Democratic caucus are taking on The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill which would provide Federal job protections for gay and transgender workers. Like Don't Ask Don't Tell, ENDA is a hot button topic on the hill, and has little to no chance of being passed before November. Thankfully, some representatives are willing to fight for what's right.
Members of the Democratic caucus are taking on The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill which would provide Federal job protections for gay and transgender workers, the Washington Post is reporting.
If they can find enough support, they will take it to the floor for debate. However, the bill has a lot of congressmen and women on edge as support for the legislation might compromise re-election bids this fall. In fact, most doubt that it will even gain enough support to make the floor at all.
Like "don't ask, don't tell," ENDA is a hot button topic on the hill, and has little to no chance of being passed before November. Thankfully, some representatives are willing to fight for what's right.
The bill would provide Federal job protections based on sexual orientation and sexual identity, and is being written by one of Rep. Barney Frank's (Mass.) top aides, an aide who is transgender. Frank, the sponsor of the bill, is only one of three openly gay House members serving in Congress.
"I feel just as strongly about [the ENDA bill] as I felt back in the '60s about civil rights legislation," House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (S.C.) told the Post. "I do believe we must treat this as something that is a problem that ought not be there. . . . I know what it is to walk into the room and be treated with disdain only because you look different."
The supporters of the bill are targeting the southern "Blue Dog Democrats," Independents and Moderate Republicans. Some of which have openly shunned the idea of including "transgender language" within the bill. Rep. John Campbell's (Calif.) spokesman is quoted as saying, "if the transgender language is included, that's just too far."
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