Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA.) dropped a gay- and transgender-inclusive hate crimes bill, aka the Matthew Shepard Act, from the National Defense Authorization Act, bowing to pressure from House Democratic leaders. House democrats are now asking the Senate to pass a standalone hate-crimes bill. The Scottsdale, Arizona City Council […]
Retired Brigadier Gen. Keith Kerr surprised candidates at the Republican CNN/YouTube debate by revealing he is gay and asking “I want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.” He later said he felt he did not get an answer from
The U.S. Senate and House are arguing over the LGBT-inclusive hate-crimes provision attached to the 2008 defense authorization bill. The Senate approved the bill but now House Armed Services Committee leaders are concerned they do not have enough votes to pass the bill with the hate-crimes provision included. At this point, a vote on the
The much-debated Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed the U.S. House without protections based on gender-identity or expression. Its fate in the Senate is unclear, and President Bush has said he will veto it in any case, so it is unlikely ENDA of any sort will pass before the next administration (and let’s hope it’s a
House Democratic leaders put off a vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) for the second week in a row, raising further doubts about the future of the legislation. A slew of LGBT supporters of John Edwards released a letter explaining why they think he is the best candidate. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is trying
The Baldwin Amendment, which would have added gender-identity and -expression protections back into ENDA, is dead, and a vote on ENDA has been delayed. Presidential candidate Barack Obama incurred the wrath of many LGBT advocates when he scheduled an appearance with homophobic gospel singer Donnie McClurkin. Obama countered by also scheduling openly gay minister Andy
The genderless version of ENDA passed out of committee. Out Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) will attach an amendment putting gender identity and expression back in, before the bill reaches the floor. Gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), who had earlier argued for removing gender protections in order to pass the bill, is now urging his colleagues
This evening, HRC released the following statement regarding ENDA: The Human Rights Campaign has collaborated with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to craft a solution to the controversy surrounding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Today, in a meeting with HRC and other gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy groups, Speaker Pelosi took an unprecedented step and committed
There’s no ENDA news about ENDA, which means I still have lots of fodder for bad puns. The latest is that Lambda Legal has put out a statement (PDF link) in response to Representative Barney Frank’s (D-MA) criticism of Lambda’s analysis of the revised ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act). Among other things, they say Frank minimized
The ongoing ENDA story dominates the LGBT headlines right now. To follow up on my earlier post: HRC has finally issued a statement. They say it is “devastating” that the bill no longer includes gender identity, but state “The decision has been made,” and claim that: House leadership and the bill’s sponsors very firmly believe
