By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

The recent flap over the attempt to drop gender identity protections from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act pending in Congress could boost the bill’s chances and mark a turning point in how the GLBT community lobbies Congress.

When Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), with the blessing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D—Calif.), announced Sept. 26 a push for a vote on a revised version of ENDA that only prohibited employment bias based on sexual orientation—but not gender identity—an unprecedented uproar ensued.

Within days, Pelosi and Frank had to back down because of pressure from almost every GLBT organization in the country. That outrage has not died down. In less than two weeks, more than 300 GLBT groups have signed a pledge to oppose any version of ENDA that doesn’t include both sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Outside of the AIDS crisis, never in my 20 years of activism have I seen this community organize this way,” said Equality Illinois leader Rick Garcia, who was in Washington last weekend for a meeting of GLBT officials from 25 state organizations that belong to the Equality Federation.

That group flexed unprecedented power and unity to respond to the ENDA situation, working with such national groups as the National Center for Transgender Equality, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, PFLAF and Lambda Legal.

The combined response by those groups stood in stark contrast to the muted signals sent out by officials at the Human Rights Campaign, which has yet to say it would oppose a watered-down version of ENDA that excludes gender identity.

“I think we’ve seen how completely out of touch HRC is,” Garcia said. “There is great potential political power in this community. It was flexed last week, but it wasn’t flexed by HRC—it was flexed by statewide organizations. We’re going to determine what is best for our own interests, not only in our state capitals but in Washington, D.C. as well.”

Garcia and others said statewide groups belonging to the Equality Federation generated a flood of calls and messages to members of Congress urging them to support the version of ENDA with gender identity protections.

“Even some of the Congressional staffers are saying they’ve never seen anything like it,” Garcia said.

NCTE leader Mara Keisling said her group has been overwhelmed by the support.

“Only five years ago it would have been inconceivable to see what we are seeing today,” Keisling said.

Garcia said the turn of events—begun ostensibly to pass a version of ENDA that Frank and Pelosi thought would generate more Congressional support—may have had the effect of increasing support for the original, more inclusive version of ENDA.

“We have more political power now than I think anybody realized,” Garcia said.