By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

The battle over the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act raged on this week, with virtually every GLBT advocacy group in the country—except the Human Rights Campaign—telling members of Congress to vote against a watered-down version of the bill backed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)

“We must make sure every Congress member knows what we do—that it is unprecedented for congressional leadership to move forward on a civil rights bill that does not have the support of a single organization in the community affected by the bill,” said Toni Broadus, executive director of the Equality Federation, a national group that represents statewide GLBT organizations in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

The battle erupted Sept. 27 when Frank let it be known that he and Pelosi would push for a vote on a rewritten version of ENDA, one that protects people from being fired or denied employment for being gay or lesbian but doesn’t include protections based on gender identity.

Frank and Pelosi both claim they can pass that bill, HR 3685, but not the version of ENDA that includes transgenders as well as gays and lesbians, HR 2015.

Community leaders say that strategy is flawed for several reasons—groups in such states as Illinois and New Mexico, they say, have proven in recent years that gender identity-inclusive GLBT rights bills can win legislative approval. Second, they question the rush on the part of Pelosi and Frank to pass the bill in the House now, given that Senate concurrence is thought to be unlikely and the near certainty that even if the Senate did approve it, President Bush would veto it.

Staff members representing Pelosi met with a handful of officials from Equality Federation and United ENDA, the umbrella group that sprang up to fight the less-inclusive ENDA, Oct. 12 and told them that, despite the GLBT community’s opposition, a vote would be scheduled for Oct. 18 on HR 3685 in the House Committee on Education and Labor, with a vote by the full House possible the following week. Pelosi’s staff offered to schedule a subsequent vote on the more-inclusive ENDA, HR 2015 “once enough support for it to pass has been secured.”

Most GLBT leaders expressed outrage at that position.

“The news we heard yesterday has caused us to ramp up our efforts even further,” Illinois Gender Advocates Chair Stevie Conlon said Oct. 13. “I’m disappointed. I’m saddened but we’re not going to give up.”

The head of the National Center for Transgender Equality said Pelosi should instead call for a vote first on the more-inclusive ENDA.

“Of course House leadership says they will hold a vote when there are sufficient votes, but it is our position that there were sufficient votes three weeks ago,” said NCTE’s Mara Keisling. “We have had and we do have the votes to pass HR 2015 and ask for a vote on this unified bill now.”

Meanwhile, HRC’s role in the controversy continued to come under fire. The group has issued statements saying it didn’t “assent” to the new strategy by Pelosi and Frank and would prefer that the more-inclusive ENDA pass. But alone among GLBT advocacy groups, HRC said it would not ask members of Congress to vote against the watered-down bill. More than 300 GLBT groups have signed a statement opposing the less-inclusive bill, but HRC has refused to do so.

Leaders of many groups accuse them of tacitly agreeing to the actions of Pelosi and Frank.

“My sense is that Frank did this and HRC gave the nod,” said Equality Illinois Political Director Rick Garcia. “I find it appalling that here we are—300 national and statewide groups opposing a bill…and HRC is doing nothing.”

HRC officials, in their brief statements, took credit Oct. 12 for “working behind the scenes” to get Pelosi to agree to schedule a vote on HR 2015 at some point in the future. But Keisling blasted that agreement as not a “new deal” and one brokered “without input or knowledge from NCTE or any other LGBT organization.”

Garcia also criticized HRC’s position that it won’t actively oppose the watered-down ENDA because doing so would “damage” its relationships with leaders in Congress.

“So (HRC President) Joe Solmonese says we don’t want to turn our backs on our friends on Capitol Hill,” Garcia said. “Oh, so instead you’ll turn your backs on members of our own community?”

As of press time, HRC officials had not responded to phone calls about this story.

NCTE, members of the Equality Federation and United ENDA continued this week to urge people to contact their members of Congress to oppose HR 3685, with particular emphasis on calling lawmakers on the House Education and Labor Committee. Illinois members of that committee are Reps. Danny Davis (D-Chicago), Phil Hare (D-Moline) and Judy Biggert (R-Willowbrook).