The Washington Blade is reporting that Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) is ready to take another shot at passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act during the 2008 session of Congress.
“Although Sen. Kennedy strongly supports protections against job discrimination for transgender workers, inaction won’t advance justice for anyone, and will just make it harder to pass any version of ENDA in 2009,” said Kennedy spokesperson Melissa Wagoner.
“We will most likely work to move the House-passed bill, rather than introducing a separate Senate bill,” Wagoner told the Blade by e-mail. “Because the same legislation must pass both the House and Senate, now that the House has acted, the only realistic way to get a bill to the president’s desk this Congress is to have the Senate pass the House bill.”
Asked if Kennedy thought ENDA could pass the Senate in an election year, Wagoner said, “Yes, if enough Republicans support the bill to give us a realistic chance of breaking a filibuster.”
Unfortunately, this came at a time when it appears the HRC tripped over itself again.
The statement this week by Kennedy’s office that Kennedy plans to back a gay-only version of ENDA comes after news surfaced last month that a high-level official at the Human Rights Campaign suggested a vote on ENDA would not take place until 2009.
News of the HRC official’s comment came in a memo that was leaked to transgender blogger Marti Abernathey, who published it on her Transadvocate blog on Dec. 4.
The five-page internal memo, written by HRC national field director Marty Rouse, proposed that HRC adopt a series of actions and policy initiatives to “win back” the confidence of the transgender community. Rouse acknowledged in his memo that HRC lost the confidence of transgender leaders and that community’s rank-and-file members when HRC changed its position of unequivocally opposing a gay-only version of ENDA to one of “not opposing” such a measure.
Rouse’s memo calls for HRC to redouble its efforts to build support for a trans-inclusive version of ENDA by providing logistical and financial support for transgender groups in states where opposition to transgender rights is strong.
“HRC has the political and financial clout to do all this,” Rouse said in the memo. “We have two years to prepare for the next volley in Congress. I think this would be a good start.”
By saying HRC has two years to accomplish his proposals before Congress next considers ENDA, Rouse created a stir within some gay activist circles because it raised questions about whether HRC had inside knowledge from congressional leaders that ENDA would be put on the shelf until at least 2009.
Brad Luna, HRC’s director of communications, confirmed the authenticity of the Rouse memo but said it was a draft proposal that did not tie HRC to a specific timetable for when ENDA should come up for a vote.
“The memo referenced is not a plan but rather a collection of thoughts and ideas in a very embryonic, draft form,” Luna said.
Thoughts that would likely have been better left behind closed doors.
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