ENDA

I just received a response to my question about Representative Inslee's support for an inclusive ENDA. His response is below.

Dear Mr. Blackhawke:

Thank you for contacting me to emphasize the importance of including protections for the transgender population in H.R. 3017, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). I appreciate hearing from you.

I am pleased to share that ENDA includes language that will prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived gender identity. Sec. 3 of the bill defines gender identity as "the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth." This new regulation would apply to public and private employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management committees.

I am fortunate to sit on the board of Ingersoll Gender Center, an organization that has provided peer support services and a speakers bureau for over 30 years. Ingersoll was there for my wife when she transitioned 20 years ago and it was there when I began my transition two years ago. My work with Ingersoll is so gratifying because I get to see people recreate themselves so that they can live a more authentic life. I've been a grassroots activist since I came out in 1985. Now, I am learning how to work from the inside while not forgetting my roots. I believe that grassroots organizing and institutional organizing both have a very important role in our movement and when working together, form a powerful force for change.

The long cold winter of health care is over. Spring is in
the air in Washington, DC, as the President and Congress are finally prepared
to seed some hope into the lives of the LGBT community. 

For some of us it can’t come soon enough.  The signs are coming together, beginning with
a demand by San Francisco activist Cleve Jones, the creator of the NAMES
Project AIDS Memorial Quilt to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that the House take
up the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) debate as soon it returns from
its Spring Break on April 12. ENDA was the subject of discussion by the House
Labor and Education Committee back in November of last year. There was a
promise that it would become law before spring. Still, Congress has maintained
an attitude of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Hello everyone, my name is Gwen. I am transgressive, I am transgender, and I am new here. I am also excited to have this opportunity to share with everyone my opinions and experiences. I don't usually speak about myself but since this is my first post I will indulge in introductions. As I write this, I am still at the beginning of what will probably be a very long transition. One that is hopefully filled with rich and exciting discoveries as I define and redefine myself in search of personal candidness and honesty. Although I have not yet begun HRT and I do identify as female, I still occasionally operate under my male identity, especially at my job. I do this not out of an irrational fear of socially awkward situations, but the same rational fear of job security in the face of potential ignorance or bigotry. I understand getting a job here in the northwest is definitely not as hard as it is elsewhere for the trans community, but for anyone at the beginning of their transition this risk is relatively intimidating.

The state of the workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - transgender Americans in particular - is 'absolutely shameful'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund today submitted testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor that spotlights the critical need for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The committee held a hearing on the legislation today.

"For decades, a majority has supported protecting their friends, family and neighbors from discrimination. They know it's wrong to deprive lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of the ability to earn a livelihood and provide for their families simply because of who they are," says Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "ENDA reflects the core U.S. values of fairness and ensuring everyone is allowed to participate on a level playing field in the workplace. People recognize that our nation as a whole benefits when everyone is allowed to contribute their talents and skills, free from discrimination, which is all ENDA seeks to do."

Task Force testimony includes preliminary data from a forthcoming and groundbreaking survey on discrimination against transgender people in the United States. Data from this large-scale, first-of-its-kind survey show that discrimination in employment against transgender people is a nearly universal experience: 97 percent of the respondents reported being mistreated or harassed at work, and nearly half (47 percent) said they had lost their jobs, were denied a promotion, or denied a job as a direct result of being transgender. The Task Force is partnering with the National Center for Transgender Equality on the survey.

"These figures point to enormous vulnerability related to anti-transgender bias," says Carey. "Federal protections in employment are a lynchpin for creating economically viable lives for transgender people. Our data show a potent path that is cut to victimization, housing insecurity and poor health due to loss of a job, or by harassment and bias that force a perfectly productive employee onto the unemployment rolls."

A 2007 meta-analysis from the Williams Institute of 50 studies of workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people found consistent evidence of bias in the workplace. The analysis found that up to 68 percent of LGBT people reported experiencing employment discrimination, and up to 17 percent said they had been fired or denied employment.

"The bottom line: The state of the workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - transgender Americans in particular - is absolutely shameful," says Carey. "Passing and enacting ENDA will go a long way in rectifying that."

The Task Force was the first national organization to advocate for federal nondiscrimination protections when it worked with then-U.S. Reps. Bella Abzug and Ed Koch to introduce a sweeping bill in 1974. The Task Force has also played a leading role in ensuring ENDA is explicitly inclusive of transgender people and others facing discrimination based on gender identity. The Task Force vowed a decade ago to oppose the legislation if it did not include protections based on gender identity.

Reporter resources:

Download the Task Force testimony.
http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/release_materials/tf_enda_final_testimony.pdf

Download the ENDA-related fact sheet on transgender discrimination.
http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/release_materials/tf_enda_fact_sheet.pdf

Learn more about the Task Force's long history on this issue.
http://www.thetaskforce.org/issues/nondiscrimination/timeline

To learn more about the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, visit www.theTaskForce.org and follow us on Twitter: @TheTaskForce (http://www.twitter.com/theTaskForce).

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, founded in 1974 as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., works to build the grassroots political power of the LGBT community to win complete equality. We do this through direct and grassroots lobbying to defeat anti-LGBT ballot initiatives and legislation and pass pro-LGBT legislation and other measures. We also analyze and report on the positions of candidates for public office on issues of importance to the LGBT community. The Task Force Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation incorporated in New York.
Contributions to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund are not tax deductible.

The Task Force Applauds ENDA  Introduction

A quarter century after Seattle’s City Council — through the encouragement of Ingersoll Gender Center — passed one of the first ordinances protecting the rights of  individuals facing gender identity issues against discrimination in housing and employment, the United States Senate has begun action to make those rights federal law.  Jeff Merkley, Oregon’s newest US Senator, introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the upper chamber, along with co-sponsors Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). 

ENDA has its best chance ever for becoming law with the support of Democrats in Congress and the White House.  The President has already expressed his approval for the bill.   In 2007, ENDA came to the House floor for the first time after having its gender identity protections gutted.  Frank, the first openly gay member of Congress, says he had to remove those protections in order to get the bill through the House.  A national coalition of more than 250 groups — including Ingersoll Gender Center — fought hard, but failed to restore the gender identity provisions.  The remaining House bill was passed with some Republican votes — including Dave Reichert, who serves Washington’s 8th Congressional District.  The bill, however, never came to a vote in the US Senate, and was unlikely to be signed by then-President George W. Bush.