We Are Not Gay, We Are Human
In an unusually reflective moment a couple weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters that his niece is a lesbian and that he is considering bringing the Employment Non-discrimination Act to a vote this year.
Then, noting that ENDA might not have enough support to pass, he mused: “It’s hard to comprehend that we haven’t done a better job.” Agreed. The idea of providing basic workplace protections to gay employees was first introduced in Congress in 1974 and today 90% of Americans believe those protections already exist.
But just one week later, during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s deliberations over immigration reform, Reid’s colleagues – led by Sens. Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin and Dianne Feinstein — demonstrated why the Senate hasn’t done a better job. All three implored the committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, not to offer a provision that would have helped equalize immigration law for LGBT Americans by allowing them to sponsor their partner for residency. It would doom the bill, they said, too many people were against it.
“I don’t want to blow this bill apart,” Sen. Feinstein asserted.
Sen. Durbin offered that in his “heart of hearts” he believed Sen. Leahy was doing the right thing.
“But,” he added, “I believe this is the wrong moment, that this is the wrong bill." Translation: This is an immigration bill, Mr. Leahy, not a gay bill.
http://www.advocate.com/politics/2013/05/28/op-ed-we-are-not-gay-we-are-human
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