A Game Plan for ENDA

[The Philosopher]

Full title: A Game Plan for ENDA: Transgender inclusive Senate hearings would build a pathway to future success
from metroweekly.com

Representatives Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) recently introduced the bipartisan and fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). But let's be honest. ENDA is not going to pass this year.

The Obama administration may well create an executive order requiring federal contractors to guarantee workplace fairness for LGBT employees. But what can we reasonably hope to accomplish in Congress on ENDA in the short run?

Sen. Tom Harkin (D) of Iowa – a longtime progressive leader – currently presides as chairman of the Senate Labor Committee. He can and should organize an ENDA hearing during the upcoming year. Making up for mistakes made in the past, he can and should call one or more transgender Americans to testify at that hearing.

To begin, a quick survey of ENDA's recent history on Capitol Hill is worthwhile. I had a front-row seat to most of this legislative process because of my role as ENDA's lead counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives, where I worked for three years as labor counsel for Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.).

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