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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 20, 1997)
12 ▼ J u n e 2 0 , 1 9 9 7 ▼ j u s t o u t national news & "Emily Simon n e v e r o n t h e f e n c e w h e n it c o m e s t o c rim in a l d e f e n s e AssociatesA Out with Clout The biHer ENDA Next year may see another vote in Congress on job protections but many queer activists are displeased with the legislation , T by Bob Roehr E m ily S im on and T racey C ord es, p ro u d m em b ers o f o u r com m u n ity sp ecia lizin g in crim in al d e fe n se . M isd em eanor felo n y , traffic, & D U II action s in sta te, fed era l, & ju v en ile cou rts civil fo r feitu res, & ad m inistrative action s ( 503 ) 241-1 553 North Portland Veterinary Hospital Like any family member our pets need good healthcare. At North Portland Veterinary Hospital, w e provide the very best medical care along with big doses of tenderness and compassion. 285-0462 2009 N.Killingsworth > KC ) A f W A Y ;■> \ i n \ \ \ >. t 97232 H A K R E T d B . O . 284-2300 R O F 0,^*0 METRY 4 he Employment Non-Discrimination coverage “so that all people will enjoy protection Act was reintroduced in Congress on in the workplace,” including transgender people. June 10 with strong bipartisan sup She wants to make sure those efforts “are not port. It extends workplace protection premature” and that it will be an opening o f to lesbians and gay men but not trans discussion rather than a debacle. sexuals. It specifically prohibits the use o f quotas Others question the employment rights-only and exempts religious organizations and small strategy and would prefer to push for full civil businesses with fewer than 15 employees. rights legislation now, rather than have to go back for other pieces at a later date. They say that the The lead is being taken in the House by Chris topher Shays (R-Conn.) and Barney Frank (D- strategy was formed years ago, when the effort to Mass.), among the measure’s 150 cosponsors. pass state civil rights protections had bogged The Senate effort is headed by Jim Jeffords (R- down, but that that trend has reversed and the V t.), Ted Kennedy (D -M ass.) and Joseph strategy should be reviewed. Rhode Island passed Lieberman (D-Conn.), with 34 cosponsors. Presi a sexual minority rights bill in 1995, and New dent Clinton has endorsed ENDA. Hampshire and Maine did likewise this year. That “This bill is about equal rights in the work increases to 11 the number o f states with full civil place for all Ameri rights protections for cans,” said Elizabeth lesbians and gay men. Birch. She is execu The community tive director o f the first sought to end Human Rights Cam anti-gay discrimina paign, the leading or tion in 1974 through g an ization behind an amendment to ex- ENDA. istingcivil rights leg Kerry Lobel, ex islation introduced ecutive directorof the by Bella Abzug (D- National Gay and Les- N.Y.) in the House. bianTask Force, said, Edolphus Towns (D- N.Y.) continues to in “The m essa g e o f ENDA is clear and troduce it at the start straightforward. Dis o f each session. But crimination is wrong. it has made little We look forward to headw ay, perhaps the day when gay, les because in recent bian, bisexual and years groups like transgendered people HRC have ignored it no longer have to fear and tried to pretend the loss of their jobs that it does not exist. on the basis o f their Four years ago sexual orientation.” the HRC looked to “Today marks a its polling data and giant leap forward in decided it would be realizing two of our easier to pass legis g o a ls ,” said R ich lation dealing only Tafel, executive di with em ploym ent. rector of Log Cabin Thus it adopted the Republicans. “They ENDA strategy. It are having senior Re took more than a year publicans take on the to work out language issue of civil rights that would gain the protections for gays ^eP- Barne}' Frank support o f the Lead and lesbians, and having the gay and lesbian ership Conference on Civil Rights, the coalition community recognize the importance of working o f nearly two hundred organizations that has with Republicans.” backed all previously successful civil rights bills. However, praise for ENDA is not universal, as ENDA was introduced in June 1994, and the it does not include job protection for transgender Democratic Congress held hearings in both houses. people. Those communities engaged in an ongo Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval ing two-year dialogue with HRC to broaden the Patrick declined the offer to testify and instead language o f the bill to address their concerns, but sent a letter; in it the Clinton administration en they did not succeed. dorsed the concept but not the language o f ENDA. Earlier this year New Orleans activist Nancy Clinton would come on board only in October Sharp said, “We cannot talk about morals and 1995 after some minor changes to the language o f ethics if HRC has no ethical or moral compass the bill. The Democrats did not vote on ENDA at guiding their political positions. even the committee level in either house. “The discussion which needs to take place is When the 1994 elections brought huge Re not whether an employer should be able to termi publican gains and control o f both houses, many nate gays and lesbians, but rather about what people felt that ENDA was dead. They were constitutes valid grounds for terminating em surprised when Majority Leader Trent Lott (R- ployees in the United States.... [That] allows Miss.) cut a deal with Kennedy last September gays and lesbians to speak as Americans who and allowed a vote on the Senate floor. And happen to be discriminated against rather than as surprised again at how close the vote actually gays and lesbians promoting their own self-inter was— a whisker-thin 49-50 defeat. ests and their private agendas.” ENDA likely will not come up for a vote in the Riki Anne Wilchins, executive director o f Senate until next year. Many observers believe it GenderPAC, said her group hopes to have an may pass, though that is not assured. amendment introduced to ENDA that will expand The outlook in the House is more uncertain. T