O REGO N S GAY/LE S B IAN/B l/T RAN S NEWSMAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 6. 2009
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The hearing, held in front of the Senate
Com mittee on Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions, was the first on EN D A since
2002— and the first hearing for a gender-
inclusive EN D A bill. W itness testimony
from victims of workplace discrimination
included that of Colonel Diane Schroer, a
transgender woman and 25-year veteran
o f the U.S. Army, and Mike Carney, a gay
police officer from Massachusetts.
Tom Perez, the Assistant Attorney
General o f the Civil Rights Division of
the U.S. D epartm ent of Justice, indicated
that a major challenge for the bill’s passage
was educating the American public about
discrimination based on sexual orientation
or gender identity in the workplace. Sen.
Merkley praised the leading practices of
larger corporations like Nike, which have
set education precedents for non-discrim i
nation policies in the business community.
“The Attorney General noted how a big
part o f their [office’s] responsibility is to
reach out and educate businesses about how
non-discrimination works in the business
place,” said Merkley. “That has really helped
them to understand the law, be comfortable
with the law, and be in compliance with the
law. I think that will be a big piece of it.”
Perez also noted during the hearing that
the passing of ENDA was a “top legislative
priority” for the Obama administration.
Additionally, Committee Chair and Senator
Tom Harkin (D -IA ) stated it was his full
intention to try to move the bill to the Sen
ate floor next year.
“I do feel it’s inevitable we will win this
battle,” said Merkley, “but we don’t want to
win it 30 years or 20 years from now; we
want to win this battle of non-discrimina
tion in this two-year legislative cycle.”
Merkley expressed his chagrin at the ab
sence o f a single Republican senator during
the hearing, but promised to take the infor
mation shared during witness testimony to
his Republican colleagues.
“We will take the case. We will ask
them to meet with folks who have gone
through discrimination,” said Merkley.
“We will carry this conversation to them .”
R eferen d u m
71 A pproved in
W ashington: C lark
C o u n t/ V ote Exceeds
Expectations
Washington State voted to approve Refer
endum 71 on Tuesday, November 3, becom
ing the first state in the country to support
a domestic partnership law by popular vote.
The approval for the referendum upholds a
state law that provides important legal pro
tections for gays and lesbians and seniors in
registered domestic partnerships.
A t press time, a statewide Washington
poll, overseen by University of Washington
political scientist Dr. M att Barreto, predicted
that R-71 would approve same-sex partners’
rights by an eventual margin of 81,529 votes
out of 1.75 million cast. The projection of
King County’s 168,866-vote victory was
largely credited as the carrier of the referen
dum’s eventual approval.
The projection also stated that R-71
would carry only 9 of the state’s 39 coun
ties, and that though 66 percent o f voters
supported some form of same-sex union, the
referendum would be narrowly approved by
52 percent of the vote.
In Clark County, the Approve 71 Van
couver campaign actually exceeded its early
expectations for the voter approval of R-71.
The county, widely considered one o f the
most conservative in the state, posted 46.74
percent to approve, and 53.26 percent to
reject the referendum. Despite the obvi
ous failure to generate a majority approval,
Approve 71 Vancouver team captain and
ACLU board member Rory Bowman re
mained optimistic about the outcome.
“In the face of a confusingly worded
measure and an extremely abbreviated cam
paign in an off-year election, we exceeded
our early expectations by voting almost 6
percent more than expected to approve Ref
erendum 71,” said Bowman.
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