A move by the only two openly homosexual members of Congress--Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)--is putting a damper on the celebration over the "hate crimes" victory.
In an unrelated fight over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), the bill's sponsors decided to strip "transgender" people from the legislation to give it a better chance of passage. By pulling workplace "protections" for transvestites and transgenders, the House is signaling that ENDA may still be viewed as "too radical" by members of both parties. Infuriating the gay lobby, which has been pushing the bill since it failed to pass by a single vote in 1996, Frank said, "...We just don't have the votes for the transgender."
He acknowledged that it was difficult to persuade his colleagues to vote for an employment bill "that would talk about schoolteachers, and what happens when the kid comes back from summer vacation and changes gender. We just lost enough Democrats..."
Although the "hate crimes" bill included "transgenders" as part of its special class of victims, Frank was far more fearful of taking such a risk with ENDA. "Simply protecting, or trying to protect someone against assault is very different from saying you have to hire the person and let them live here and sleep here, etc., etc." He realizes that it is much easier to pass outrageous legislation like "hate crimes" when it's attached to a Defense bill on which the entire war relies.
Had "hate crimes" been a stand-alone bill like ENDA it would have faced far more resistance.
We still need to put a stop to this. Call your House members today and tell them to vote "no" on ENDA!
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