I’m posting below (with permission) an op-ed by Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. In it, he brings us up to date with what NGLTF has been doing to push for a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that includes protections for gender identity and expression.
Not all in the community feel as Foreman does, however, which is why ENDA has become the hot issue among LGBT activists for the past few weeks. For contrasting opinions, see the columns by Susan Ryan-Vollmar and Richard Rosendall in Bay Windows. (See also the Guest Opinion in Bay Windows by members of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, which agrees with Foreman.)
I fall into the camp of supporting an inclusive ENDA, even though I understand that sometimes tactical expediency must trump ideals in order to achieve the long-term strategy. When that expediency requires what is seen as a betrayal of part of the community for which we are fighting, however, the picture is less clear. To me, the price of a fractured community is too much to pay, especially when it is still uncertain if even a sexual-orientation-only ENDA would become law.
Still, this is not a game like poker, where we must play the cards we’re dealt or hope that luck brings us better ones. It’s a fight, dirty and dynamic, changing by the minute. We need to stop laying blame on Representative Barney Frank and HRC (however much we may think they deserve it) and instead figure out how to work with them given the current situation. The real opponents are those on the far right. The real opponents are the employers who discriminate, for any reason. There’s no easy solution, but we’re more likely to find it if we stay focused on the real problem.
Here’s what Foreman has to say:
All of us, every one of us
By Matt Foreman, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
At this critical moment in our efforts to pass an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that includes transgender people under its protections, it is important to recall just why so many of us believe that no one can be left behind.
The last five days have been a grueling and defining moment in our movement’s history. When we learned that protections for transgender people would be stripped from ENDA, an unprecedented groundswell of anger, energy and determination rose up to reverse that decision.
The other day, a letter signed by more than 300 national and state advocacy organizations that work on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people was delivered to Congress, asking for more time to garner support for ENDA as it was originally introduced. Some 2,500 congregations were asked to activate their memberships to call Congress. Students are also calling and e-mailing Congress and launching Facebook accounts to build support, working from 120 LGBT campus resource centers. Action alerts, blog postings and opinion pieces supporting a trans-inclusive ENDA have been flying over the Internet. Read more »