October 24, 2007

Employment Non-Discrimination Act delayed until next week

The floor discussion and vote on HR 3685, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the Baldwin Amendment that seeks to restore to it protections based on gender identity, has been delayed into next week. As yet no specific date is given for when they will come onto the floor.

Various reasons are being put forward as to why the delay. Some say it is because the effort to find out where the votes are on HR 3685, and the Baldwin Amendment to it, is taking more time than they thought it would. Others are saying it is because the House needs to take up other legislation. Everyone is saying that the delay has nothing to do with the threat of a veto by the White House.

The White House has indicated that, should ENDA pass the House, senior advisors are likely to recommend to the President that he veto it. In their view it tramples on constitutional provisions regarding freedom of religion because it exempts only churches and not organizations like Focus on the Family, whose guiding principles bring them into complete opposition to ENDA and its protections. The language used in speaking of the veto threat is not as strong as it might have been, according to those who analyze that sort of thing.

All of which means there is additional time to get phone calls into Representatives offices supporting the Baldwin Amendment, supporting a fully inclusive ENDA. If you have not done so, do so. Call your Representative's office and say that you are in favor of the Baldwin Amendment and want your Representative to vote for it.

Reports coming back from Members of Congress are that they are receiving those calls in numbers that are having the desired effect: bolstering those in favor of the Baldwin Amendment and influencing those who may not be yet strongly committed to Baldwin.

Here is a link to a Southern Voice story about the delay.

Here is a link to an op-ed by Jody Huckaby of PFLAG. In this piece Huckaby says that our position is both morally and strategically right. This piece is being picked up in many media outlets and blogs.

Dave Noble, Political Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, based in Washington, DC, recounted this tale to everyone in the email loop for UNITED ENDA and on the conference call held this afternoon:

I was riding the Metro into the office this morning, heading in from southeast DC, flipping absent-mindedly through the Washington Post Express (it's a free paper here in DC – basically an abbreviated version of the Washington Post.) Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an older woman sitting across from me. She was reading a church bulletin from a Lutheran church (I couldn't catch the full name of the church, just saw it was Lutheran.) I'm not sure why she was flipping through a church bulletin on a Wednesday morning, but she was. And what I then caught was that she wasn't just reading the bulletin, she was actually reading an insert from the bulletin. It was our "People of Faith Support a Truly Inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act" insert! I have to admit I was a bit stunned. What an amazing example of the education we are doing throughout this critical period. Whatever happens over these next few days, we really are making huge strides towards our ultimate goal of justice and acceptance. We all should be mighty proud of what we're doing.

Blessings on that lady and that congregation: if Dave noticed what she was reading, others in that subway car did too, and those kinds of education efforts pay back.

What can you do now?

Continue prayer.

And, if you have not done so, call your US Representative's office or send them an email to tell them of your support for the Baldwin Amendment to ENDA.

If you need or want specifics about how to do that, consult the All-member Emails we have sent out in the last week. They are on our website. Or, send me an email – happy to help.