Philly.com – By Cei Bell
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, passed Congress in November.
Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-Mass.) controversial removal of gender identity from the bill enraged lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups across the country. Frank, one of two openly gay members of Congress, claims to support transgender protections but said he didn’t have the votes. It’s been reported that freshman Democrats, many from previously Republican districts, didn’t want to vote for gender-identity language.
Frank and the gay-activist Human Rights Campaign wanted the bill to be voted on without the gender identity protection. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) the other openly gay member of Congress, wrote an amendment returning gender identity to the bill, then withdrew it before it could be voted on.