DetNews.com – Deb Price
In a respectful gesture, Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the gavel so she could personally proclaim that the U.S. House had just voted in favor of a national ban on anti-gay job discrimination.
“On this vote, the yeahs are 235, the nays are 184. The bill is passed,” said the beaming speaker, whose pantsuit was a gay-friendly lavender.
It took more than three decades for the House to pass the bill now known as the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), succeeding after its razor-thin defeat in the Senate in 1996.
The vote on Wednesday was stuffed with surprises — who could have imagined a lawmaker explaining “gaydar” on the House floor? — lessons and tears. One disappointment — that transgender people were not included — is a reminder of the hard work ahead.