GayCityNews.com – By Paul Schindler
Can Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin’s goals on ENDA still both be achieved?
Since Gay City News went to print late on October 17, the following events took place. The print version covering developments during the past week follows this update.
By a vote of 27-21, the House Education and Labor Committee on October 18 approved historic legislation to end workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, but not gender identity and expression.
The vote caps a three-week pitched battle in which roughly 300 LGBT organizations nationwide aimed to restore protections based on gender identity and expression to the bill. Those provisions had been struck by one of the lead sponsors, out gay Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, when a whip count indicated that the originally introduced transgender-inclusive version of the bill might well not survive Republican efforts to water it down or even kill it.