GayCityNews.com – By Paul Schindler
With less than 24 hours to go before a House committee was due to take up the amended version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), stripped of transgender protections, Democratic leaders in the House have put off the hearing in the face of a storm of criticism from LGBT leaders nationwide.
In a statement released late on October 1, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House’s two out LGBT members, Democrats Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, wrote, “After discussions with congressional leaders and organizations supporting passage of ENDA, we have agreed to schedule mark-up of the bill in the Committee on Education and Labor later this month, followed by a vote in the full House. This schedule will allow proponents of the legislation to continue their discussions with Members in the interest of passing the broadest possible bill.”