SeattleST.com – By Courtney
The Stranger has endorsed a No vote on the RTID Proposition 1 (along with the Seattle Times, but thankfully with more logic and, er, research). Their reasoning? “Rather than letting compromised politicians tell us what’s possible, the people should tell the leaders what’s needed: more light rail without massive roads expansion.”
So what is the proper course of action for Congress regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, bill? The bill would ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, but Massachusetts’ democratic representative Barney Frank added language that would extend the protection to gender identity, thereby encompassing transgendered people as well. And lo, the Democrats began to balk. It is a nasty inverse parallel to our transit proposition. While our dear local leaders attached the roads to the light rail so they could lay their precious asphalt further and wider, Congressional Democrats prefer a bill without the transgendered language, believing it has a better chance of passing.