BayWindows.com – Ethan Jacobs
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has taken major hits on LGBT op-ed pages, activist blogs and listservs for its decision not to oppose a split version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), and the organization’s credibility in the transgender community was further undermined by the decision of Donna Rose, the only out transgender member of HRC’s board of directors, to resign over HRC’s ENDA stance. HRC executive director Joe Solmonese in particular has come under fire for reversing his pledge at the Southern Comfort transgender conference last September that HRC would oppose any non-inclusive ENDA bills. Speaking with Bay Windows, Solmonese said that HRC has pursued its controversial strategy because the organization believes that it is the most effective way to pass a trans-inclusive bill. He said that by opposing the split-bill strategy in principle while agreeing not to oppose the split versions of ENDA put forward by Congressman Barney Frank and House leadership in practice, HRC is maintaining the lines of communication needed to win protections for the trans community.