GayWired.com – By Jody M. Huckaby
When the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) received its first-ever vote in the House of Representatives and passed the Education and Labor Committee on Oct. 18, it should have been a historic, and celebratory, moment for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
But there was a cloud hanging over the vote, with over 300 LGBT and allied groups in the United ENDA Coalition advocating for the original form of the bill introduced earlier this year–one that finally included a ban on discrimination based on gender identity. The House Democratic leadership’s decision to strip those protections from the bill, leaving only sexual orientation covered, has turned what should have been a victory into an unnecessarily divisive, disappointing setback for the LGBT movement.