SFBG.com – By Amber Peckham
One of the first waves of protest over the move in Congress to remove transgender people from an anti-discrimination bill came from the labor movement. Members of Pride at Work, an LGBT-focused labor coalition and the newest member of the AFL-CIO, held a press conference Sept 28 to announce they are withdrawing their support from the ENDA bill, and encouraging other LGBT advocacy groups to do the same.
The advocacy is having an impact ? already, more than 20 LGBT organizations have come out against the move, and it?s entirely possible that the one-time landmark workplace-discrimination bill will lose almost all of queer community support.
?The need for gender provisions in this bill doesn?t apply only to those who are transgender, but also to, say, effeminate gay men, or lesbians who are ?too butch?? said Robert Haaland, a representative of Pride at Work. ?By picking and choosing who to include in their non-discrimination bill, these legislators are discriminating. It?s self-contradicting.?