SFBayTimes.com – By Ann Rostow
With House passage of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act last week, the first phase of the ENDA wars is over. Even those who strongly opposed the idea of advancing an employment nondiscrimination bill that left out protections for transgendered individuals could not fail to recognize the historic significance of the vote – the first victory for a gay and lesbian civil rights bill in either chamber of Congress.
Senator Ted Kennedy has pledged to introduce ENDA in the Senate shortly, but it remains unclear whether the Massachusetts Democrat will offer the original trans-inclusive version, or the weak House version. The Bush administration has signaled the President will veto whatever might land on his desk, just as he plans to veto the hate crime bill that is soon to emerge from a conference committee between the House and Senate as an amendment to the defense appropriations bill.