The U.S. Congress is very close to passing a trifecta of gay-friendly bills, according to openly gay U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jared Polis (D-CO), according to a new report by the AP.
Reps. Tammy Baldwin (l) and Jared Polis (r) / Photo: AP
Speaking at an international conference in San Francisco today, Baldwin and Polis said the House is set to pass bills to provide health coverage for the same-sex partners of gay federal workers and to protect all gay and transgender employees from job discrimination. They said they expect a domestic partner benefits bill to come up for a vote by the end of the year and the employment bill to reach the floor early in 2010.
Baldwin and Polis said they are were also confident that the House will include a provision in the military spending bill to repeal the Clinton-era "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", which prohibits LGBT people from serving in the U.S. military. Both Baldwin and Polis said all three measures may face an uphill battle following the passing of gay rights pioneer Sen. Edward Kennedy, but they remain optiimistic.
One reason for optimism is President Obama's support of all three measures. Office of Personnel Management director John Berry, the highest ranking gay appointee in the administration, told the conference that the president strongly supports the trio of gay rights measures.
Barry added,
"The tide of public opinion is in our favor. The forces of intolerance are on the run. We have a president who has been clear in his support for our community and in his commitment to our equality. This is the best opportunity we will ever have as a community, and shame on us if we don't succeed."
Although gay activists have criticized President Obama for not moving more quickly on their concerns, both Polis and Baldwin said the pressure should instead be directed at Congress, because the president cannot act alone. [Note: Technically, that isn't true. Legal experts agree that Obama could have issued executive orders to make these changes, but instead chose not to follow in President George W. Bush's footsteps and abuse executive power].
"LGBT leaders need to be focusing in on the people we need to win over instead of just trying to talk to our friends and being angry they haven't delivered," Polis said.
Polis makes a good point. Why preach to the choir? Not enough pressure has been put on our elected representatives in Congress. We need to get on the phones, call our Congresspeople and LGBT leaders in D.C., and demand they do what it takes to make sure these pieces of legislation pass. Or else they get no more support from us.
Should we remain optimistic about the passage of these bills within the next year? Or is all this just so much wishful thinking on the part of Baldwin and Polis? Should President Obama take more reponsibility for these essential human rights issues?
Let's hear it ...
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Comments
I'm very hopeful, but not holding my breath.
Having watched the democrats during the past year, chances are zero.
ENDA's markup has been repeatedly delayed, so now it's next year. That means a Senate vote will happen after the mid-terms, and the DNC has lost the 60 seats they need to prevent a fillibuster.
This is deliberate.
Obama is a Communist. See the proof here: www.commieblaster.com/obama/index.html
And so are 80+ Members of Congress: www.commieblaster.com/progressives/index.html
And here’s why they’re pushing Socialist Healthcare: www.commieblaster.com/healthcare/index.html
I find it amazing that the Democrats can continue to try to tell us they are working for LGBT rights. They give lip service to it, then stall so they can keep us stringing a long with this game. This said part of the reason why they do not preform on these issues is we within the LGBT Community are fragmented and not very resolute in demanding rights on these issues more vocally and persistently. If we do not get these laws past this time around there is plenty of fault to go around. If we continue to not push forward on these issues we will be back to the usual stalemate Washington thrives on far sooner than most realize.
We've been thrown under the bus before, I can only hope for the best, but am prepared for the worst. I half expect someone will propose dropping gender identity from ENDA again. I've talked with my states Rep's staff in congress, and was told the the Rep would vote for a sexual orientation only bill (voted yes on the '07 ENDA), but was hesitating on the current '09 version due to gender identity. They did say that she's willing to learn more about gender identity issues. So, for the past month I've been working with a LGBT equality lobby org running a letter writing campaign. Helped put together a panel of regional gender identity experts and then we all took part in a conference call with the Rep's staff in Washington, educating them about gender identity issues and why it needs to be included in ENDA. That call was on the same day that ENDA was to have been sent for markup and wasn't. I'm not giving up hope for passage yet, I think there's still a good chance for passage.
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