U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is taking another shot at passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) – complete with special protections for the transgendered.
The bill – H.R. 2981 – has been changed from the "gay-only" version the House passed in 2007 to include language banning job discrimination based on "gender identity" as well as sexual orientation.
Frank told the Washington Blade that prospects for passing a wider-ranging ENDA have improved significantly since 2007, when he and other House Democratic leaders said the measure would be defeated if a gender-identity clause were kept in the bill.
"Things have gotten better," Frank told the newspaper. "The transgender community is lobbying hard."
But Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said any kind of ENDA would be bad for the country.
This bill will mean that employers will be forced to make employment decisions against their religious beliefs, and that is unacceptable in a country that was founded on the freedom of religious expression," she said.
It's important for folks to take note that ENDA is just one of many ways that gay activists are manipulating law and policy to force Americans to endorse their lifestyle and to muzzle and punish those who disagree.
– Gary Schneeberger
