New York Times, Posted: 1/6/2010, 11:35 AM
Encouraged by a group of influential New York Democrats, Harold Ford Jr., the former congressman from Tennessee, is weighing a bid to unseat Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in this fall’s Democratic primary, according to three people who have spoken with him. Mr. Ford, 39, who moved to New York three years ago, voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and for the federal marriage amendment while representing Memphis in Congress. He has told friends that he will decide whether to run in the next 45 days. The discussions between Mr. Ford and top Democratic donors reflect the dissatisfaction of some prominent party members with Ms. Gillibrand, who has yet to win over key constituencies, especially in New York City. Mr. Ford, who lives in Manhattan, represented a conservative Southern state and, if he runs, may himself have to adjust some of his positions, like his opposition to gay marriage, to appeal to New York voters.

Gay City News, Posted: 8/22/2008, 6:59 PM
A little-discussed provision of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would allow employers to give health insurance coverage and other benefits to married opposite-sex couples and deny those same benefits to the partners of their gay and lesbian employees who are legally married in Massachusetts and California. "It was unanimously agreed by all of us... that we had to put this language in there to protect this from being turned into a marriage bill which we would have lost," said Barney Frank, the openly-gay Massachusetts congressman who is ENDA's champion in the House, in a phone message. A similar provision has been in the bill since 1994, when ENDA was first introduced on Capitol Hill, but the earlier language said employers did not have to provide benefits to the domestic partners of their employees.

McClatchy Newspapers, Posted: 6/27/2008, 6:48 AM
Congress made history with its first hearing on discrimination against transgender employees. The hearing came after Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California was picketed last year after House leaders removed transgender employees from a jobs discrimination bill that offered protections to gays, lesbians and bisexuals. Supporters of the legislation want the House to reverse that decision next year. Sabrina Marcus Taraboletti, a transgender woman and a former aerospace engineer who worked at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, told the panel that she was fired six weeks after announcing that she would be changing her sex from male to female. "After 20 years of service, I received no severance pay, nor was I allowed to collect unemployment," she said.

Washington Blade, Posted: 6/13/2008, 9:49 AM
The only open lesbian in the U.S. House of Representatives is predicting that in the next session of Congress, bills related to employment non-discrimination and hate crimes will be more successful than legislation aimed at repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) made the comments today at a Center for American Progress forum geared toward highlighting the importance of the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act, which would grant the partners of gay federal employees the same benefits that are available to the spouses of straight counterparts. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) joined Baldwin in the panel discussion. Baldwin said she is “very optimistic” that ENDA and a hate crimes measure would pass Congress next session, particularly if Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who has supported these initiatives, take the White House.

Edge Boston, Posted: 4/14/2008, 5:10 PM
The debate over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act may have caused a schism between the country’s LGBT advocacy organizations, but in this fall’s Massachusetts Democratic primary race for the Senate both Sen. John Kerry and his challenger, Ed O’Reilly, are on the same page. Both support passing a transgender-inclusive version of ENDA, but in the short term both also support the passage of the version of ENDA that Sen. Ted Kennedy plans to bring up in the Senate, a version that only includes protections based on sexual orientation. "Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, and I know this bill isn’t all we wanted it to be," Kerry said in a statement. "We were among the first to speak up and argue that transgendered workers should be included in ENDA. We all want to see transgendered workers included, and I guarantee that day will come and we’ll get there, but this year it’s vital that we get the most protection for the greatest number of employees that we can"

Associated Press (AP), Posted: 4/2/2008, 1:12 AM
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is jumping into the middle of an uproar within the gay community whose causes he has long championed. The Massachusetts Democrat is leading a push in the Senate for a federal ban on job bias against gays, lesbians and bisexuals - but not transsexuals, cross-dressers and others whose outward appearance doesn't match their gender at birth. "We will strongly oppose it," said Roberta Sklar of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "Leaving transgender people out makes that a flawed movement." The House in November approved the bill, written by openly gay Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., despite strong protests from many gay rights advocates that it didn't cover transgender workers.

Bay Area Reporter (S.F.), Posted: 1/10/2008, 11:57 PM
The transgender president of the San Francisco Police Commission bluntly returned the Equality Award she received from the Human Rights Campaign during what was described as a tense meeting last weekend between members of the Bay Area trans community and HRC President Joe Solmonese. "It no longer symbolized equality to me," Commission President Theresa Sparks told the Bay Area Reporter upon exiting the two-hour meeting, held January 5 at the LGBT Community Center. "It's a matter of their integrity and not following through and my own integrity." Sparks said that she could no longer stand to even look at the etched glass award when it was on her credenza. She received the award in 2004.

Washington Blade, Posted: 1/4/2008, 9:35 AM
Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy is expected to push for a Senate vote in 2008 on the same gay-only version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that the House of Representatives passed in 2007, a Kennedy spokesperson said this week. Kennedy stated on the Senate floor on Nov. 8, one day after the House passed ENDA by a vote of 235 to 184, that he hoped the Senate would follow suit by passing the employment protection bill in the current Congress, which lasts through 2008. But until this week, Kennedy’s office had not stated publicly where Kennedy stood on the demands by many gay and transgender organizations that Congress should withhold any action on ENDA unless it includes protection for transgender persons. “Although Sen. Kennedy strongly supports protections against job discrimination for transgender workers, inaction won’t advance justice for anyone, and will just make it harder to pass any version of ENDA in 2009,” said Kennedy spokesperson Melissa Wagoner.

Washington Blade, Posted: 11/29/2007, 5:06 PM
Polling experts are questioning a recent Human Rights Campaign survey that asked gays about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The survey’s results, circulated last month by HRC when many gays were locked in heated debate over the measure’s lack of transgender protections, show most people who responded support the bill as written. But John Stahura, who specializes in survey research and directs the Purdue University Social Research Institute, said the survey’s methodology is problematic. “They’re playing games,” he said after reviewing survey excerpts at the Blade’s request. “It doesn’t make sense.” Conducted for HRC by Knowledge Networks, the survey shows most respondents believe national gay groups should support ENDA despite its lack of protections for transgender workers “because it helps gay, lesbian and bisexual workers and is a step toward transgender employment rights.”

Dallas Voice, Posted: 11/16/2007, 12:03 AM
It’s beginning to sound like Dallas’ 2007 Black Tie Dinner could turn into a food fight.  At the very least, there will be some big issues on the table at the annual fundraiser tonight. That’s because leading transgender activist Donna Rose will be there, and so will Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. Rose recently resigned from HRC’s Board of Directors in response to the organization’s failure to sign a petition opposing a version of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act that includes sexual orientation but not gender identity. In not signing the petition, HRC broke with more than 300 LGBT groups.