by Eric Rader
"Now, it's our turn."
With these words, Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank celebrated the recent passage of health care reform and indicated his desire that the Obama administration begin to move on several LGBT issues this year.
Although it was entirely appropriate that the new president tackled the important topic of health care during his first year, the hard work necessary to achieve reform pushed a number of other priorities to the back burner. The LGBT community now has every right to press the Administration on several key Obama campaign promises on our issues. High on that list would be ending the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in an expeditious manner, repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and passing a meaningful Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Immediately following the successful resolution of the health care debate, several leaders in Congress indicated that passage of ENDA may not be far away. This issue has been in the legislative pipeline since the Clinton administration, but has been stalled by Republican obstructionism. President Clinton signed an executive order in 1998 that currently prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in federal employment. This order does not, however, apply to private employers, while ENDA would cover employers in the non-governmental sector.
Opponents of ENDA argue that the legislation is not necessary, and that it could have the effect of discriminating against people who have religious objections to homosexuality. ENDA does, however, include a religious exemption provision that would respect the beliefs of sectarian organizations.
Contrary to the arguments of opponents, LGBT Americans do face real discrimination in the workplace, and can be fired from their jobs simply because of who they are. A number of forward-thinking businesses and institutions, particularly those in the technology, education and financial sectors, have already included sexual orientation and gender identity-related protections in their employment non-discrimination policies. But our community cannot continue to depend on the goodwill of progressive employers; we need broad-based guarantees that we cannot be fired by any boss because of our inherent human traits.
On the issue of DADT, military leaders have recently given mixed signals on how quickly they plan to move toward ending the policy, as promised by the president.
The Pentagon has announced that it will scale back on its enforcement of the policy while it conducts an investigation on how to end it, though service members can still be discharged under DADT. In its ongoing investigation of the policy, the military will now work with third-party researchers to prevent soldiers from having to disclose their orientation directly to military leaders, thus protecting soldiers against expulsion from the military for stating their orientation.
It is important that we press top military brass to conduct their investigation fairly and end enforcement of this policy now. Congress needs to act, too, and repeal the DADT law altogether.
Repeal of DOMA should also be on the agenda of the Democratic leadership of Congress this year. While revoking this law would not change the anti-gay marriage statutes and amendments in Michigan and other states, it could allow the federal government to offer real domestic partnership benefits to government employees. Repealing DOMA would also be a strong statement by the federal government that LGBT citizens deserve to be treated with dignity and equality across the country, even if some states continue to enforce bigoted policies against our community.
Action on LGBT issues should not be delayed. As summer nears, the minds of members of Congress are increasingly focused on their re-election campaigns. Indeed, most legislative progress will cease after July, as members return home for most of the rest of the year to campaign. Whether or not Democrats keep control of Congress this year, they will likely lose seats in the upcoming elections, especially given the tough political environment for incumbents in 2010.
The window for progressive legislation will close, and the political reality for LGBT Americans may be much different in 2011. All LGBT folks should put pressure on legislators and leaders in Washington to do the right thing now and move forward on long-stalled priorities.
Yes, Rep. Frank, it is our turn, and there's no time to waste.
HRC's link to contact your House member on ENDA: http://tinyurl.com/yk2cqec.
Pentagon comment/FAQ link: http://www.defense.gov/faq/questions.aspx.
House Web site: http://www.house.gov.
Senate Web site: http://www.senate.gov.
