Frank to support Baldwin ENDA amendment

Rep. Barney Frank on Oct. 19 said that he will lobby other members of Congress to support an amendment to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would cover transsexuals. Frank (D-Mass.) removed references to gender identity earlier this month saying there was not enough support for the bill to pass. The amendment reinstating protections for transsexuals in the workplace was proposed this week by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI). Baldwin said she has secured an agreement from the Democratic leadership to introduce the amendment when ENDA comes up for a vote on the House floor on Oct. 24. Frank and Baldwin are the only two openly gay members of Congress. The legislation as currently written would protect only gay, lesbian and bisexual employees from discrimination. It passed the House Education and Labor Committee on Oct. 18 on a 27 - 21 vote. The removal of trans protections angered more than 300 LGBT groups and when the bill came to a vote on Oct. 18 several committee Democrats, including presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich refused to support the measure as it now stands. "I argued in favor of transgender inclusion when I testified on the original legislation on September 5, but many of us believed that sending the full inclusive bill to the floor would open the door to a series of demagogic procedural moves that would have endangered our chances of a passing any bill at all," Frank said on Oct. 19. The longtime congressman said that he will speak in favor of the amendment when it is presented on the floor in "a procedural setting that allows us to maximize support for an inclusive bill without endangering our chances of getting any bill at all." The bill is expected to be in for a fight on the floor. Republicans and some Democrats say once the bill reaches the floor they will attempt to kill all of ENDA using a maneuver to send it back to committee where it would most likely languish and die in the current session. Even if it passes the legislation could be in for a presidential veto. The White House has been silent on the bill but socially conservative groups have mounted a major campaign against the measure.