ENDA introduced – don’t hold your breath…

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*Image courtesy of Chris Vargas

Late last month Congress re-introduced the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA). This bill would be a huge step forward in the struggle against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity – but how confident can we be that it will stay that way? Let’s not forget that, last session, this bill was introduced and then gutted by its very advocates. In their classic “incrementalist” compromise approach, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC – ironically hypocritical in name, in that theirs is not a campaign for human rights for all people, but instead a top-down drive to ensure that a small class of wealthy gay white cis-gendered men are easily able to assimilate into heteronormative society) made a deal with Congressman Barney Frank which took all mention of gender identity and expression out of the legislation, asserting the claim that “we’ll come back for them later” – which is wrong on so many levels. Their assumption was that a trans-inclusive ENDA would be too hard to pass, so they attempted to pass a gutted ENDA that only protected on the basis of sexual orientation (so that, under the law, one could still be discriminated against for not fitting into the rigid gender expectations of their employers.)
This year, HRC put out a press release that they would only support a trans-inclusive ENDA – as if that was some historic victory. We must not forget that the very notion of an ENDA that excluded protections on the basis of gender identity and expression was developed by the pens of HRC lobbyists.

In 2007, the United ENDA Coalition was formed, led by PFLAG and NCLR among others. While HRC is noticeably absent from that table, it’s the same cast of DC characters that let us down time and time again. Gender JUST, a Chicago-based anti-oppression organization engaged in local queer direct-action organizing through a racial, economic, and gender justice framework, was approached by the United ENDA Coalition that year about doing some on-the-ground organizing for them. After a lot of wasted time and heated discussions, it was revealed that local organizers would have NO say in decisions that get made on the national level, would not be consulted about any potential compromises, and would not receive resources (other than lobbying toolkits and the such) for the time they put into this effort. While this bill is important, how can we trust these DC advocates to speak for us when they have no proven track record of even acknowledging the experiences of our communities?

It is indeed incredibly exciting to hear noise coming from the DC Gay Lobby about anything beyond marriage. And this is a very important set of protections to secure, especially in that our capitalist oppressors depend on heterosexism and transphobia to divide, conquer, and exploit the labor of the working class – but is it possible to secure meaningful protections in this way? Simple historical analyses will reveal that it’s not likely – our past movements teach us that such a strategy will likely lead to compromise and betrayal.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in working to build power for racist, transphobic, and capitalistic organizations like HRC. So, let’s get together and organize for our rights! There are not short cuts in movement building – if we wait for organizations like HRC and NCLR to lobby for our rights, we will be worse off than when we began. Nothing short of an intersectional anti-oppression movement towards justice for all people will undercut the roots of our oppression and create a society where all races, classes, sexual orientations, and gender identities are free to express their gender and sexuality, without institutional barriers, economic or legal consequences, or fear of repercussion.


Gender JUST (Gender Justice United for Societal Transformation) is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-generational grassroots organization of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer, Allied, and Gender-Non-Conforming (LGBTQA/GNC) young people, LGBTQA/GNC people of color, and LGBTQA/GNC grassroots folks developing leadership and building power through organizing.
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