Talk about it; ENDA
Thursday, September 6th, 2007So I’ve seen more than my fair share of Sen. Craig coverage over the past week. I know it’s rather inescapable and people are already starting to express their fatigue about the whole thing. It probably would have died down altogether if Senator Taps-a-lot hadn’t recanted on his resignation announcement, but what can you do. Politically, I love seeing the GOP squirm on this issue.
Something I’ve started to notice is bugging me, though. In the various talking head commentaries, people are referring to Senator Craig as engaging in “those behaviors” or “that kind of thing” or “engaging in this activity.” You know what, it’s (cruising for) man-on-man sex. If we as a culture can’t speak of sexual relations on cable news channels with at least as much frankness (and as little coyness) as any WB teen drama, we’ll never get over the stupid puritanical notions that drive straight-identified people like Larry Craig to seek out illicit, “forbidden,” sexual encounters.
ENDA – please read
On a somewhat different note, a House subcommittee began debate on ENDA this week. The Employment Nondiscrimination Act will do one simple thing… it will prevent businesses and employers of anything except very small businesses and religious institutions from discriminating in employment practices based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Can you believe it’s still legal to fire someone just because they are gay, lesbian or bisexual in 31 states? It’s absurd. This law will NOT make it illegal to exercise free speech, it will NOT force churches to hire queer people, it will NOT lead to massive lawsuits (for evidence – can someone point me to a single example in the 19 states that have passed employment nondiscrimination laws that has seen a significant number of these cases? In fact, even with the law in place, the successful cases of proven discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity are few and often quite egregious).
ENDA will likely see a vote within the next 2-4 weeks. The religious right is gearing up to launch their misinformation campaign. But I know, based on research and poll after poll after poll, that the majority of Americans support this bill. We need Congress to understand that. It doesn’t matter what the polls say… what matters in this kind of “moral issue” (I hate than term) is how many people care enough about this issue to make their voices heard. The anti-gay wingnuts will make their voices heard. I need you, my friends and family and various internet aquaintences, to make your voice heard, too. It’s not enough to support this legislation in theory or on a poll, we need to contact our elected representatives and tell them that our support of basic rights for LGBT people is important enough that we are taking the time to be clear.
Please contact your elected officials by email or by phone and ask them to support HR 2015, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
