GetEqual Protest on Capitol Hill Today at Noon over Lack of Movement on ENDA

GetEqual the direct action LGBT rights group announced yesterday via press release that they will be staging a protest on Capitol Hill today calling on congress to move forward and vote on the much delayed Employment Non-Discrimination Act. ENDA, which would make it illegal to discriminate against LGBT people in the workplace has suffered setback after setback, even though there appears to be enough support in Washington to pass it.

The clock is counting down on the current legislative session. There are less than 45 days left before congress adjourns for the mid-term election season in November.

GetEqual posted this statement on their website:

“We’ve heard all we can stand to hear from leaders in Congress, they promised a vote this calendar year and we expect them to honor their word,” said Robin McGhee, co-founder of GetEQUAL. “As the window continues to slowly close on available legislative calendar dates to vote on ENDA in the House and in the Senate, we will continue to hold Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid accountable for the direct promise they made to the LGBT community. Our community has done the work to lobby and educate members of Congress on the need for a fully inclusive ENDA and now is the time to stop the talking and start the voting.”

The picketing is scheduled to last for two hours from 12p - 2pm  near the Library of Congress, at the intersection of Independence Ave. SE and 1st St. SE. If you're in DC today and can lend your support to the effort, please be there.

GetEqual is responsible for the Don't Ask, Don't Tell protests where Lt. Dan Choi and others chained themselves to the White House fence and for staging sit-ins at the district offices House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. John McCaine.

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Congress Won't Block DC Marriage Recognition

"Congressional Quarterly" is reporting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Ca., has stated that there are no plans for congress to block passage of a measure in the District of Columbia that would recognize same-sex marriages performed in other parts of the country. The DC city council voted on May, 5th to adopt the measure that mayor Adrian M. Fenty has said he will sign.

Under the District of Columbia charter, congress has 30 days block any measure from being enacted. House Republicans are urging congress to block the measure, but have little support from the Democrat-led House and Senate.

Marriage-equality opponent, Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is working with leaders in the Republican party to block DC from implementing the new policy by tying it to the DC Voting Rights Bill, which would give the District a vote in congress.

DC Delegate Eleanor Holms-Norton, who has long pushed for full congressional representation for the District, said she would fight any Republican attempt to add language on same-sex marriage to her legislation, just as she’s fighting GOP efforts to use the bill to rewrite the city’s gun laws.

“Republicans have done enough harm to the D.C. voting rights bill as it is. I mean to make sure they do no more harm”, Norton said.

Speaker Pelosi also said yesterday that she will not be urging congress to take action to repeal 1996 The Defense of Marriage Act. The California congresswoman reaffirmed her support for the LGBT community saying the congress will instead be focusing on the eventual repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy which bans gays and lesbians on serving openly.

“Members will make a priority of issues like gays in the military. And where we have prospects of success, we always want to expand to a place of more opportunity and more freedom . . . for all Americans,” she said. “But right now, our agenda is jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. And as we move on that front, concurrently, we have to make some decisions about what is possible and our values-based initiatives as well.”