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After ENDA

On November 7 the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act -- a formerly LGBT rights bill that was stripped of the T in the belief that that would make it an easier sell. Transgender activist and former Human Rights Campaign board member Donna Rose assesses the cost of that strategy and talks about picking up the pieces.


As a leader in the transgender community I feel it appropriate to acknowledge the historic passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the U.S. House of Representatives on November 7. By a vote of 235–184 it sends a clear message that discrimination in our workplaces will not be tolerated.

For many, however, this is bittersweet news. Rights for some gained at the expense of rights for others is not something to be celebrated. Indeed, to acknowledge that those who need these protections most are left on the outside looking in is to accept that some part of our humanity has been sacrificed.

In a very real sense the soul of the LGBT community is crying today. It has been torn from the inside out. It laments that people whom others identify as not being “masculine” or “feminine” enough for whatever reason again stand on the outside looking in. It recognizes that others don’t make the same alphabet-soup distinctions of G, L, B, or T that we do -- that we’re all one and the same -- and it sees the connection between workplace discrimination, schoolyard bullying, personal harassment, and physical violence that so many of us face day in and day out. It’s fearful at the message this partial protection sends -- that some are worthy while others are not. Some call that incremental gain. I call it selective injustice. To tolerate injustice in any form is to believe there are degrees of equality. There are not.

There are those who have approached ENDA with a "win at all costs" agenda for any number of reasons. The fact that our community is left fragmented, that people are hurting right now, that “friends” have betrayed friends, that trust is gone, that credibility is in short supply -- all for the sake of a symbolic victory -- raises serious questions about the “moral character” of supposed civil rights leaders in our community. It didn't need to happen this way. Still, I choose to cherish my naiveté, and I continue to believe that how you get to your destination is more important than the destination itself. By that count this mad dash to the finish line has been a miserable failure, as the trail of debris has undone years of effort. In many ways we are back to square one again. That is not progress.

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