As The
Advocate reported earlier this week, a strong
majority of gays and lesbians supported passing the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act even though it did
not include protections for transgender people,
according to a poll commissioned by the Human Rights
Campaign. Since then, The Advocate has obtained
the full results of the poll questions about ENDA, which
passed the House of Representatives Wednesday in a
235-184 vote.
As The
Advocate reported earlier this week, a strong
majority of gays and lesbians supported passing the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act even though it did
not include protections for transgender people,
according to a poll commissioned by the Human Rights
Campaign. Since then, The Advocate has obtained
the full results of the poll questions about ENDA, which
passed the House of Representatives Wednesday in a
235-184 vote.
The poll, a random survey of 514 LGBT Americans
conducted by Knowledge Networks Inc., of Menlo Park,
Calif., asked participants two questions concerning
ENDA. The first asked which of the following three
statements was closest to reflecting their views:
A. National gay, lesbian, bisexual, and
transgender civil rights organizations should oppose
this proposal because it excludes transgender people.
B. National gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights
organizations should support this proposal because it helps
gay, lesbian, and bisexual workers and is a step
toward transgender employment rights.
C. National gay,
lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights
organizations should adopt a neutral stance for this
proposal because while it helps gay, lesbians, and
bisexual workers, it also excludes transgender people.
Of those surveyed, 67.7% agreed with statement
B, while 15.8% agreed with statement A, 12.8% agreed
with statement C, and 3.6% did not answer.
The second question asked people the following:
"This proposal would make it illegal to fire gay,
lesbian, or bisexual workers because of their sexual
orientation. This proposal does NOT include people who are
transgender. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?"
In response, 59.1% said they favored the
proposal and felt strongly about it, 15.4% said they
favored it but did not feel strongly about it, 15.1%
opposed it and felt strongly about it, 8.8% opposed it but
did not feel strongly about it, and 1.6% did not
answer.
Of the 514 people
the poll surveyed, 246 respondents identified as male,
262 identified as female, five identified as female-to-male
transgender, and one person identified as
male-to-female transgender. The poll was conducted
October 2-5. The margin of error was +/- 4.3 percentage
points at a 95% confidence level.
More than 300 LGBT organizations nationwide
opposed ENDA -- which will next be taken up in the
U.S. Senate -- because it did not contain protections
for transgender people. (The Advocate)
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