Dear friends,
Nancy Pelosi has the ability to end workplace discrimination of LGBTQ people, but
she is refusing to act. It's time to let her know that we won't wait any longer.As you read this, GetEqual.org members are entering Pelosi's offices in DC and her district office in San Francisco. They won't leave until Speaker Pelosi commits to bring the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to the floor for a vote this month - or until they are arrested.
Speaker Pelosi needs to hear from our community today. Can you call Speaker Pelosi right now to demand that ENDA (HR 3017) move to the floor for a vote? (202) 225-4965
After you call, please click here to tell us about it, even if you get a busy signal or can't get through.
A majority of Congress supports this bill to stop job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but promises to bring it to a vote last fall were broken several times. ENDA has been jammed up in committee for six months, awaiting a signal from Speaker Pelosi that hasn't come. We have visited, called and written Congress by the thousands, and have been ignored. The usual lobbying tactics do not appear to be having the needed effect. Now the midterm elections are coming, and Speaker Pelosi has promised Congress no more "controversial" votes. The "controversy" is whether LGBT Americans have the right to a job. This "tyrrany of the majority" must stop. Nonviolent direct action is relevant and needed and it's happening now.ENDA is important because studies show that LGBT workers endure high unemployment, underemployment and harassment. We have to lie and hide in order to get and keep a job. In 30 states across America, there is no law against firing someone based on his or her sexual orientation, and the same is true in 38 states for gender identity. Ask Police Officer Michael Carney of Springfield, Massachusetts, who testified before Congress about the harassment he had to endure in the station house before being fired. Ask Vandy Beth Glenn of Atlanta, Georgia, who told Congress about being fired from her job as a proofreader with the Georgia legislature because she is transgender. This has gone on long enough.
If you want more information on Speaker Pelosi's position, and the demand that she move ENDA forward, you can find it here.
Will you join with us in demanding that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people be protected from job discrimination?
Call Speaker Pelosi's office at (202) 225-4965 to ask that ENDA (HR 3017) move forward to a vote. Be polite, but firm. Take action now, and please let us know how it goes.
As President Obama himself said, quoting Frederick Douglass: "Power concedes nothing without a demand." We know Speaker Pelosi is sympathetic to our cause, but is she ready to act on our civil rights? It is time for a demand.
-Jillian Weiss and the GetEQUAL crew
