It’s the end of summer and there’s no ENDA in sight. So, GetEQUAL is ramping up the pressure. Today, the group launced “ENDA Summer.” Keep in mind that GetEQUAL is asking leaders on Capitol Hill to keep their promise to pass ENDA in this session of Congress.
Via press release:
Earlier today, GetEQUAL launched its “ENDA Summer” campaign with a national email sent out to supporters across the country. In the email, GetEQUAL co-founder and director Robin McGehee wrote, “We’re heading into the end of summer, and there has been both an eerie silence from Congress and whispers of surrender from the White House about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Despite these challenges from our elected leaders, GetEQUAL is determined to pull out all the stops to get ENDA passed in 2010.”
McGehee went on to write in the email, “This isn’t a legislative issue — this is a moral issue. And we’re targeting legislators in specific states who have not yet shown the moral courage to support this legislation. We’re tired of legislators telling us that basic job protections for LGBTQ Americans are politically inconvenient — that some are more concerned with securing their own jobs than those of their constituents. We’re tired of being asked to wait — we’ve been waiting for 40 years.” To view today’s “ENDA Summer” campaign launch email, please go to: https://getequal.org/2010/08/enda-summer/.
To join in and be a part of “ENDA Summer” by making a commitment to take bold action for LGBT equality, please visit: www.getequal.org/endasummer.
In addition to today’s email, GetEQUAL has identified local organizers in each state who will spearhead this campaign. Those who sign up to join the “ENDA Summer” campaign will submit their contact information and will be paired with a local organizer in their particular state in order to obtain more information about actions planned in that state and how they can get involved.
And they’re naming names in the 15 targeted states. Members of Congress and their staffs hate being on target lists. That’s why so many DC-based organizations won’t release target lists. They get yelled at by Capitol Hill offices for doing it. GetEQUAL isn’t playing that game:
Arkansas: Sens. Blanche Lincoln & Mark Pryor; Reps. Marion Barry & Mike Ross
California: Speaker Nancy Pelosi; Reps. Ken Calvert & George Miller
Georgia: Reps. Jim Marshall & Sanford Bishop
Illinois: Reps. Daniel Lipinski & Jerry Costello
Indiana: Sens. Richard Lugar & Evan Bayh; Rep. Joe Donnelly
Louisiana: Rep. Charlie Melancon
Minnesota: Rep. Collin Peterson
Missouri: Rep. Ike Skelton
Mississippi: Reps. Travis Childers & Gene Taylor
New Jersey: Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen
North Carolina: Reps. Heath Shuler & Mike McIntyre
Ohio: Senator George Voinovich
Oregon: Rep. Greg Walden
Pennsylvania: Reps. Jim Gerlach & Christopher Carney
Tennessee: Reps. Lincoln Davis, John Tanner & Bart Gordon
To review the long list of promises made to pass ENDA, from President Obama to Majority Leader Reid to Speaker Pelosi, among other, check out the ENDA timeline of Broken Promises.
And, if you live in one of the states listed above, sign up. Even if you don’t, call your members of Congress and ask them to pass ENDA this year.
If the elections go the way some pundits are predicting, meaning Democratic losses, we won’t see ENDA for a long time. The window is closing.
Senator Merkley’s ENDA bill, S. 1584, currently has 43 co-sponsors. The House bill, H.R. 3017, has co-sponsors.
