The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is proposed federal legislation to protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It is soon to be re-introduced in the US House of Representatives in 2009.

This website contains information about "Inclusive ENDA," an educational campaign started on Facebook, which now has over 2500 members.  It can be accessed by clicking here.

If you are looking for the co-sponsorship letter, see the Links section below, #4.

If you would like to help in the education campaign, here is what we are asking you to do

There are two phases to this education project.

Phase I: Identify the legislators who need education

(1) Please look at the spreadsheet in the Links section below to see whether your House Representative is in the unknown column. (You do not need a google account to view the spreadsheets.) If you don't know your legislator, Project Votesmart has an easy interface to find out using your zip code at http://votesmart.org

(2) Contact your US Representative by calling the U.S. Capitol at 202-224-3121. Give the operator your zip code and ask for your Representative. Ask your Rep's office whether he or she has a position on an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and explain that means both sexual orientation and gender identity.

(3) Post the results of your call on the Wall at the Facebook site (even if it's just that you left a message).

(4) Please use the Wall for information about your Representatives only, and post other statements in the discussion section.

Since the bill is going to be introduced in the House first, and voted on there in the fall, we will work on the Senators later. First things first.

Phase II: Educational information and meetings

We will be contacting legislators with an educational letter, signed by constitutents in their district. These letters will include the stories of those constituents in their own words, and a list of possible conferencing dates, either in person or by telephone conference call. If you are interested in participating, please email ENDAcampaign@gmail.com with your full name, address, Congressional District, name of your House Representative and a short story (we'll use the first 500 words) about why sexual orientation/gender identity discrimination has affected you personally. You can find your District at votesmart.org. This is planned to start in July.

FAQs

Q: Where is the spreadsheet located? A: It is in the "links" section at the bottom of the this page.

Q: Where did the spreadsheet with the Undecided/Unknown Reps go? A: It has been incorporated into the spreadsheet that lists all US Representatives, available in the "Links" section below.

Q: Why are the numbers you list in support of inclusive ENDA so low? It's pretty clear that there are at least a majority of US Representatives now who will probably support an inclusive ENDA! A: You are probably correct, but Inclusive ENDA is not relying on DC insiders to tote up the yeas and nays. Based on the record of those who co-sponsored an inclusive ENDA last time, and the other US Representatives that Inclusive ENDA members have contacted so far, there are less than 218. The reason we have so many in the Unknown/Undecided columns is because many US Reps have not made their support of an inclusive ENDA a matter of public record and they will need some education before they go on record. Some DC insiders may be counting their chickens before they hatch, but if history is any guide, there are a lot of US Reps who are going to fold at crunch time unless they've been educated by their constituents on this issue and there is a public record of their support. That's what Inclusive ENDA is doing.

Links

1. Spreadsheet of U.S. House Representatives - This is a spreadsheet of all House Reps with their position on an inclusive ENDA. The game is to learn the position of all Representatives and move the x's out of the "unknown" column. Please call a Representative with an "unknown" position, and report back on the Wall at the Facebook site. (You do not need a google account to view this spreadsheet.)
 

2. Lambda Legal: Weakened ENDA Means Less Protection for Everyone - Definitions of who is protected by the bill leave gaping loopholes so that no one will be fully protected against discrimination. Congress should finish the work it began 44 years ago. This is Lambda Legal's explanation from the 2007 ENDA campaign why it is important to everyone -- straight or gay -- to include gender identity in ENDA
 

3. 1/9 Congressional Hearing on Transgender Discrimination - The 26 June 2008 HELP Subcommittee hearing, "An Examination of Discrimination Against Transgender Americans in the Workplace."  This is the first of nine videos of the June 26, 2008 Congressional subcommittee hearing on discrimination against transgender employees.

4. A letter asking U.S. Representatives to Co-Sponsor ENDA - This is a letter issued by Representative Barney Frank's office, which you can send to your legislator to ask him or her to co-sponsor the bill.  The co-sponsoring period ends June 23 at 6 p.m. (Here it is in Microsoft Word format.)