Kakki wrote: > There should be more of a movement > to amend the existing > Federal law to get in line with the states which > have prohibited this > discrimination.
There has been significant work done on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act for many, many years, with some legislative successes in the Senate. Remember that at least one Congressional chamber has been in Republican hands for 7 years now, and for most of that time the national Republican Party has been under enough influence from the religious right that their response to gay civil rights has ranged from lukewarm to outright hostile. And it takes both houses and the President to pass a law. Also to Kakki's points, there was a HUGE flap regarding the Salvation Army's exemption from non-discrimination regulations tied to federal monies earlier this year, when an internal White House money promising such an exemption to the Salvation Army in return for the SA's support of legislation important to the White House. (Can someone fill in the blank on what this legislation aimed to do--my memory fails me right now. I also don't remember how it was resolved. Sheesh.) Another little wrinkle: the SA's western division made moves to introduce benefits for same-sex domestic partners of its employees a couple of months ago, and the hand of the national organization quickly smacked them down. As a dedicated urban hipster, it kills me not to rifle through Salvation Army racks for faaaabulous threads, but they have some cleaning up to do before they get any more of my money. And, Americans, write your Reps./Sens. urging them to sponsor ENDA immediately. A breakthrough on this legislation is very possible in the next couple of years, but our leaders have to know that support for it extends to Americans from all regions of all sexual orientations and religions. What better way to support the democracy we're now so proud of post-9/11? --Michael NP: Rufus Wainwright, _Poses_ ===== ____________________________________________________ "I'm just a little bit heiress, a little bit Irish, A little bit Tower of Pisa whenever I see ya, So please be kind if I'm a mess." --Rufus Wainwright, "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com
