You have the power to save ENDA

The all-important Employment Nondiscrimination Act -- making it illegal to fire you and me and every other LGBTQ person for merely existing -- has hit a huge snag in Congress. Obama has said he will sign it. If this bill never gets to his desk, though, we will have lost the best chance we've had in years to be treated fairly in the workplace.

There is hope, but only if you get involved. Activists have scheduled a conference call to organize a campaign to pressure Congress. It's free. All you need to do is register to be involved. Dr. Jillian Weiss explains.

The horrible truth about gay marriage

The minute voters ripped the right to marry away from same-sex couples in Maine, the call rang out across LGBTQ America: Let's give up on marriage.

The defeat in Maine was horrible in itself, but it was even more galling because it came as voters in Washington state were on their way to approving an "everything-but-marriage" recognition of domestic partner rights.

On Bilerico and elsewhere bloggers declared their wish to pull out of the fight. Longtime activist Jeanne Córdova, for example, argued on her blog, The Lesbian World, that "the LGBT movement should stop wasting our precious funds and energy" on a losing, limited strategy.

"(I)t's time to re-direct the gay movement into fighting the real battle for civil rights in all 50 states," she wrote.

The sad reality is that there is truth in her argument. Not all lesbians, gays or bisexuals will marry. In many places, transgender people can't benefit from same-sex marriage. Almost everyone, though, needs a job.

The Employment Nondiscrimination Act will touch far more lives than marriage equality ever could. In most cities and states, companies can still freely discriminate against LGBTQ workers. ENDA would eliminate that outrage.

Meanwhile, careers and families would be saved by overturning the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on LGB folks serving openly in the military. Not only does DADT grind up members of the service, it also destroys their families.

Because LGB soldiers can't be out, their spouses and children can't access any of the benefits or support heterosexual families receive. Deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are particularly hellish. Service members can't list their spouses as next of kin. When closeted troops are wounded or killed, their same-sex partners may be the last to know. Other issues are equally important.

Giving up on marriage, though, would be the dumbest move LGBTQ America could ever make.

Leaving aside the debate on whether separate (domestic partnerships, civil unions) can ever be equal, we must remember that all civil rights struggles are about perception. The opposition wins on ENDA, DADT and the other important issues when same-sex-loving Americans are marginalized. Bigotry feeds on the lie that we're frightening and alien.

At the center of every battle for LGB equality is this struggle: Are same-sex-loving people predatory sex addicts - nothing like "normal" heterosexual people - or are they regular folk who love and care for their families? Marriage explodes these nasty stereotypes by making the truth of same-sex relationships visible.

Córdova and her colleagues in despair are wrong. Walking away from the marriage fight weakens the struggle on all fronts. Same-sex marriage isn't the only battle, but it is a key one. The horrible truth about gay marriage is clear: It's an issue fair-minded Americans dare not ignore.

Join the discussion on this post at Bilerico.

A Kansas First! Senate committee approves bill banning LGBT discrimination

As far as I know this is the first time any Kansas legislative committee has ever taken such a pro-queer vote. The Harris News Service reports that a Kansas Senate committee just endorsed a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, employment and public accommodations.

The vote by the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee was 5-3. Harris News writes:

Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee Chairman Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, voted with the majority in favor of the bill. He said that in this day and age, there’s no reason that people should be discrimination against because of their personal characteristics. "It just affirms the obvious," Brungardt said of the bill.

Kudos to the Kansas Equality Coalition! Well done Tom Witt, lobbyist and former chair; Maggie Childs, current chair; and all the other hard-working members of KEC.

This makes the bill, SB 169, eligible for a vote on the floor of the Senate. If passed by the full Senate, it would have to go through the same process in the Kansas House. Despite the victory, the future of the bill remains uncertain.

Having said that, I'm still thrilled. This is a significant victory. Kansans who believe in fairness should savor this win. Hoorah!

Obama calls LGBT rights civil rights

[updated to include quotes]
The news is all over the LGBT corner of the web this morning: Barack Obama has posted his official agenda for LGBT people on his transition web site. 365gay.com has a good overview. Except for the lack of marriage equality, it's a fine agenda and matches his campaign promises, including repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and a transgender-inclusive Employment Nondiscrimination Act.

But most commentators are missing something rather important in this seemingly normal post on Change.gov. LGBT rights are discussed on the Civil Rights page. In other words, Obama is declaring that our rights are civil rights. It's stating the obvious, but this is an enormously important distinction. If our rights truly are nothing more than civil rights, then how can anyone oppose them?

By the way, the top of Obama's Civil Rights page includes this quote:

"The teenagers and college students who left their homes to march in the streets of Birmingham and Montgomery; the mothers who walked instead of taking the bus after a long day of doing somebody else's laundry and cleaning somebody else's kitchen -- they didn't brave fire hoses and Billy clubs so that their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren would still wonder at the beginning of the 21st century whether their vote would be counted; whether their civil rights would be protected by their government; whether justice would be equal and opportunity would be theirs.... We have more work to do."

-- Barack Obama, Speech at Howard University, September 28, 2007

The top of the LGBT section on the Civil Rights page has this quote:

"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."

-- Barack Obama, June 1, 2007

For the first time in history, a Kansas governor stands up for LGBT people

By Diane Silver

I just returned from a historic signing ceremony at the Kansas Statehouse. For the first time, a Kansas governor has declared that it's wrong to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people in state hiring and on the job.

With one lesbian employee of the state social service agency and one gay employee from the state's environmental agency standing at her elbow. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed an executive order adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's anti-discrimination policy. The order effects the approximately 25,000 state employees who work for the governor.

"I'm sorry it took so long," Sebelius said after signing the order as she handed out ceremonial pens to us.

I've known the governor since she was a freshman member of the Kansas House. To me, she sounded quite sincere in her support for LGBT people and a bit apologetic about the time it has taken to get an anti-discrimination order in place.

Sebelius also told reporters that she supports an anti-discrimination bill in the Kansas Senate. The bill would prohibit discrimination against all LGBT people, not just those who work for the state. The bill extends protection to housing and private employment.

After Sebelius signed the order, we all applauded her heartily.

After all the garbage this state sometimes takes, I have to say that today I am so proud to be a Kansan.

Sebelius also posed with a Kansas Equality Coalition T-shirt and posed for pictures with many of the people present, who represented a who's who of the equal rights movement in Kansas.

I'll have photos as soon as they're available. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera, but several of our folks did take pictures.

Today's executive order was the result of the hard work of many people. Among them are members of the Kansas Equality Coalition, the Kansas City regional Human Rights Campaign, the Democratic LGBT Caucus and many others.

The effort that resulted in today's order received much support and help from moderate Republicans. Republicans like Bruce Ney and Jim Yonnally helped make this order happen.

The Kansas Traditional Republican Majority also stood up for us today. The group's leader, Andy Wollen, issued a statement saying: "It's about time."

Those who attended today's ceremony include Cora Holt, a Social and Rehabilitation Services employee from Manhattan, and Dennis Dobson, a lab supervisor for the Department of Health and the Environment.

Others attending included Steve Brown, from the LGBT Democratic Caucus; Maggie Childs, chair of the Lawrence Chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition and an advisor to KU's Q & A; Jason Dilts, Wichita, head of the LGBT Democratic Caucus; Carolyn Marie Fugit, chair of the Wichita Chapter of the Equality Coalition; Pedro Irigonegaray, Topeka attorney and longtime equality activist; Kirk Isenhour, Kansas City regional Human Rights Campaign affiliate; Cathy Jambrosic, chair of the Johnson County Chapter of the Equality Coalition; LuAnn Kahl, vice chair of the Southwest Chapter of the Equality Coalition; Bruce McKinney, a longtime Wichita activist; Bruce Ney, the former chair of Kansans For Fairness; Cyd Slayton, a member of the national board of governors of the Human Rights Campaign and of the Kansas City affiliate of HRC; Angela Siedener of the North Central Chapter of the Equality Coalition; Thomas Witt of Wichita, the state chair of the Equality Coalition; and Jim Yonnally, a former Republican state legislator and Equality Coalition lobbyist.

Sarah Kennedy from GLAAD also gave us great support today.

The Equality Coalition issued a news release on the signing. By the way, I'm the fool who put the incorrect number of state employees in the release.

AP already has a story with some comment from social conservatives. The Lawrence Journal-World also has a story posted.

It's time to tell our stories about facing on-the-job discrimination because we're gay

The Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the American Civil Liberties Union have issued a joint call for stories about workplace discrimination. If you have been harassed, fired, demoted or otherwise abused because of your sexual orientation, visit this site and tell your story.

With Democrats in control of Congress, we have a better chance than ever before to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but that won't happen until we tell our stories.

"People sharing their painful stories is essential in shattering the myth that discrimination against us is rare or a thing of the past," said Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "Putting a human face on this injustice has made all the difference in passing nondiscrimination legislation at the state and local level and will be critical in putting ENDA over the top this year."