This is an absolute hoot, in so many ways …

Residents of the Greek island of Lesbos have launched a legal action to demand the exclusive right to call themselves Lesbians.

The inhabitants of the island are attempting to ban the Greek Gay and Lesbian Union from bearing the name “lesbian”.

Residents of Lesbos now suffer “psychological and moral rape” from the “seizure” of their island’s name by gays, according to the complaint by Dimitris Lambrou, a local activist.

He has set out his argument in “The Misfortune of Being Lesbian”, published on his website, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Lambrou, who has the support of a member of a nationalist pagan association, said that the case was likely to come before a court in Athens in June.

But Evangelia Vlam, a spokesman for Olke, dismissed the claim.

“This affair is totally ridiculous,” she said. “But if we are summoned by the courts, we will be heard.”

Lesbos is synonymous with the love verses of the poet Sappho, who expressed her love of other women in poetry written in the early sixth century BC.

Islanders are ‘only true Lesbians’

And, by the way, Sappho was not gay anyway, according to Lambrou.

What I’m referring to here is the tendency of the mainstream media to focus on and give extensive coverage to a certain kind of trans or gender-related news. Generally, it seems these stories invariably involve celebrities (think back many years to Eddie Murphy and the “transvestite prostitute” story, for instance) or “oddities.” Last month, there was the “pregnant man” story. Vying for that media attention this month, there appear to be actually two news stories …

RONALDO, ONE OF the world’s best soccer players, is up to his knee-socks in scandal today after his run-in with a pair of transvestite prostitutes wound up on YouTube.

The Brazilian superstar told cops he had no idea the “ladies” he picked up were men until he brought them to a hot sheets hotel early Monday.

Footage of Ronaldo recoiling from them was taken by the spurned hookers, one of whom is under investigation for trying to extort $30,000 from the superstar, Brazilian media reported.

Andre Albertini, who goes by the name Andrea, denied he tried to blackmail Ronaldo and insisted the soccer star tried to buy his silence.

…

She-male kick in head for Ronaldo

(To say that headline writers often have a bit of fun with these stories is stating the obvious. The Times, on Ronaldo, “Three Ronaldo girls all had men’s tackle,” or The Standard’s “What a balls-up” are examples.)

… and …

Dude looked like a lady.

That’s what has puzzled researchers for years about Akhenaten, the famed pharaoh who introduced radical monotheism to ancient Egypt. While he fathered at least at least a half-dozen children, his body form was distinctly feminine.

Now Dr. Irwin Braverman, a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten, has a new theory on why. He was due to present his findings yesterday at an annual conference at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the ailments and deaths of historic figures.

The female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh’s body to convert more male hormones to female hormones, Braverman said. The pharaoh had “an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts, but he was male and he was fertile and he had six daughters. But nevertheless, he looked like he had a female physique.”

…

Egypt’s pharaoh was king of queens

It was not all that long ago, by the way, that another Egyptian “gender-bender,” Hatshepsut, was in the news.

Hills in the hometown, a Guy on dresses and … whatever …

We have hills in Asheville.

I was out running today. Most days I run. I’m no spring chicken anymore though. Weather’s getting warmer, I got out later in the day today, pushed the mileage. The motor’s still working. I’m not complaining. But …

We have Hills in Asheville …

I have enough years on the odometer that, as I commented here not long ago, I’m not particularly keen on any of the Presidential candidates remaining in this contest. But, Hills was here the other day, wooing and maybe wowing some folks in what has been a generally conservative CD (and first-term Democrat, Rep. Heath Shuler is a Republican in Dem drag, for what it’s worth) …

Sen. Hillary Clinton told a raucous and inspired Asheville crowd Thursday that as commander in chief she would end the war in Iraq while enacting universal health care and reviving a faltering economy.

This is not a comment about isolationism, global disengagement or any of that serious stuff, but, apropos of the setting (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium), America needs an Angel (whatever gender) to Look Homeward now.

Not leaving Hillary entirely behind as you’ll see, but off to the subject of fashion (There used to be, some years back, by the way, a group of local women from Asheville performing musically as “Crimes of Fashion.”) … where I’ll leave it to you, dear readers, to make your own political and fashion sense out of this …

Borrowing from the male wardrobe is hardly new …

the prevalence of mannish jackets represents a real shift from the girly dresses dominating runways in recent seasons - and may be a sartorial signal of something more. Judging from fashion history, masculine styles often signal a moment when women are looking for clothes that assert authority.

Designer Peter Som says he was thinking of Hillary Clinton …

The ‘boyfriend jacket’ comes on strong

… and …

Just look, Hil. All those pants.

It’s not exactly a state secret — the U.S. senator and presidential hopeful is pro-trouser. And why not? She looks good in them. (Better than those drab dresses …

Who’s wearing the pants here?

… and from a Guy’s perspective …

“The eye is looking for something new, and so is the psyche,” Anne Slowey, the fashion news director of Elle magazine, said last week from the set of “Fashionista,” a new fashion reality show in which she will play herself, a fashion editor, only meaner. “The dress has been done to death,” Ms. Slowey added, “not to sound really cliché.”

…

This prediction will come as a surprise, perhaps, to retail analysts like the folks at NPD Group, who not long ago termed 2007 the year of the dress, pointing to sales of more than $5 billion in the 12 months that ended last April, and a rate of growth in dress sales fully 30 percent higher than the year before.

“The first hint of chill in the air, and the full-legged, pleated high- and low-waisted legions will be out in the urban jungle,” said Ms. Slowey, already so adapted to her new television role that she speaks in thought bubbles. The expiration date for the dress, she claimed, “is end of August.”

This prediction will come as a surprise, perhaps, to retail analysts like the folks at NPD Group, who not long ago termed 2007 the year of the dress, pointing to sales of more than $5 billion in the 12 months that ended last April, and a rate of growth in dress sales fully 30 percent higher than the year before.

It may also come as unwelcome news to the female members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose wildly anachronistic Laura Ingalls Wilder frocks, Skechers and wave-pool hairdos have become as much an obsession in certain Manhattan circles as their polygamist habits and 416 children.

It is also, for what it’s worth, unwelcome news to me.

That is because, unlike Ms. Slowey, I am not eager for women to become “a little more hard-core, a little more androgynous, a little more butch.” Yes, gender play is fun, and trousers are a useful wardrobe default for the woman in business. But unless you are Thomas McGuane and find nothing sexier than a woman with crow’s feet, tight Wranglers and suede chaps, you will have to concede that, for flattering a woman’s body, nothing is quite like a dress.

Irwin Shaw covered all this is in his classic story “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses,” the tale that secured him a permanent place in anthologies if not exactly a perch on literary Olympus. And for all the creakiness of this warhorse about the fragile dynamics of love and desire, there remains in Shaw’s descriptions of the women on the streets of Manhattan, in their ripe young multitudes, something unexpectedly fresh and also recognizable.

Shaw wrote the story decades ago, in the era that directly preceded the feminist one that first killed off the dress, a time when women wore them all the time and not with irony …

Long Live the Dress (for Now)

… and then this comment on Guy’s piece …

Might as well throw some heterosexism in there too. And women wearing pants is “gender play”? I didn’t realize trousers were still a “man’s” piece of clothing.

…

The sad thing about this piece is that it won’t do anything but discourage women from wearing dresses this summer, despite some women’s love to wear them. (Ahem.) I guess they didn’t get the message that women wear their clothes for comfort and fashion, not someone else’s fancy.

NYT makes me never want to wear a dress again

(Before Vanessa’s time this. And though we probably should Goethe off this subject, there’s more … )

… and …

In today’s “Styles” section, Guy Trebay devotes a whole article to proving why Elle’s fashion-news director, Anne Slowey, could be wrong about the dress going out of style come September. Wishful thinking, he says, gathering quotes from trend forecasters, the fashion director of Barneys, and random dress-clad women on the street to make his case for the dress. And we must say he did so as compellingly as one can when covering such a topic, though it was kind of unfair he didn’t quote anyone who agreed with Slowey. Anyway, it felt like the perfect opportunity for the Cut’s first-ever point-counterpoint debate!

…

Is Anne Slowey Right About the Fate of Dresses?

And, not to neglect the guys, there’s this …

A few weeks ago, we told you about “Booty Pop Panties,” the padded underwear that makes your ass look bigger. Well, Kelly Ripa went nuts over them on Live With Regis and Kelly the other day so, not to be out-assed, Regis found a version of the undergarment for men called “Bottoms Up” and bandied them about on air today. Unlike the Booty Pop Panties, these appear to come with a padded back and a padded front. Here’s a product description:

• A defining centre back seam separates our butt pads creating an anatomically correct bottom for a more natural look.
• Our contoured front pouch, allows for comfort, style and support from the double layer of fabric…
• For first time optimum effect we suggest you put your jeans or pants on BEFORE you look in the mirror.
• The weight and fit of your pants compresses the pads — the most natural look is achieved with you pants on.

You can even purchase extra pads in “Quarterback,” “Halfback,” and “Fullback” sizes. Is this supposed to appeal to women? Because we think a nice cologne is a better route than sub-pant bulges.

Men Can Pad Their Nether Regions, Too

Moving on … from the Washington Blade today …

Equality Maryland is intensifying its efforts to protect a transgender rights law that may be in jeopardy.

Dan Furmansky, the organization’s executive director, said a review of signatures collected to overturn the Montgomery County law has been hastened so it can be completed by month’s end.

…

Legal battle over trans law intensifies in Montgomery Co.

… and, finally, from the Southern Voice …

On Friday, students at 6,000 schools around the country, including 130 here in Georgia, took part in the National Day of Silence — keeping quiet for all or part of the school day to protest the silence forced on gay people every day. One of those schools was my alma mater, Columbus High School.

Not too long ago, whenever someone asked me where my hometown of Columbus, Ga., is located, I would answer that it is “about 100 miles and 100 years south of Atlanta.”

It’s exciting to know that through the efforts of brave young people like those who joined in the Day of Silence, even towns like Columbus are changing for the better. And it’s amazing to think that some of the Columbus High students participating in the protest today were not even born in 1991, the year I graduated.

…

Would you have joined the Day of Silence?

Gov. Mike Huckabee was on Meet The Press this past Sunday. He appears to be using some obfuscating language to explain his beliefs about LGB people, and not explain how his beliefs would translated into policy within a Huckabee administration.

Tim Russert asked Huckabee about a statement in Huckabee’s 1998 book, where Huckabee wrote:

It is now difficult to keep track of the vast array of publicly endorsed and institutionally supported aberrations–from homosexuality and pedophilia to sadomasochism and necrophilia.

Russert wanted to know what he meant — Huckabee claimed that he really wasn’t equating “homosexuality” with “pedophilia” and “sadomasochism,” he was just pointing out that these all were sin.

When Huckabee later commented on marital infidelity, he stated:

The perfection of God is seen in a marriage in which one man, one woman live together as a couple committed to each other as life partners. Now, even married couples don’t do that perfectly, so sin is not some act of equating people with being murderers or rapists…

So, I’m not sure what Huckabee is stating. Is he arguing James 2:10,11 …

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

…Or is Huckabee arguing that some “sins” are worse than others? (He seems to be arguing that in his answers to Russert questions about whether he equates homosexuality to pedophilia and sadomasochism.)

Frankly, I can’t figure out what Huckabee is stating. It seems to me that he’s trying to confuse non-Evangelicals as to what a Huckabee administration’s policies would be towards LGBT people.

Take a read the Meet The Press transcript of Huckabee’s comments on “homosexuality” below the fold, and you can decide for yourself what voters were supposed to take away from his comments on the show.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is what Hillary Clinton’s campaign put out as a press release today:

New Poll Shows Hillary Leading Among LGB Voters

In a new survey released by Hunter College, Hillary Clinton leads all Democratic candidates in support among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) Americans. According to the poll, Hillary leads with 63 percent, 41 points ahead of the next candidate.

“I’m honored to have the support of so many in the LGB community,” said Clinton. “Together, we can end the divisiveness of the past seven years and change the direction of this country so that we embrace the full diversity of our nation.”

The poll also found that 72 percent of LGB likely voters consider Senator Clinton a supporter of gay rights. As President, Hillary will also work to end discrimination in adoption laws, sign hate crimes legislation and ENDA into law, and put an end to the failed policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. She will work to make sure that gay and lesbian couples in committed relationships have the same rights and responsibilities as all Americans.

I’m posting this specifically show that the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign left out the “T” when referring to the “LGB Community.” The first two paragraphs of the press release might not have mentioned T’s because they didn’t find enough T’s to be statistically significant for their poll, but I would think that in the last paragraph — where she mentions what she would do as president — she certaintly could have added that she was for LGBT civil rights/equality.

As it is, it looks like she’s just for LGB civil rights/equality.

Given the recent mess with ENDA, I find it noteworthy that her campaign’s messaging about the “alphabet soup” of communities was one that left off the T. Whether or not leaving off the T out this media release was intentional or not, to me it sure seems to be pretty poor form.

The times, they are o’ changing.

The Pew Forum On Religion & Public Life recently posted the article Gay Mormons See a Subtle Shift in Church Teaching where they note that while the sin previously was found just in having same sex attractions, but now the sin is identified as engaging in “homosexual activity.”

Like many gay Mormons, [Lester] Leavitt tried to ignore his sexuality and married a woman. Last year, he was excommunicated after telling church authorities he was attracted to men, even though he was faithful to his wife and wanted to stay married.

Six months later, to Leavitt’s surprise, the church vacated the excommunication. Not long after, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued “God Loveth His Children,” a treatise that said same-sex attractions themselves are not sinful, even though homosexual activity is.

…Traditionally, Mormons saw homosexuality as a choice — and a changeable one. In the 1970s, the church believed that “homosexuality is a perversion and you can fight it and become straight,” Petersen said.

Leavitt, who was the organist for his Florida church before his excommunication, said he kept waiting for his same-sex attractions to disappear, even after he got married.

“The church told me, and everyone like me, that this was a social construct, and that if you got married (you would be attracted to women). I was 44 years old and it hadn’t gone away,” he said.

To give y’all an idea of how tough it is to even have same sex attractions as a Mormon…

For Mormons, homosexuality presents a particular challenge because the church’s emphasis on marriage carries eternal consequences. Mormons believe heaven is organized by families formed on earth; having a family is necessary to reach heaven’s highest ranks.

“For a lot of Mormons it’s unimaginable that you could be gay. You probably feel like you need to deny it because it just can’t happen” said Boyd Petersen, coordinator of Mormon studies at Utah Valley State College.

Homosexuality challenges basic tenets of Mormon doctrine, said Scott Gordon, president of the Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, a California-based organization that defends the church against criticism.

“The core of Mormon theology is the family unit. The Declaration on the Family (a key church document) says marriage is between a man and a woman … and family is eternal,” he said.

So, you can be a Gay Mormon now, you just can’t be a sexually active Gay Mormon. Oh, and you wouldn’t make it up to highest kingdom of glory — the Celestial Kingdom — you’ll likely make it only to the lower Terrestrial Kingdom.

So, um, this is great news, right? Ummm, well, I’m not so sure. Celibacy is a hard row for anyone to hoe. And…

Kathleen Flake, a Mormon and associate professor of American religious history at Vanderbilt University, said the only thing that’s changed is church leaders have taken a step back from old certainties about the origins of homosexuality.

The position on its effects, however, remains the same.

“We’re going to be more careful to not cause you any additional pain,” she said, in summarizing the document. “But know that a homosexual relationship is not God’s plan for you. God’s plan is that we come to earth to be like God. By the grace of God, that means getting married and having children with a member of the opposite sex. It means engendering life, because that’s what God is all about.”

I know my ex wasn’t thrilled to find out I was transgender. I can’t imagine that a Mormon housewife would be thrilled to find out her Mormon husband — such as the Lester Leavitt mentioned above — had same sex attractions.

The latest news …

The revised Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in the workplace, but with references to gender identity removed, is headed to a vote on the House floor following approval Thursday in committee.

The House Education and Labor Committee voted 27 - 21 to mark up the legislation, sending it to a full vote in the House.

A number of Democrats on the committee attempted to reinsert gender identity without success. Several of them refused to vote in favor of marking up the bill as it stands - among them presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.

GOP attempts to weaken the bill also failed.

“Today marks the first vote ever taken on this important legislation in the House of Representatives since it was first introduced in 1975,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the committee following the vote.

“It never should have taken over 30 years to get to this point, but I am proud that we have taken this historic step today.”

Protections for transsexuals were removed by the bill’s author, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), after it became apparent there were enough votes to pass ENDA only with gender identity.

The decision, however, has divided the LGBT community.

When the revised bill reaches the floor of the House, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) will introduce an amendment that would add trans protections.

Baldwin said Wednesday that she has secured an agreement from the Democratic leadership to introduce the amendment. (story)

Frank’s decision to strip ENDA of gender identity was seen by some as a “necessary evil” in order to get any LGBT measure passed. But more than 300 community groups - including National Stonewall Democrats - opposed it.

As opposition mounted a number of organizations met last Friday with Speaker Nancy Pelosi who gave assurances that once ENDA becomes law and as soon as there is enough support for amendments adding back in the protections for transsexuals that version would also be presented.

HRC called the the process less than ideal but acceptable. It was rejected outright by about 300 other major LGBT rights groups.

“We are greatly disappointed that the committee chose to move forward with a bill that is not endorsed by a single LGBT organization,” said Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Republicans and some Democrats say once the bill reaches the floor they will attempt to kill all of ENDA using a maneuver to send it back to committee where it would most likely languish and die in the current session.

Trans-Less ENDA Moves To House Vote

The New York Times reported in their article Ejection of a Woman From a Women’s Room Prompts Lawsuit:

[W]e had not heard of a woman being thrown out of a women’s room — by a worker who didn’t believe she was really a woman — until now.

The woman, Khadijah Farmer, a 28-year-old who lives in Hell’s Kitchen, says she was at the Caliente Cab restaurant in the West Village after the Gay Pride Parade on June 24, when she left the table to go to the women’s room. While she was in there, the male bouncer burst into the bathroom.

“He began pounding on the stall door saying someone had complained that there was a man inside the women’s bathroom, that I had to leave the bathroom and the restaurant,” Ms. Farmer said. “Inside the stall door, I could see him. That horrified me, and it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I said to him, ‘I’m a female, and I’m supposed to be in here.’ After I came out of the bathroom stall, I attempted to show him my ID to show him that I was in the right place, and he just refused to look at my identification. His exact words were, ‘Your ID is neither here nor there,’ which means that my ID didn’t matter to him.”

Ms. Farmer, who is lesbian, describes herself as “not the most feminine,” but she has been a woman her entire life. Her New York State non-driver photo identification card clearly lists her sex as female.

…Today, on Ms. Farmer’s behalf, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court in Manhattan against Caliente Cab, asserting that she was the victim of gender discrimination.

When we discuss ENDA, we shouldn’t be naive. Emasculate women and effeminate men get discriminated against because of their gender expression. The story above, while in its extreme circumstances is unusual, is indicative of a more common experience of people being discriminated against because they don’t conform to societal gender norms.

My own U.S. Navy experience of being sexually harassed for effeminate behavior is documented on the HRC’s website. I was in the U.S. Navy and living as a male at the time of my harassment — the harassment was considered male-to-male sexual harassment.

Khadijah Farmer’s story is important in and of itself because it’s a test on New York City’s law on public accommodation — how well does NYC’s law protect against discrimination based on gender identity or expression. But, it’s not a big mental leap to realize that if discrimination occurs in the area of public accommodation, it’s also likely happening in the area of employment.

Farmer’s story tells us one doesn’t have to be transgender to be discriminated against because of gender identity or expression.

~~~~~
Related:
* How Ignoring Gender Harms Lesbians
* Lesbian booted from NYC bar for looking too masculine

For Sunday, a non-ENDA inclusive edition where we catch up with some of the other recent news …

#1 - AfterElton did a feature on the “TV Landscape Changing for Transgender Characters” …

The portrayal of transgender characters on television these days seems to be sort of a glass-is-either-half-empty-or-half-full situation. For years television has presented a steady stream of “transsexual” prostitutes, murder victims, and other assorted minor characters that usually appeared for one episode and were portrayed as little more than a collection of stereotypes to advance the plot or get a cheap laugh.

A recent example of that aired this past summer on HBO’s hit show Entourage. In the episode “Sorry, Harvey” a secondary storyline centered on Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) trying to get the sad sack mayor of Beverly Hills (played by Groundhog Day’s Stephen Tobolowsky) hooked up with a beautiful woman in order to curry his favor. At a bar to which he takes the mayor, Drama thinks he has succeeded with a woman named Anika — at least until he learns that she is actually transgender.

The mayor turns out not to mind, but the show portrays this as due more to his being so pathetic rather than a message of acceptance. This impression is further underscored by the main characters’ clearly being repulsed at the idea of a transgender person, and by the episode’s big “reveal” when Anika’s male genitalia are shown during a panty-less Britney Spear’s-type incident.

On the “half-full” side of the equation there is ABC’s Ugly Betty. Last season the hit dramedy included Alexis Meade, a transgender character portrayed as self-accepting, not desperate for the approval of a man, and who wasn’t a prostitute. Audiences loved the character.

Already the most diverse network when it comes to LGBT representation, ABC deepened their diversity with two new transgender characters introduced this fall, one each on Dirty Sexy Money and Big Shots. Neither are regulars at this point, and while the Dirty Sexy Money show continues to build on the progress of Ugly Betty, thus far Big Shots is a throwback to more stereotypical portrayals of transgender women. (There are no transgender men – female to male – characters currently on network TV.)

Despite setbacks like the recent episode of Entourage, Mara Keisling, Executive Director for the National Center for Transgender Equality, believes things are improving when it comes to transgender representations on television. “I’m really, really optimistic. Things are changing so much so fast. Oprah has had so many sensitive shows. Montel has done some good shows. Larry King does show after show, and that’s just really educating the public.”

As to what is driving that change, Keisling stated, “It’s just natural that as there are more and more trans people visible in public, that’s going to be reflected in popular culture.”

The rest of that feature can be read here.

Monica Roberts at TransGriot had some thoughts about the role of Dontrelle in Entourage …

It figures that we transsistahs once again get stuck being painted by the hooker brush while white transwomen are seen running a magazine or being the love interest of a US senator.

As the late Esther Rolle said in her Good Times role as Florida Evans, “Damn, Damn, Damn!”

Memo to Hollywood: Is it so hard for you to create an African-American transgender character that fits the reality of the 90% of us who don’t partake of sex work to make our living? Is it that difficult for you to craft an African-American transgender character that isn’t the punchline of a joke or doesn’t end up dead in the first five minutes of the show?

And, by the way, Oprah Winfrey has an upcoming show this week (Friday, 10/12) entitled, “Trangender Families” …

Meet transgender individuals who had the courage to say “this is who I am.” What happens in a family when Dad becomes a woman? Oprah talks with the new American family.

Read the rest of this entry »

Monday edition, where we catch up with some trans-related news from the past few days …

#1 - Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, wrote about ENDA last Friday in the Washington Blade …

…

But the battle is far from over. As we saw from the hate crimes fight, the radical right will stop at nothing to spread misinformation about the bill and defeat ENDA. A few well-placed lies can activate their base in a matter of days. I’ve seen it happen. Even as the legislation goes further than it ever has before both in political process and scope, anti-gay groups were on hand, and they’ve been rapidly increasing their messaging on ENDA this week. Opponents of equality will claim that ENDA creates “special rights” for GLBT workers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

ENDA IS MODELED after Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark legislation that protects individuals against employment discrimination on the basis of race and color, as well as national origin, sex, and religion.

Already we’re seeing the backlash against ENDA from groups like the Traditional Values Coalition, which posted on its web site claims that “ENDA Protects Mental Disorders and Seeks to Silence People of Faith” (despite ENDA’s religious exemption) and “ENDA will force businesses with 15 or more employees to bow to the demands of homosexuals, cross-dressers, drag queens, transsexuals and she-males.” To fight back against this hateful ignorance and persist in advocating for fairness in the workplace, go to www.passendanow.org and find out what you can do to encourage lawmakers to put ENDA on the president’s desk.

Together, we can make our ENDA campaign as strong as possible over the coming weeks. We can win this one, with enough effort. Let’s make sure we do.

Congress should pass ENDA now

#2 - Again from last Friday’s Washington Blade, how Americans say they feel about workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity …

A new survey shows most Americans consider it unfair that workers can be fired from their jobs simply because they are gay.

The latest Out & Equal Workplace survey, conducted last month by Harris Interactive and released Monday, shows 64 percent of the 2,868 polled adults consider it unfair.

“This survey continues to demonstrate that clear majorities of American adults agree that discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is wrong,” said Selisse Berry, executive director at Out & Equal, a national group devoted to gay issues in the workplace.

The survey also found 60 percent of straight adults were unaware that no federal protections are in place to prevent such firings, and 79 percent of straight adults believe job performance should be the standard for judging employees.

The survey comes in the wake of last week’s House hearing on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees.

“This is not as controversial as it used to be,” said Mara Keisling, executive director at the National Center for Transgender Equality. “The public is on our side.”

Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University government professor, agreed. He also noted the public’s support makes ENDA an easy campaign pledge for Democrats to fulfill.

And the prospects for enactment of ENDA? While the outlook in the House seems fairly positive …

… it’s unclear whether that momentum will be sufficient to pass ENDA. Wilcox said Republicans could yet filibuster the proposal.

“The question in the Senate is whether the Republicans would care enough to filibuster,” he said. “It would be a tough bill to filibuster, given the public support, but it’s too early to say.”

President Bush, meanwhile, has not indicated whether he would veto ENDA. Bush said during his 2000 campaign that he does not support ENDA, but his administration has not yet taken a stance on the current House proposal.

Herwitt and Keisling declined to speculate on whether Bush would veto the bill, but Wilcox said Bush’s silence could indicate consent.

#3 - Well, it sure doesnR