Are You Serious About Transgender Inclusion in ENDA?

For Immediate Release: Dated September 28, 2007

From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)
Contacts: Vanessa Edwards Foster; Houston, Texas
Chair, Ethan St. Pierre, Haverhill, MA
Contact Email: ntacmedia@aol.com
Contact Phone: 1832 483 9901; 1978 518 1835
Website: http://www.ntac.org/

Are You Serious About Transgender Inclusion in ENDA?

On Wednesday, September 26, the Washington Blade reported that gender identity and expression language in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was being considered for removal from the bill.

ENDA is presently being debated by the House Committee on Education and Labor’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions. If you are a Transgender person, or care about Transgender people, and want the benefits of inclusion in ENDA, the time is now to contact your Congressman. The importance of this is even more extreme if your Congressman is a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, and is more vital yet if they are a member of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

Below, there is a list of Committee Members. Subcommittee Members are marked in red. It is also imperative that the Committee Staff that’s handling ENDA be contacted, as well as the House Speaker, House Majority Leader, co-authors of ENDA (Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin), and House Majority Whip. Those numbers are also included in this release.

Your message to these Members of Congress should be short and to the point. Prepare your script yourself in advance, using your own words. Emphasise that Transgender people are the most discriminated against minority in the workplace today, with estimates of over 70% of Transgender people having actually experienced workplace discrimination. Also mention that, without gender identity and expression language, gay and lesbian people will continue to face legal discrimination in the workplace because of their lack of congruence with societal norms of gender presentation and behaviour. Telling your own story of discrimination, with brevity, is powerful. Finally, ask that the Representative insist on inclusion of gender identity and expression and that he or she vote to pass the bill.

Call, write, fax – don’t wait, contact them now!
Ask to talk with the staff member who is working with the Employment Non-Discrimination or other civil rights legislation.

Committee on Education and Labour
2181 Rayburn House Office Building | Washington, DC 20515 | t: 1202 225 3725
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labour, and Pensions Members in Red

Pertinent Staff Members:
Jody Calemine, Labor Policy Deputy Director
Jeffrey Hancuff, Staff Assistant, Labor

Name State-Dist Phone (202)

Democrats

* George Miller, Chairman (CA-07) 225-2095 2205
* Dale E. Kildee (MI-05) 225-3611 2107
* Donald M. Payne (NJ-10) 225-3436 2209
* Robert E. Andrews (NJ-01) 225-6501 2439
* Robert C. Scott (VA-03) 225-8351 1201
* Lynn C. Woolsey (CA-06) 225-5161 2263
* Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15) 225-2531 2463
* Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04) 225-5516 106
* John F. Tierney (MA-06) 225-8020 2238
* Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10) 225-5871 2445
* David Wu (OR-01) 225-0855 2338
* Rush D. Holt (NJ-12) 225-5801 1019
* Susan A. Davis (CA-53) 225-2040 1526
* Danny K. Davis (IL-07) 225-5006 2159
* Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) 225-2435 1440
* Timothy H. Bishop (NY-01) 225-3826 225
* Linda T. Sánchez (CA-39) 225-6676 1222
* John Sarbanes (MD-03) 225-4016 426
* Joe Sestak (PA-07) 225-2011 1022
* Dave Loebsack (IA-02) 225-6576 1513
* Mazie Hirono (HI-02) 225-4906 1229
* Jason Altmire (PA-04) 225-2565 1419
* John Yarmuth (KY-03) 225-5401 319
* Phil Hare (IL-17) 225-5905 1118
* Yvette Clarke (NY-11) 225-6231 1029
* Joe Courtney (CT-02) 225-2076 215
* Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) 225-5456 1508

Republicans

* Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, Ranking Member (CA-25) 225-1956 2351
* Thomas E. Petri (WI-06) 225-2476 2462
* Peter Hoekstra (MI-02) 225-4401 2234
* Michael N. Castle (DE-At Large) 225-4165 1233
* Mark E. Souder (IN-03) 225-4436 2231
* Vernon J. Ehlers (MI-03) 225-3831 2182
* Judy Biggert (IL-13) 225-3515 1034
* Todd Russell Platts (PA-19) 225-5836 1032
* Ric Keller (FL-8) 225-2176 419
* Joe Wilson (SC-02) 225-2452 212
* John Kline (MN-02) 225-2271 1429
* Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05) 225-2006 1708
* Kenny Marchant (TX-24) 225-6605 1037
* Tom Price (GA-06) 225-4501 424
* Luis G. Fortuao (PR) 225-2615 126
* Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (LA-07) 225-2031 1117
* Virginia Foxx (NC-05) 225-2071 430
* John R. “Randy” Kuhl, Jr. (NY-29) 225-3161 1505
* Rob Bishop (UT-01) 225-0453 124
* David Davis (TN-01) 225-6356 514
* Timothy Walberg (MI-07) 225-6276 325
* Dean Heller (NV-02) 225-6155 1023

Other Members of Congress who should be contacted:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 225-4965 235
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer 225-4131 1705
Barney Frank 225-5931 2252
Tammy Baldwin 225-2906 2446
Majority Whip James Clyburn 225-3315 2135

This is the closest we have ever been to passing a Transgender-inclusive ENDA bill. Don’t let political weakness rob us of our rights once again. Call now.

Founded in 1999, NTAC – the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition – is a civil rights organisation working to establish and maintain the right of all Transgender, intersex, and gender-diverse people to live and work without fear of violence or discrimination.

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