NOW Urges House to Maintain Broad Protections Against Employment Discrimination

"Our members, through resolutions at our national conferences, have determined that any civil rights bill must include protections against discrimination based on gender identity. We cannot support a bill that does not include a group of people who need the protection addressed by the more inclusive bill," added Olga Vives, NOW's Executive Vice President.

On Tuesday, October 2, the House Education and Labor committee will be discussing ENDA, which was originally introduced to prohibit employers from using a person's real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity as a factor in employment decisions, such as hiring, firing or promotion.

Due to an unfortunate turn of events, the committee will be discussing a version of the bill that limits its protections solely to discrimination based on sexual orientation. Democratic leaders have decided that the original (transgender-inclusive) version, H.R. 2015, is unlikely to pass, so they have proposed a watered down version, H.R. 3685, which removes the language about gender identity.