LGBT Activists to Dems: “End Your Hypocrisy”
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 16, 2014
CONTACT:
Queer Nation: news@queernationny.org
LGBT Activists to Dems: “End Your Hypocrisy”
ENDA Has Flawed Religious Exemption that House Dems Oppose in Obama EO
New York, NY (July 16, 2014) – After 34 House members who sponsor the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which has a sweeping religious exemption, asked President Barack Obama to exclude such an exemption in a proposed executive order barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity by federal contractors, Queer Nation demanded that they ditch ENDA and support comprehensive civil rights legislation.
“Opposing the religious exemption in the executive order and supporting it in ENDA is hypocrisy and proves that ENDA is flawed,” said Andrew Miller, a member of Queer Nation. “ENDA has our longtime allies tied in knots; it’s time for them to dump ENDA and support comprehensive civil rights legislation.”
ENDA’s exemption would let nearly 200,000 religiously affiliated employers discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. And ENDA bars only employment discrimination. A comprehensive civil rights law would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, education, credit, public accommodations, and federally funded programs.
“Our community deserves comprehensive civil rights legislation – not loopholes, not exceptions, and not a bill that gives us far fewer rights and protections than our fellow Americans have,” Miller said. “A compromise is not equality. ENDA is not equal”
