Shame: Southern Democrats vote against ENDA
by Matt | November 9th, 2007 |The United States House of Representatives passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act by a vote of 235-184 on Wednesday, Nov. 7.
There has been quite a bit of debate over the inclusion or exclusion of transgender protections in the bill. From a Q-Notes article from Oct. 20:
At the end of September, U.S. House leaders including openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would no longer contain protections for transgender Americans.
Their announcement provoked a firestorm of controversy, in-fighting and division among the LGBT community. At the same time, however, the response to the announcement provided a chance for hundreds of national and state LGBT organizations to unite for a transgender-inclusive ENDA.
On Wednesday, there were about seven Democrats who voted against ENDA specifically because it did not include protections for trans Americans. In total, however, 25 Democrats voted against the bill. Eighteen of them voted against it because they were opposed to ENDA in any form (read: discrimination is okay in America, as long as we’re discriminating against the ho-mo-sek-shuls).
Of course, it should come as no surprise (to me, or any other person) that those Dems who voted against ENDA because they were opposed to it in any form are all mostly from the South (two of them, McIntyre and Shuler, are from North Carolina):
John Barrow (D-Georgia)
Marion Berry (D-Arkansas)
Bud Cramer (D-Alabama)
Artur Davis (D-Alabama)
Lincoln Davis (D-Tennessee)
Chet Edwards (D-Texas)
Nick Lampson (D-Texas)
Dan Lipinski (D-Illinois)
Jim Marshall (D-Georgia)
Mike McIntyre (D-North Carolina)
Charlie Melacon (D-Louisiana)
Nick Rahall (D-West Virginia)
Heath Shuler (D-North Carolina)
Ike Skelton (D-Missouri)
John Tanner (D-Tennessee)
Gene Taylor (D-Mississippi)
McIntyre’s vote against ENDA doesn’t surprise me. In fact, I kind of expected it. After all, it was McIntyre who voted against the hate crimes bill and who accepted the “Defender of Marriage” award from the Alliance for Marriage, a right-wing group pushing to create constitutional discrimination against LGBT people.
Shuler’s vote doesn’t surprise me either. He also voted against the hate crimes bill and has been pushing his “conservative North Carolina values” in order to remain favorable as a Democrat representing our state’s mountainous backwoods. Now, I’m not saying the mountains are full of hicks, but they certainly are among the most conservative parts of the otherwise progressive-when-compared-to-other-Southern-states North Carolina.
I’m a North Carolina Democrat… I’ve always admitted it. That means I can be conservative on some issues. But that also means that I continue to see that America is a place where all people should be able to experience the same rights and have equality under the law. I have faith that my Democratic leadership in Raleigh understands this. They have been the ones to stop any anti-gay legislation from passing our legislature in the last decade (the last time an anti-gay piece of legislation passed the N.C. Legislature was in 1996 — the Defense of Marriage Act).
We’ve made progress in this state. I’m so very proud of my beautiful, fellow Tar Heels. Our House passed an anti-bullying bill protecting LGBT students and we have an openly gay man running for U.S. Senate (a political rarity that has happened only once before in this nation). We have several openly gay elected officials across the state, including state Sen. Julia Boseman (D-New Hanover).
It is time for all of our dear North Carolina Dems to catch up with the times. The party needs to pull them out of 1950 and into 2007. And, if they truly feel the way the feel, our 1950 N.C. Dems need to switch parties and stop giving us a bad name.
3 Responses to “Shame: Southern Democrats vote against ENDA”
Yeah Matt, At least your state didn’t have the only member of the congressional black caucus to vote anti gay. Thanks Artur!
you can catch my post about it up at Sweet Homo Alabama.
Also, yeah this is the same zach from gaylynews
By Zach on Nov 9, 2007
I know that feeling, my friend - it sucks, and it feels a lot like betrayal. Feel it, acknowledge it, take a breath, and get back to work. You’ve got a tough row to hoe out there, but it’s work worth doing - and you’re right, there’s been progress. Be proud of that, and keep hope for the future. I’ll do the same over on my side of the aisle (and I’m pretty dang proud of those 35 Republicans, particularly the midwesterners, who voted our way!)
By Casey on Nov 9, 2007