An Open Letter to Rep. Barney Frank - from Lambda Legal

Dear, This afternoon we sent an open letter to Congressman Barney Frank, responding to a public statement he made yesterday about Lambda Legal's analysis of the weakened Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). We respect Congressman Frank, who has long been an ardent advocate for our communities. We also share with him the goal of enacting a strong and effective law that protects LGBT people from workplace discrimination. But we respectfully disagree with him. Our assessment of the latest version of ENDA stands. We believe the bill is severely weakened by removing protections for transgender people and by creating other loopholes that diminish protections for all LGBT people. As our letter to Congressman Frank states, the new bill is "...far weaker by denying the protection that would have been provided by the earlier version to those who may not identify as transgender but who are discriminated against because they are perceived as gender nonconforming. Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals frequently are perceived that way." Read the full letter to Barney Frank here. Earlier today we also released a joint statement with four other LGBT legal organizations (the ACLU, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and the Transgender Law Center) to further explain our concerns about the new version of ENDA to our communities. As legal organizations, we have together been responsible for most of the public interest litigation involving LGBT rights in this country. We all hear from people every day who have suffered discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Our combined experience shows that we need the strongest laws possible to protect all members of our community from discrimination. Passing a weakened bill now will make it harder for LGBT employees to fight discrimination for years to come. We need a bill that covers all of us, and we pledge to continue to offer our legal expertise as we work to achieve that goal. All best, Kevin Cathcart Executive Director Lambda Legal P.S. Add your voice to the fight...tell your congressperson to support the original version of ENDA that protects everyone! Support Lambda Legal today. Make a donation and support Lambda Legal's groundbreaking impact litigation, public education and advocacy work. All content © 2007 Lambda Legal, Inc. Visit the web address below to tell your friends about Lambda Legal.  Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Lambda Legal. To stop receiving Monthly eNews and Breaking News, click to unsubscribe. To stop ALL email from Lambda Legal, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove" in the subject line).