{"id":526,"date":"2009-08-06T16:56:23","date_gmt":"2009-08-06T22:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookcountypd.org\/blog\/?p=526"},"modified":"2009-08-06T16:56:23","modified_gmt":"2009-08-06T22:56:23","slug":"it-is-time-to-pass-enda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/08\/06\/it-is-time-to-pass-enda\/","title":{"rendered":"It Is Time to Pass ENDA"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-weight: normal;\">From the AFSCME Website:<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"date\">August 6th, 2009<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry\">\n<p>The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was reintroduced yesterday in the U.S. Senate.\u00a0 Two Democrats \u2013 Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) \u2013 along with two Republicans \u2013 Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) \u2013 are named as the lead cosponsors, the first time the bill has had bipartisan lead sponsors in the Senate.<\/p>\n<p>This bill, which would extend existing federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination to protect people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, is much needed and long overdue.\u00a0 AFSCME is a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.afscme.org\/press\/16424.cfm\">longtime supporter<\/a> of the bill.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThroughout our long history, Americans have fought to break down the barriers that deny opportunity and equality to our fellow citizens. Through civil rights legislation and constitutional amendments, we have worked to ensure that equal justice under law would be a standard for all who work and live in the United States. The passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will write a new and important chapter in this proud story.\u201d\u00a0\u2013 AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sen. Kennedy issued a statement saying:\u201cThe promise of America will never be fulfilled as long as justice is denied to even one among us. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act brings us closer to fulfilling that promise for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senator Collins commented: \u201cSimilar to the current law in several states, including Maine, and the policies of many Fortune 500 companies, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would close an important gap in federal civil rights laws by making it illegal to discriminate in employment. I am pleased to join Senators Merkley, Kennedy and Snowe in introducing this important legislation which affirms the principle that individuals should be judged on their skills and abilities, and not by who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pride at Work, the voice of the LGBT community in the labor movement, is encouraging union members to contact your senators to urge them to cosponsor this important legislation. You can send an email to your senators by clicking on this link:<a href=\"http:\/\/www.unionvoice.org\/campaign\/ENDA09_Senate\">http:\/\/www.unionvoice.org\/campaign\/ENDA09_Senate<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the AFSCME Website: August 6th, 2009 The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was reintroduced yesterday in the U.S. Senate.\u00a0 Two Democrats \u2013 Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) \u2013 along with two Republicans \u2013 Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) \u2013 are named as the lead cosponsors, the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/local3315.org\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}