Representative Barney Frank is reintroducing ENDA; the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. For quite awhile there have been two versions of ENDA being discussed - one that protects for gender identity and expression along with sexual orientation and one that only protects for sexual orientation. Representative Frank is introducing a transgender-inclusive version of ENDA.

ENDA has been introduced and reintroduced for a number of years and it's exciting to hope that with our new administration that we may get this passed and that all LGBT people may enjoy being able to work without hiding who they are.

Here is the release from the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coaliton (MTPC):

Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition Commends Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank and Federal Lawmakers for Introduction of Inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Boston, MA – The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) applauded lawmakers today for introducing an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees from workplace discrimination. The bill, which enjoys bi-partisan support in Congress, would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal employment non-discrimination laws.

“Transgender people continue to face employment discrimination even in states like Massachusetts and the effect of this type of discrimination not only impacts the transgender individual, but also their family for whom they are trying to provide for” said MTPC’s Executive Director Gunner Scott.

Currently, 12 states and more than 100 localities have LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination protections, covering nearly 40 percent of Americans. And, according to numerous surveys, large majorities of likely voters in the U.S. support federal employment non-discrimination laws to protect LGBT people. Polling data from 2006 shows that voters are more likely to support a candidate who votes for LGBT discrimination laws than they are to vote against.

Here in Massachusetts, there have been many notable instances of discrimination against LGBT employees. For instance, Ethan St. Pierre, a transgender man and a former police officer, was removed from his position in the security staff of Sun Microsystems in 2003 – despite multiple positive performance reviews and raises – because the security manager felt that his gender transition made him no longer capable of performing the job. “This experience has resulted in financial and personal losses that continue to be devastating to me,” says St. Pierre.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has protected gay, lesbian and bisexual citizens from discrimination based on their sexual orientation since 1989, and the Massachusetts legislature is currently considering a bill to protect transgender citizens from discrimination based on their gender identities and expressions. “An Act Relative To Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes” H 1728/S 1687 has been co-sponsored by over a hundred legislators, and will have a hearing before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on July 14th.

In 2007, the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition coordinated organizing efforts in Massachusetts in support of a gender identity inclusive ENDA as well as sending a number of transgender people to Washington, DC to lobby their legislators. Former MTPC co-chair, Diego Sanchez, now works as a legislative aide to Representative Barney Frank, who introduced both the previous and current versions of ENDA.

MTPC Steering Committee chair Nancy Nangeroni says that employment discrimination is “one of the ways that people who can't or won't accept our existence try to exterminate us from their lives. Freedom from employment discrimination is a fundamental right whose denial has cost too many transgender people too much for too long."

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