Comments on: Will Obama include ENDA in State of the Union?

By: Patrick Babineau

Patrick Babineau — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 06:57:04 +0000

It's most appropriate of us to ask the president to address the decades old Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in his State of the Union address. if not now, when? We are the last group still in the back of the bus. We should be proud of all the social justice work we have done for others but now for LGBT rights too! The discrimination hurts many of us in real ways now.

By: Luis H. Lopez

Luis H. Lopez — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 01:32:12 +0000

Although he has been an progressive on some issues we cannot depend on him, put pressure on the Goverment with protest and remember the long struggle of the gay liberation movement forced the evolution of most of society!

By: Adam Everett Colclasure

Adam Everett Colclasure — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 20:03:34 +0000

I think it's rather, presumptuous to think Obama will address ENDA specifically, on an executive order process anyway, whether one likes it or not that's going to be a Senate and house decision not a president decision. The president is more likely, to address, the federal works thing or even the new contraception law for insurance. I'd be grateful if he mentioned a need for more states too have hate crimes legislation and to know how to process that legislation and to get more rights in public accommodation and not just in government accommodations.

By: Jean Pierre Katz

Jean Pierre Katz — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 07:06:46 +0000

It's time for action not mere talk to end the threat of being fired just for being gay.

Then we could believe America really is a free country.

By: brian

brian — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:38:41 +0000

I don’t see what the WH’s concern is when it comes to federal contractor anti-LGBT discrimination. Exactly where is the clamor on the other side demanding a right to discriminate against LGBT employees with federal contract moneys?

I don’t mind if the president lags a step behind the American people. We want our president to be a strong, persuasive and effective leader in all areas of his presidency. This term is for the history books, after all.

But President Obama has fallen several steps behind the public’s sentiment in favor of workplace LGBT fairness and non-discrimination now.

Federal contracting authority is identified in peoples’ minds as the president’s ‘bailiwick’. President Obama is the titular Executive Officer of the U.S. federal government– the largest buyer of goods and services in the world. In corporate and academic America, that makes the Prez the federal ‘BOSS’. Even bigger than Bruce.

Accordingly, it can not be seen as anything but hypocritical, embarrassing– and politically ‘wobbly’ that the president has not issued a non-dicriminaton Executive Order for federal contractors.

Moreover, it is a really small thing to do now. Public opinion has moved swiftly in favor of LGBT fairness. An EO will NOT eat up any serious presidential political capital. Probably, net, net, now, it would be just the opposite.

But the worst thing about the WH dancing around a federal contractor EO is that Congress will take nervous, negative cues regarding their need to act on a full ENDA– precisely from the president’s own inaction.

We need lots of fairly ‘conservative’ people in Congress to stiffen their spines to vote for a full ENDA, and they’re just not going to do that if the Prez goes ‘all wobbly’ on what’s perceived as ‘his’ portion of political responsibility.