Subject: The Defense Of Marriage Act: Calling Their Bluff.
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 1996 19:10:48 -0400

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NEWS from the
Human Rights Campaign

1101 14th Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
email:  [email-masked]
WWW:    http://www.hrcusa.org
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           THE DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT: Calling Their Bluff
                                
                                 By Daniel Zingale - June 6, 1996

For the last month, the gay and lesbian community has watched the
preposterously named Defense of Marriage Act whiz through Washington like a
runaway train. Anti-gay extremists in Congress have used this bill as an
excuse to spout some of the most hateful -- and false -- rhetoric about our
community in terms lifted straight from the playbooks of religious political
extremists. Even some of our friends in Congress and the president have felt
compelled to voice support for this measure, knowing full well that it is
nothing more than a desperate election-year strategy to help Bob Dole's
torpid campaign for president. 

We have a strategy that calls the bluff of the anti-gay marriage crowd and
could win something for our community in the midst of this ugly, anti-gay
spectacle. The Human Rights Campaign, along with several senators, has
proposed attaching the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to DOMA as an
amendment. 

Offering ENDA as an amendment to the Defense of Marriage Act will put
proponents of the anti-gay bill on the defensive. While they continue to tout
polls showing 70 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage, a full 84 percent
of the country supports equal rights for gay people and opposes job
discrimination, according to a recent Newsweek poll. ENDA would protect
Americans from job discrimination based on sexual orientation.

ENDA already enjoys bipartisan support in the Senate. It has been backed by
major corporations, such as Eastman Kodak, Bethlehem Steel and Quaker Oats.
Republican Govs. William Weld of Massachusetts and Christine Todd Whitman of
New Jersey are in favor of ENDA. President Clinton endorsed the bill last
October. Most people don't even know we can be fired from our jobs for being
gay, and when they find out, they are outraged.

Same-sex marriage is not legal in any of the 50 states. But it is legal in 41
states to fire people from their jobs simply because they are gay. By
attaching ENDA to the Defense of Marriage Act, we and our friends in the
Senate will force that body to debate a gay civil rights bill on the floor.
This would also compel the Senate to vote on ENDA, something that would never
have happened in this Congress if ENDA only existed as a free-standing bill.

We know the deck is stacked against us. HRC realizes that because of the
rules and ideological bent of the House of Representatives, there is little
we can do there to amend or stop the Defense of Marriage Act. And even if we
succeed with our ENDA-DOMA strategy, there is no guarantee that the ENDA
amendment would survive a conference committee, when the House and Senate
reconcile differences in their respective bills.

Nevertheless, the benefits of boldly seizing the agenda outweigh the risks.
If we can get the Senate to debate the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
before the American public, we will have achieved something important. The
whole nation will be watching.

                    ***  Daniel Zingale is the political director of the
                   Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C. ***

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HRC's Online Action Center has been set up to send new letters to Congress on
this issue.  Please got to http://www.hrcusa.org and send letters to your
senators today!  We need everyone's help if this strategy is to work.
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