From: Hrccomm@aol.com Date: Fri, 7 Jun 1996 19:10:48 -0400 Subject: The Defense Of Marriage Act: Calling Their Bluff. ________________________________________________________ NEWS from the Human Rights Campaign 1101 14th Street NW Washington, DC 20005 email: communications@hrcusa.org WWW: http://www.hrcusa.org ________________________________________________________ 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. *** ________________________________________________________ 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. ________________________________________________________