Subject: ENDA Now Free-Standing Vote On Tuesday
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 10:40:13 -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
________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, Sept. 6, 1996

IN A STUNNING TURN OF EVENTS, ANTI-GAY JOB BIAS BILL SCHEDULED FOR
FREE-STANDING VOTE NEXT WEEK

Senate Set for Historic Vote on the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act Tuesday, Sept. 10

WASHINGTON -- In a late-night announcement on the Senate floor, and a
stunning turn of events, Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., announced
yesterday that the Employment Non- Discrimination Act (ENDA) will come up for
a vote as a free- standing bill next Tuesday, Sept. 10. ENDA, a bill first
introduced in 1994, would ban job discrimination against lesbian, gay and
bisexual people.

"We are within striking distance of passing the Employment Non-Discrimination
Act in the Senate," said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest national gay political organization.
"While still an uphill battle, a momentous civil rights victory for our
community, our families, our friends, and indeed all fair-minded Americans is
within reach."

Lott announced that ENDA would be voted on the same day as the so-called 
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a bill originally sponsored by Republican
presidential nominee Bob Dole that would deny federal recognition of same-sex
marriages in the event that a state should ever legalize such marriages in
the future.  ENDA was to be offered as an amendment to the anti-gay bill as
part of an agreement made before Congress recessed in August. "When it became
apparent to the anti-gay bill's sponsors that ENDA could pass, they balked
and the agreement collapsed," said Daniel Zingale, HRC's political director.
DOMA's sponsors feared that ENDA would kill their bill if it was successfully
attached, and worked frantically behind the scenes to unravel the agreement.
 "We were a victim of our own success," said Zingale. "While killing the
Defense of Marriage Act would have been an outstanding result in our view,
the introduction of ENDA as an amendment was simply an attempt to gain
something positive out of an utterly dismal political situation."

Zingale said that HRC has counted 43 senators voting for ENDA and has
targeted 14 others whose support is possible. In a New York Times interview
published today, Senator Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., announced his support for
the measure. "My position is clear: People should be judged on the basis on
their ability," D'Amato told the Times, predicting the Senate would
ultimately approve ENDA.

At the same time the Human Rights Campaign is hailing the prospects of
passing landmark civil rights legislation in the Senate, it vowed to continue
fighting the Defense of Marriage Act in Congress and beyond. "While DOMA
proponents continue to inaccurately soft peddle their aim as reasonable --
denying gay people equal marriage rights will not stand," Birch said. "In the
end America has always come down on the side of fairness, and there is no
question in our minds that denying legal recognition of our relationships is
discriminatory and unconstitutional. We will do everything in our power to
work to defeat DOMA legislatively, and in our country's courts of law and
public opinion."

Earlier this month the Human Rights Campaign aired televsion commercials in
San Diego at the Republican National Convention  asserting that "Bob Dole and
Congress have better things to do than attack gay relationships."

The organization ran a different commercial this week in the Washington area,
entitled "Fairness," showcasing four very different public figures -- New
Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Coretta Scott King, former U.S. Sen.
Barry Goldwater and Kathleen Gingrich, mother of House Speaker Newt Gingrich
-- all of whom agree that gay people deserve basic job protection and support
the bill.

"A gay person can legally be fired simply for being gay in 41 states,"  David
M.Smith, HRC communications director, said at a news conference Tuesday to
release the ad. "The four national figures featured in our ad are among the
85 percent of Americans who agree that job discrimination against gay men and
lesbians is wrong."

ENDA prohibits quotas, and does not apply to religious organizations,  small
businesses, and the military. Next week's Senate vote on the measure will
mark the first time in the history of the United States that Congress has
voted on a civil rights bill that would include lesbian and gay Americans.

The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political
organization, with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies
Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that
lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and
in the community.

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