HRC Back Story

In our previous post, I published HRC's statement from our Board of Directors that reiterated the organization's policy to only support an ENDA bill covering transgender individuals. That statement ended with this final thought from HRC president Joe Solmonese:

“Some may say we should have joined the growing chorus of public dissenters earlier.  We believed, and still do, that the correct course of action was to continue dialogue with our allies on the Hill and work to the last minute to effect change,” said Solmonese. “That decision, in addition to yesterday’s letter signed by GLBT and civil rights organizations, paid off when we were able to engage in direct conversations that resulted in a guarantee from House leadership to postpone the mark-up until later this month.”

I've just checked in with our lobby team to get more of the Back Story on what offline actions HRC was taking as the ENDA debate raged online, and here's what I learned:

• First, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) had a meeting on Thursday, September 27 with civil rights and GLBT groups to announce that he was moving forward with introducing two ENDA bills: a sexual orientation bill and a gender identity bill.
• The following day, Congressman Frank and Speaker Pelosi issued statements announcing the two-bill strategy.
• Throughout the day on Friday, several GLBT groups came out in opposition to the strategy and to the sexual orientation-only bill. Later that day, Congressman Frank posted his reasons behind the two-bill strategy on The Bilerico Project. Joe Solmonese also weighed in on the recent ENDA developments on Back Story and The Bilerico Project.
• HRC did not join that initial chorus of public opposition because we did not want to cut off conversation with Congressman Frank and the Democratic leadership at this crucial moment.
• Beginning on Thursday and continuing throughout the day on Friday, HRC's political team strongly and clearly communicated to key staff on Capitol Hill that HRC opposed the two bill strategy - and that we wanted to see if there were other options available.
• Although HRC's team was well aware of the heated discussions taking place online and throughout the GLBT community, they thought it best to focus on continuing discussions with Capitol Hill leaders and to remain in constant contact to try and influence the outcome.
• On Saturday, HRC conveyed an emergency meeting of key strategists and advisors to determine the best course of action to achieve an inclusive ENDA - and to stop the rush towards a quick House vote on a non-inclusive bill. That day, HRC agreed to join the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) and other groups in sending a letter to Speaker Pelosi asking that the markup scheduled for Tuesday, October 2, be canceled.
• On Monday, the LCCR letter was sent to Speaker Pelosi. HRC turned out every friend and ally close to Congressman Frank and the leadership to communicate the importance of an inclusive bill, and the need for more time for the community to let their voices be heard.
• Throughout the day, HRC president Joe Solmonese and other HRC staff maintained constant contact with Capitol Hill leaders and allies to convey the organization's concerns and the importance of passing an inclusive ENDA.
• That afternoon, Speaker Pelosi and Congressmen Frank and George Miller (the chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee) and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin released a joint statement announcing that the ENDA markup and floor vote would take place later in the month.

Throughout the turbulence to get ENDA through the legislative process, our staff has been in constant conversations with Capitol Hill leaders to make sure that our voice was heard in support of a trans-inclusive ENDA bill.  This dialogue would have been impossible if HRC had staked out a position in opposition to the bill at that time. And, whether people want to hear it or not, we have to work with those leaders in the future, not only on ENDA, but to obtain final passage of Hate Crimes and a wide array of other issues.