Very thoughtful piece from Kerry taking on the idea that we can't move forward on ENDA and marriage at that same time:
A potentially divisive debate is emerging among some LGBT activists that sets up a false choice between pushing for employment nondiscrimination protections or marriage equality at the federal level. I roundly reject the notion that this is an either-or proposition. As a community, we can and should work on both issues over the next two years. But it's fair to say that while I personally believe these two issues are equally as important, they are not equally situated, and therefore the strategies we must employ to advance them are distinctly different.She also addresses a key point. We still don't know really know why there wasn't even a vote in committee on ENDA:
Of course, some discussions are beginning to happen now, but I don't believe we have really illuminated the problem yet. I have heard people suggest that we had enough votes to pass the legislation in the House but never got that vote because the clock ran out. Some have also hypothesized that DADT repeal and health care sucked up too much time in the schedule to leave room for ENDA.Something went wrong. Our so-called advocates aren't being frank.
From my perspective, this cannot possibly be the whole story. If we truly had the votes in the House and yet failed to move the bill through committee to the floor, then that was a serious strategic misstep even if it would have stalled in the Senate. Bills live and die by momentum. They get a chief sponsor and then more sponsors and then a committee vote and then a floor vote. And maybe they don't pass both chambers one Congress, but if they make it through one, they are better poised to pass through both next time around.
So if we did have the votes and our advocates (lawmakers and groups included) didn't press the issue, that was a critical error. And the idea that there just wasn't room in the calendar because of DADT and health care seems like a red herring as well. Health care was completed in the House in March of 2010. Attaching "don't ask, don't tell" repeal to the Defense authorization bill took place two months later in May, but that was it -- the House had the votes and was ready to go, they were mostly waiting on the Senate Armed Services Committee to line up the votes. So something doesn't add up.
Rather than pointing fingers here, I am simply pointing out that we are miles away from having the full story about ENDA's demise and I don't see how we can possibly expect to develop a strategy around an issue that we can't seem to discuss in full candor.
It is completely realistic -- even for those sophisticated advocates who are "realistic" -- to move forward on both ENDA and marriage. We have to -- and can. Both ENDA and marriage equality are needed to make sure we are truly equal.
