Connect with us

Mr. President, Sign ENDA Executive Order; Call On Congress To Pass ENDA

Published

on

GetEQUAL LGBT activists have been pressuring President Obama to sign an executive order extending non-discrimination for LGBT workers employed by federal contracts, while hoping  Obama will call on Congress tonight to adopt ENDA 

On Sunday and the eve of President Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress, GetEQUAL activists once again returned to direct action pressure tactics in pressing the White House to enact a federal executive order by extending workplace anti-discrimination protection to LGBT workers on federal contracts, and by staging “ENDA Executive Order” actions across the street from the White House, joining with the Maryland Light Brigade (see photograph above).

GetEQUAL ‘s direct action is always intended to bring attention to unjust situations confronting the LGBT community and in this instance, to pressure President Obama to keep his promise made during the 2008 campaign that he would sign an Executive Order extending job protection to LGBT workers on federal contracts.  And why specifically for federal contracts?  Because government funded federal contracts employs nearly a quarter of American workers and constitutes about 20 percent of the US annual GDP–a sizable chunk of the American economy.

This is nothing to sneeze at because LGBT workers in America have no federal protection from discrimination (except for those  workers in federal agencies that have been extended protection by an executive order).

Indeed, there is a huge undefended workplace without any legal redress in most of America if you are fired for being lesbian, gay or bi-sexual or transgender (see Center for American Progress report for a comprehensive overview).

Negotiating the workplace discrimination for LGBT Americans is a daily mine field, fraught with justifiable fear.  And yet, Congress has failed to muster the votes to adopt the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, although it has been introduced in every Congress since 1994 and has sizable public support for such a measure.

During the months leading up to President Barack Obama’s re-election last November, America’s LGBT groups united around the issue, pressing the President to take action and sign the executive order.  But the White House and the Obama re-election campaign pushed back (even though the campaign sought sizable amounts of cash from the gay community) making the point repeatedly  that the President would not sign such an executive order before the election.

In recent days, there has been a flurry of news stories emanating from White House statements which have included a statement issued by White House spokesman Shin Inouye who told The Washington Blade on Sunday “…that we do not expect that an executive order on LGBT non-discrimination for federal contractors will be issued at this time. We support ENDA and we will continue to work to build support for it.”  However, in a Washington Post story, also appearing on Sunday, cited unnamed White House sources who said that the President maybe reconsidering his earlier decision not to issue the executive order, if Congress fails to pass ENDA, a more comprehensive set of workplace protections.

With “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” repealed and in an ongoing implementation process and the Defense of Marriage Act before the U.S. Supreme Court for review next month, the only other major LGBT legal barrier that remains, is the passage of ENDA by Congress.

A serious commitment to passing ENDA legislation is not evident anywhere–not in the White House, or in the Congress and not even evident among leading organizations within our own community.

In this endeavor, all roads lead to the Human Rights Campaign, which controls the federal legislative agenda on LGBT issues, and it also appears to be satisfied with the status quo:  the White House says they are building support for the measure with no evidence to substantiate this repeated mantra; no Congressional hearings have been held in a number of years; no public education efforts have been launched in using compelling stories of those who have suffered job discrimination; and no serious lobbying efforts have been launched to schedule a vote in the Senate, which has a decent chance to win a whipped vote and create a public record of accountability.

In reviewing the workplace issue landing page of the Human Rights Campaign website, information about the ENDA measure is buried and requires two additional clicks to access it.  Clearly, ENDA does not have a visible priority at HRC either.

Without a serious campaign on workplace discrimination, the stories of workplace injustice that exists in the LGBT community remains invisible, unknown and without legal redress, as long as the status quo remains the political sine quo non of the day.   What is the Human Rights Campaign waiting for to work a vote in the Senate and bring the stories of LGBT American workers to Capitol Hill?   Are they waiting for Gallup polls to rise to 75 percent support for workplace protections for LGBT persons?

GETEQUALENDATXIndeed, a public education campaign is sorely needed based upon the 2011 Center for American Progress polling data on the issue revealed  that 9 of 10 people think there’s already a federal law barring LGBT discrimination.

Complacency and politics as usual is an approach that  GetEQUAL rejects outright. Indeed, we embrace the Obama expression of the “urgency of now” on pushing for passage of a federal workplace anti-discrimination measure.  It is urgent to address this unacceptable dark reality of so many of our sisters and brothers.  They live in fear and many are forced to remain in the closet or mislead people about who they truly are–it is a living hell and it is unacceptable.

As Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail:  “We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.

This is the right time to push and pressure President Obama relentlessly to sign an ENDA Executive Order.  This the right time to push for Congressional hearings and votes on ENDA in the Senate and shame the House into action.  GetEQUAL has forcefully acted to bring LGBT workplace discrimination to the attention of President Obama and we will continue to demand action from our government, elected officials and of organizations in our community.  Join us and become a partner in this righteous endeavor to demand and achieve full equality for LGBT Americans and their families under federal law in all civil matters.

Images courtesy of GetEQUAL
Tanya domi 1.2010Tanya L. Domi is chair of the board of directors for GetEQUAL.

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

OPINION

‘Hunger Games at NBC News’: New McDaniel Revelations Have ‘Enraged’ Staffers, Report Says

Published

on

The backlash from NBC News’ hiring of Ronna McDaniel is not over. New reporting from Puck, CNN, and The Washington Post reveals the considerable efforts from top NBC and MSNBC brass to recruit, hire, and support the former RNC chair who promoted false election claims, was allegedly involved in helping Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, and refused to say Joe Biden had been elected fairly.

Staffers at NBC News and MSNBC were outraged at McDaniel’s hiring, but new details about behind-the-scenes efforts reportedly have increased that outrage.

Some critics are either calling for resignations of NBC News and MSNBC  leadership, or questioning how long they can ride out the mess.

“What is Brian Roberts going to do?” CNN‘s Oliver Darcy asks. “The Comcast boss is watching an unceasing five-alarm fire rage at 30 Rock, scarring the reputation of NBC News and threatening to consume multiple parts of the Cesar Conde-run NBC Universal News Group.”

“Conde has lost control of his organization, prompting industry insiders to wonder how he continues to remain in his role as chairman of the NBC News Group. In the words of one veteran media executive I spoke to Wednesday, ‘It’s inconceivable that he should,'” Darcy writes, saying Conde’s actions and those of his top executives have “hosed gasoline” on the scandal.

READ MORE: Lawmaker Slammed for Claiming College Basketball Players Were Actually ‘Illegal Invaders’

That scandal involves these revelations from Puck’s Dylan Byers, who reports, “bringing McDaniel to 30 Rock had been part of a nearly two-month-long effort that was spearheaded by Budoff Brown and her boss, NBC News President Rebecca Blumenstein, with buy-in from Conde and his deputies at both NBC News and MSNBC.”

“Rashida Jones,” he adds, “the president of MSNBC, was very interested in having McDaniel appear as a contributor on her network, as well.”

But this bombshell has drawn a good deal of attention. Noting how Chuck Todd led off the very public pushback against the hiring of McDaniel, Byers reports, “On Sunday, Budoff Brown reached out to McDaniel’s aide and former chief of staff at the R.N.C., Richard Walters, to see if there were any friends or colleagues who could speak up on her behalf.”

“The two sides also discussed having these folks call attention to what they saw as a double standard—after all, this was the same network that was turning Psaki, a former Biden White House Press Secretary, into a Maddow-adjacent prime time star. Walters later assured Budoff Brown that they’d been able to advance conservative pushback on social media against Todd, specifically, and that this might give NBC News some cover, for which Budoff Brown thanked him.”

CNN, pointing to those details, adds, “staffers inside NBC News are enraged at the fact an executive would have engaged in such behavior.”

Former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacobs, who now writes about politics and the media, called for the firing of Jones, Blumenstein, and Budoff Brown.

Other critics are expressing concerns on multiple fronts.

READ MORE: Ronna McDaniel Is Just a ‘Normal’ Person Who ‘Never Denied the Election’ Says Hugh Hewitt

“It’s like the hunger games at @NBCNews. Every day new, horrible stories of journalism & corporate malpractice. Every single one of these managers must go,” observed Jennifer Schulze, a media critic who was a Chicago Sun-Times executive producer, WGN news director, and adjunct college professor of journalism.

She also highlights a Washington Post report that ropes NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt into the mess.

“Every @NBCNews exec who thought hiring a reputed liar & phony elector co-[conspirator] needs to resign or be fired,” Schulze says.

“The @NBCNews managers who recruited & signed an election denier should be out the door, too,” she adds. “Not only was it downright offensive to hire Ronna, it was journalism AND corporate malpractice.”

Pointing to his newsletter, former Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer writes, “NBC’s ill-fated decision to hire Ronna McDaniel is a story of a media outlet unwilling to accept the ways Trump changed politics, but it’s also one of the best arguments for Dems need to build our media ecosystem ASAP.”

READ MORE: Comer Refuses to Investigate Trump Family Member Over ‘Influence Peddling’ Allegation

He calls McDaniel’s hiring “evidence” the media has “yet to accept the reality that this is not a normal election between a Republican and a Democrat.” And adds, “An [industry] that prizes objectivity above all else, is incapable of accurately covering an election where one candidate is a normal politician and the other is an insurrectionist. Many in the media would rather stumble into autocracy than take a side.”

Veteran journalist and Sirius XM host Michelangelo Signorile observes, “We couldn’t have asked for a better situation to shine a bright light on the corruption of the corporate media—and its impulse to legitimize MAGA extremism and lawbreakers for profit—than NBC’s hiring former RNC chair, election denier, and Trump enabler Ronna McDaniel.”

And he warns, “The forces that made the coup-plotting former RNC chair a paid contributor are still shaping news and information about this pivotal election.”

 

Continue Reading

News

Lawmaker Slammed for Claiming College Basketball Players Were Actually ‘Illegal Invaders’

Published

on

Michigan MAGA Republican state Rep. Matt Maddock is under fire after claiming three buses were “loaded up with illegal invaders.” The buses, according to multiple reports, were actually loaded with the Gonzaga University basketball team arriving for March Madness.

“Happening right now. Three busses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where they’re headed with their police escort?” Rep. Maddock wrote on social media Wednesday evening, tagging far-right former U.S. Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands under Donald Trump and is now the state’s Republican Party chair.

Informed of his error on social media, Rep. Maddock doubled down, and attacked.

READ MORE: Ronna McDaniel Is Just a ‘Normal’ Person Who ‘Never Denied the Election’ Says Hugh Hewitt

“Probably teams for the NCAA Mens Sweet 16 playing at LCA on Friday and Sunday,” a user on X wrote.

“Sure kommie. Good talking point,” Maddock quickly shot back.

ABC affiliate WXYZ executive producer Maxwell White, responding to the Maddock’s original post wrote: “Just to be clear, this was the Gonzaga basketball team. Photos show Gonzaga getting on an Allegiant plane to Detroit for the Sweet 16, and Flight Radar shows a plane from GEG to DTW landed at 7:25 p.m., around the time this photo was posted.”

“This is a wild tweet,” White added, before adding more evidence.

Hoekstra, who was accused of using racism and xenophobia to win his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat (he lost), did not respond directly to Maddock but did repost the apparently false claim.

Michigan State Senate Democratic Majority Whip Mallory McMorrow denounced Maddock’s claim as “dangerous.”

Maddock’s remark also made the national stage when U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell responded.

READ MORE: Trump Campaign Says It Will Deploy ‘Soldiers’ to Polling Places

“Hey Einstein,” the California Democrat wrote, “your state is hosting the Sweet 16. Could it be a team bus? If it is, will you resign for your spectacular stupidity?”

In 2021 The Washington Post reported, “Michigan state Rep. Matt Maddock and his wife, Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock, have repeatedly been called out by fact-checking journalists for promoting baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and falsely suggesting that covid-19 is comparable to the flu.”

See the social media posts above 0r at this link.

 

Continue Reading

OPINION

Ronna McDaniel Is Just a ‘Normal’ Person Who ‘Never Denied the Election’ Says Hugh Hewitt

Published

on

Right-wing talk radio show host Hugh Hewitt is facing backlash after declaring former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, who was ousted after her hiring cost NBC News a tumultuous five days, a “normal” person who has “never denied the election.”

Last summer, The Washington Post‘s Philip Bump reported McDaniel “is still elevating 2020 election skepticism,” and “won’t say the election was fair.”

“I don’t think he won it fair. I don’t. I’m not going to say that,” McDaniel had said to CNN.

“CNN teased an upcoming interview between host Chris Wallace and Ronna McDaniel,” Bump wrote. “In the clip, Wallace asks McDaniel when she stopped being an ‘election denier’ — that is, someone who espouses skepticism about the validity of the election results. And, surprise! McDaniel never stopped.”

Bump also explained the danger in election denialism: “McDaniel won’t say Biden was legitimately elected because the base doesn’t want to hear it — but the base doesn’t want to hear it in part because leaders such as McDaniel won’t simply admit without qualifications that Biden won.”

READ MORE: Comer Refuses to Investigate Trump Family Member Over ‘Influence Peddling’ Allegation

“Establishing a system in which any loss can easily be framed as illegitimate means establishing a system in which no loss is accepted as valid,” Bump continued. “It means institutionalizing the idea that elections are inaccurate gauges of public opinion and, therefore, that the winners of those elections have no mandate to serve.”

On Wednesday Hewitt, a Washington Post columnist and former Reagan White House aide, said on Fox News that McDaniel “is a fine Republican. She is not an election denier. She has never denied the election.”

Former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh responded to that clip.

Bullshit Hugh. With Trump, she pressured MI canvassers to not certify the results; with Trump, she pressured other state attorney’s to sue & invalidate results in MI, PA, & WI; she worked with Trump on the fake electors scheme; she lied about charges of voter fraud well after those charges had been debunked. No major party chair in American history has done more to dispute a legit election. Shame on you,” Walsh wrote.

Media Matters’ Eric Kleefeld, also responding to that clip: “Somebody who helped coordinate fake electors and passed a resolution calling Jan. 6 ‘legitimate political discourse’ is not normal, and we must at all steps refuse to treat them as such.”

READ MORE: Greene Says She Won’t Take Responsibility if Johnson Loses Speaker’s Gavel Before Election

Hewitt had also told Fox News, “I don’t know who is going to keep MSNBC informed of what normal people think, because Ronna McDaniel is about as normal as they come. She’s a Michigan mom, she’s been in the job seven years. She represents the Republican Party.”

McDaniel, it could be said, does not represent the Republican Party, not the MAGA America First Republican Party of today, neither literally nor figuratively. Donald Trump engineered her ouster and installed his handpicked replacements, including his daughter-in-law and Michael Whatley, a right-wing attorney who was part of the Bush recount team during the contested 2000 presidential election.

The Atlantic’s Norman Ornstein, an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), blasted Hewitt, calling him “an utter disgrace,” while adding, “shame on those like the Washington Post who showcase him.”

Adam Cohen, vice chair of Lawyers for Good Government, pointedly responded to Hewitt: “Hate to tell you this, but normal people don’t try to foment a coup, or deny the truth about election results Like Ronna McDaniel did.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Campaign Says It Will Deploy ‘Soldiers’ to Polling Places

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.