ENDA, or the Employee Non-Discrimination Act, should it be passed, is one of the most progressive steps that the U.S. Congress has made in the field for a number of years. The bill still has to pass the Senate, and avoid Presidential veto, but the effects that it has already on the corporate world is heartening to the struggle for total, equivocal equality in the workplace of the 21st century. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin (and the District of Columbia) have already passed laws prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination to a much greater degree then ENDA would cover, should it pass.

Without getting too detailed of a discussion begun in too limited of a forum, a number of the problems the various GLBT groups are having with the limited scope of ENDA will be detailed. The major sticking point in everyone�s craw is the exemption of the Armed Forces to this bill. This means that all the regressive laws of the military would still remain intact, such as the �don�t ask, don�t law� ruling. For ENDA to be considered a serious, all-reaching bill, the Armed Forces must be blanked by the act. It is simply ludicrous that such a large facet of the government would not be covered by one of the most important GLBT-themed laws to ever come this far at a national level.

Other issues present themselves to those who read the legalese of the actual bill, of which a summary can be found at hrc.org. These issues, of which, also include the fact that the law doesn�t apply retroactively, which keeps it from affecting those organizations who have fired people in the past, and also keep the law from applying to religious organizations. So, while the Baptists, Catholics, and Jehovah�s Witnesses reshuffle their organizations in order to weed out suspected pedophiles, it is perfectly alright to not allow a homosexual or bisexual person into the clergy just because of some skewed sort of world view makes them believe that just because they are more same-sex oriented then heterosexual people that it makes them more prone to pedophilia and the like.

I am not saying to not support ENDA because of these flaws. Fight for this law to be passed. Get in touch with your congressperson, and try to get them to support this bill. We must take what we can get, and always fight for more. Simply rejecting this bill for the reason that it is flawed would be like rejecting a 100 dollar bill just because it had a rip on it. We can repair that rip, and even get a new hundred dollar bill. Support ENDA.