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Task Force, Inc., and more than 150 groups announce launch of United ENDA, a nationwide campaign to ensure transgender protections remain in Employment Non-Discrimination Act

More than 150 organizations have joined together in this unified effort to make sure transgender people are not left out of federal employment nondiscrimination legislation

“Never before have we seen our movement so galvanized and so united in an effort to make sure no part of our community is left behind. This is unprecedented.” — Matt Foreman, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., and more than 150 groups announce the launch of a united lobbying and advocacy campaign to win passage of a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), H.R. 2015. Called United ENDA, the campaign builds off the past week’s unprecedented and full-throated determination to maintain protections on the basis of gender identity in ENDA as it was originally introduced.

“This is a defining and morally transformative moment for the LGBT community,” said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc. “Never before have we seen our movement so galvanized and so united in an effort to make sure no part of our community is left behind. This is unprecedented.”

More than 150 organizations have signed on to a joint letter to Congress objecting to a diminished bill that abandons transgender people. These groups, in an ever-expanding list, comprise United ENDA. Groups include the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., National Center for Transgender Equality, Equality Federation, National Association of LGBT Community Centers, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Pride at Work, National Stonewall Democrats and many others.

As a result of the joint letter to Congress and direct lobbying by staff from LGBT organizations, a scheduled House committee hearing on a sexual-orientation-only ENDA was postponed yesterday, providing United ENDA with a short window to continue its advocacy for H.R. 2015. 

United ENDA groups are communicating daily to keep pressure on Congress. The campaign will allow organizations to better coordinate lobbying strategies, grassroots mobilization efforts, online activism, media and legal strategies. The 150-plus organizations that share this position will continue to do their own lobbying, release their own statements and mobilize their own members, while the unified campaign will make sure that every organization has the latest information from Capitol Hill, the latest strategic plans and the most up-to-date reports from the grassroots.

“There isn’t a second to lose on the United ENDA campaign,” said Dave Noble, director of the Task Force’ Public Policy and Government Affairs department. “We must move swiftly to tell all members of Congress that we support ENDA as it was originally introduced and we oppose any efforts to cut transgender people out of the bill. We were successful in stopping action on the sexual-orientation-only version of ENDA, but now we will make good on our promise to support H.R. 2015. United ENDA will help this campaign to stay focused and to coordinate with each other as we move forward.”

Since 1974, the Task Force, Inc., has played a key leading role in efforts to win the broadest possible legal protections for LGBT people. In 1999, the Task Force, Inc., committed itself to passage of a transgender-inclusive ENDA, and has worked to support and mobilize widespread consensus among LGBT organizations that ENDA must include gender identity.

Read the letter to Congress here.

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