Proposed Transgender Discrimination Protections Spark Debate
Updated April 22, 9:30 a.m. ET
A House committee is poised to vote on a bill that would protect employees from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, but an opponent of the legislation said on "Washington Unplugged" today that Democratic leaders can't afford to make their members "walk the plank" with another controversial vote. Meanwhile, an advocate of the bill said it reflects fundamental American values.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has promised a vote either this week or next on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill he sponsored (it has 198 co-sponsors). Democrats have tried to pass a version of the legislation for years, but social conservatives say the bill is now especially controversial because of the protections it would grant to transgender and transsexual teachers.
"This bill will override the law in 38 states and make it so that a school district and a local school will be unable to make hiring decisions regarding transgendered teachers," Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, a conservative lobbying group which claims to represent 43,000 churches, told moderator Nancy Cordes. "Speaker Pelosi is going to ask these conservative Democrats to walk the plank on a highly controversial issue."
Lafferty said she expects the vote on the bill to be delayed because Democrats want as little debate as possible on the issue.
"They know if the light is shown on this, they lose," she said.
Allyson Robinson, associate director of diversity for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activist group Human Rights Campaign, countered that most Americans support the values the bill upholds.
"What ENDA does is it takes what a majority of Americans do recognize as a fundamental value, fairness in the workplace -- we judge people on the basis of the work that they perform, not on the basis of how they look, or what they do outside of work -- and it applies that standard to federal law," she said.
"Most Americans don't realize that in 29 states in this country, it's perfectly legal to fire someone for being gay just because you don't like gay people," Robinson added. "In 38 states, perfectly legal to fire someone for being transgendered just because you don't like transgendered people."
The Traditional Values Coalition is focusing the debate on what the law would mean for schools. Lafferty said it would not be safe to place students with teachers who have gender identity issues.
"Why are we giving our schoolchildren over to people with a serious mental disorder?" she asked, citing the American Psychiatric Association. She said a transgender teacher could leave students "confused."
Lafferty added, "We have no problem with people with a serious mental disorder receiving help, but to give them an elevated status within civil rights, within law is very different."
Robinson said there are very few transgender teachers and that the concern has been blown out of proportion.
"The fact remains that there are 12 states where these protections exist, and there has been no epidemic of children coming out of those public school environments profoundly harmed," she said.
Watch the full show above, plus Politico's Eamon Javers on Goldman Sachs' new hire to combat their legal woes. Also on the show: protecting Second Amendment rights.
"Washington Unplugged," CBSNews.com's exclusive daily politics Webshow, appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.
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i would love to see the people they hire with mental disorders. over half of all teachers teaching YOUR children have suffered from a mental illness, need it be manic-depression, depression, autism (which affects 1 in 110 kids in the US), ADD, ADHD, ECT. why the hell would we tranny's be any kind of threat to kids???
parents ripping their children out of school WILL confuse ALOT of children. not for the fact that the people are transgender, but the fact that their parents are such a$$-holes to do something so ignorant and disgusting. i see one person with a mental illness here and it is NOT the transsexual.
"it will mess up a lot of christian businesses", *** the christian businesses. if you got hate to spread go join the KKK. i believe solely in the separation of church and state.
i would also LOVE to see the faces of the people who were against technology. "no light-bulbs, they are from the devil, they will destroy the economy."
AGAIN!!!! SERIOUS mental disorder??? I really see no harm in transgender as i myself am one.
"why is this the decision of a small small number of people..." i am sorry but would you say this if the Mormons fought against the Christians? small as in 13% of the entire population. plus all the closeted people, plus all the allys.
"most transgenders do not change their sex completely, they are female from the waste up and..." i am just going to stop here. once i pull down my panties and show the children my *****, then you should worry. until then, *** off.
i am done ranting. enjoy.
So here we have CBS using a equivalent to the head of the KKK to speak against Gay and Transgender rights.. I wonder how Walter Cronkite would have done it with say invite Dr King and George wallace to debate the civil rights bill before its announcement on the congressional floor ??
Some how I don't think he would have stooped to endorsement or even allowing the hate to be on his show.. poor CBS is floundering in the ratings war and trying be like fox sensational and compromising factual integrity IMHO>>
Polling my organization has conducted over teh last 5 years shows repeatedly that 90% of the 800 sample respondents favored non-discrimination in public employement for G&L citizens and the numbers stayed much the same when the T was added into the same quetion. This incuded the question of Univeristy and public school employees (teachers). The "I don't want my kid taught by some guy in a dress" argument simply does not hold water with the vast majority of Americans.
Reply to this comment by caeric April 21, 2010 10:16 AM EDT
...The "I don't want my kid taught by some guy in a dress" argument simply does not hold water with the vast majority of **thinking **Americans.
Fixed :)
Meboard, what is your orginization and where have they posted these results?
Caeric, as usual "if they disagree with my liberal agenda they must not be capable of thought"
Or, as John Stuart Mill famously said: "Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative. "
endurorob_5: You suffer a mental disorder and we allow you to post...
The typical liberal tactic. Insult someone who disagrees with you in the hopes that doing so somehow diminishes their views.
Why don't you do research on the subject before you make stupid comments. Transgender people are much happier after their transitions and just want to blend into society like everyone else. As with gay people one can just imagine the loneliness and heartache these people endure in life. America is about equal rights for all and if conservatives have a problem with it too bad!! The younger generations seem to have no problem with gay and transgender issues; it is usually the older homophobes that do!
You little post and typical liberal insult do not change the fact that these people do have a mental disorder and should not be allowed to be put in the position of being a role model for our youth.
She is VERY offensive, bigoted and is trying to justify discrimination. Female from the waist up but male from the waist down? This would confuse children she said. I have never heard that teachers are supposed to show their genitals to students. How on earth would they be confused? This is ABSURD!
The other woman dropped the ball big time when the bigot started claiming this was a severe mental disorder. The new DSM version is removing Gender Identity Disorder and making it a medical condition instead.
CBS, this was not a fair and balanced interview. It was amateurish at best.
It should never be legal in the US to actively discriminate against a minority. There are other states that currently have laws to protect transgender folks and there has not once been a negative article about the severe impact on children.
She is nothing but a fear monger.
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Do you really think FOX News could have done a better job, is that what you're trying to imply here?