Cosponsor the Employment non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)

Recipient: Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee

View the PDF of this letter here.

Dear Member of the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee:

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the undersigned organizations urge you to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). It is time for Congress to act on this crucial civil rights legislation.

Our organizations are dedicated to the principle that every worker should be judged solely on his or her merits. Hardworking Americans should not be kept from supporting their families and making a positive contribution to the economic life of our nation because of characteristics that have no bearing whatsoever on their ability to do a job. However, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans continue to experience high rates of discrimination in the workplace based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Without a comprehensive federal law like ENDA, these workers lack employment protections in a majority of states. Only 21 states’ laws prohibit discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation, and only 16 also do so based on gender identity, meaning that it is legal to fire members of the LGBT community in 29 and 34 states, respectively. ENDA prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in most workplaces. The time has long since come to end this injustice for LGBT Americans and pass ENDA.

America’s corporate leaders support ENDA’s fair-minded approach. Eighty-eight percent of Fortune 500 companies have included sexual orientation protections in their workplace policies and more than fifty-seven percent of them also prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. Corporate America is leading the way in workplace fairness.

Public support for ENDA is strong. A June 2011 poll from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research found that 73 percent of likely voters support protecting LGBT people from discrimination in employment. It is clear that Americans know that ENDA represents a measured and pragmatic response to unjust prejudice and discrimination.  

We hope you will support this historic legislation. Please contact Rob Randhava, Senior Counsel at The Leadership Conference, at (202) 466-6058 if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

A. Philip Randolph Institute
AFL-CIO
Alliance for Retired Americans
American Association for Affirmative Action
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Association of University Women
American Civil Liberties Union
American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
American Jewish Committee
American Psychological Association
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Americans for Democratic Action, Inc.
Amnesty International USA
Anti-Defamation League
Asian American Justice Center
Association of Flight Attendants – CWA
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
B’nai B’rith International
Catholics for Equality
Center for American Progress Action Fund
Center for Women Policy Studies
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
COLAGE: People with a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer Parent
Communications Workers of America
Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
Disciples Justice Action Network
Equal Justice Society
Equality Matters
Family Equality Council
Freedom to Work Advocacy Fund
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network
GetEQUAL
Human Rights Campaign
Immigration Equality Action Fund
Interfaith Alliance
International Foundation for Gender Education
International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
Japanese American Citizens League
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Lambda Legal
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
League of United Latin American Citizens
Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center
Legal Momentum
Log Cabin Republicans
Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF)
NAACP
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
National Association of Human Rights Workers
National Association of Social Workers
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Congress of Black Women, Inc.
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of La Raza
National Disability Rights Network
National Education Association
National Employment Law Project
National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)
National Fair Housing Alliance
National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC)
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund
National Stonewall Democrats
National Workrights Institute
OCA
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
People For the American Way
PFLAG National
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Pride At Work, AFL-CIO
SEIU
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS)
Southern Poverty Law Center
Trans People of Color Coalition
Transgender Law Center
Unid@s
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
United Food and Commercial Workers, International (UFCW)
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
United Steelworkers
Women Employed
Women of Reform Judaism
Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance