A vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act could come before Thanksgiving, according to sources in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Blade reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will announce today that he will bring ENDA to the floor for a vote possibly as soon as next week.
ENDA, a federal bill that would prohibit employers discriminating against employees based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, has languished in Congress for years.
Oscar-winning actress Sally Field wowed the crowd gathered in Washington, D.C., for the national Human Rights Campaign gala and dinner on Saturday, Oct. 6, with a speech about her gay son.
Field, who was honored with the Ally for Equality Award, talked about he son, Sam, who came out as gay when he was 20.
"Sam was different and his journey to allow himself to be what nature intended him to be was not easy," she said.
It will be a full day of packing and moving tomorrow as volunteers with the NAMES Project Foundation pack up the last remaining panels of the 54-ton AIDS Memorial Quilt to be trucked to Washington, D.C., to be displayed as part of two major programs.
"For weeks and months, volunteers have been prepping, sorting and packing the more than 47,000 panels, and this week the truck loading began. The final trucks arrive at The NAMES Project Foundation offices on 14th Street between 11 a.m. and noon on Thursday, will be loaded by the Quilt’s army of volunteers, and depart, headed for Washington, D.C., at approximately 3 p.m.," states a press release from the foundation.
As the keeper of the Quilt, the NAMES Project Foundation has been collecting all of the panels by asking those who have them on display at their colleges or museums or airports throughout the globe to return them to Atlanta.
Quilt to be displayed on National Mall
The United States Supreme Court today refused to hear an appeal from opponents of marriage equality aiming to overturn the District of Columbia’s same-sex marriage law.
It was at least the second time in the last year that opponents have tried to overturn the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act through the Supreme Court. A similar challenge also failed in 2010.
The most recent challenge stems from a lawsuit filed by Bishop Harry Jackson against the Washington D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics after the board refused to put the question of same-sex unions before the district’s voters. The board said that such an initiative would permit discrimination.
WASHINGTON — Both smiles and tears of joy were in plentiful supply earlier this month as the nation’s capital became the latest jurisdiction in the United States to recognize same-sex marriage.
The District of Columbia’s Religious Freedom & Marriage Equality Amendment Act took effect on Wednesday, March 3, according to the DC Agenda, an LGBT media outlet. Couples who receive marriage licenses must wait three business days to wed, so with the weekend, March 9 was the first day for gay marriages in the district.