Next on the Agenda for the Gay Rights Movement? Will Congress Take the Bite?

If The GOP led Congress is Smart, They Won't!

More than a year ago, gay-rights advocates hatched a plan to advance their cause after an expected Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. The idea: craft federal legislation to prohibit discrimination in jobs, financial transactions, housing and other aspects of public life.

Executing the plan has turned out to be far more complicated than they anticipated. The bill has yet to be introduced even though the favorable court ruling came last month. There is disagreement about how to balance religious tenets against the proposed new antidiscrimination rules, while some African-American leaders worry that amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as envisioned by the legislation, could invite unwelcome changes to what they see as a sacred text.

The debate, unfolding on Capitol Hill and among gay-rights groups and supporters, shows that while the movement has been triumphant on the legal front, its political clout is still limited.

Advocates are bracing for a cool reception in Congress, where they concede there is scant Republican support for a broadly-written bill. A more modest proposal died in the House last year after passing the Senate. That plan, called the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, would have barred workplace discrimination only.

Rather than try again to enact ENDA, advocates decided to push something bigger. The new bill would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity across public life. It also would eliminate a broad religious exemption that was critical to winning Republican support for ENDA in the Senate.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.