WASHINGTON -- The House Committee on Education and Labor today passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill the ACLU cannot support because it abandons the transgender community. The first iteration of ENDA this session would have made it illegal to discriminate in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but the bill that passed out of committee today would allow transgender workers to suffer from discrimination at work with no protection or recourse.

The following can be attributed to ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Christopher Anders:

"Everyone should have the right to come to work knowing the only factor in employment decisions is their ability to do their job – no exceptions. The LGBT community is a community, not a group of factions. We’re not fighting for a group – we’re fighting for all Americans to be free from discrimination at work, and we won’t support ENDA until all Americans are included. Nobody should be cut out or left behind simply because Democratic leadership is too impatient to round up the votes needed to pass a comprehensive bill."