Employment Non-Discrimination Ac

Floor Speech

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Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I have come to the floor again to talk about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, known as ENDA. This is a bipartisan effort to advance uniquely American values: freedom, fairness, and opportunity. It is about freedom--the freedom to realize our founding beliefs that all Americans are created equal under the law. It is about fairness, about whether lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans deserve to be treated just like their families, their friends, their neighbors, and their fellow workers. It is about opportunity, about whether every American gets to dream the same dreams and chase the same ambitions and have the same shot at success.

On Monday this week 61 Senators, including 7 Republicans, voted to support opportunity and fairness. Today we agreed to a Republican amendment that would strengthen the bill. Bipartisan support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is growing as we head toward a vote on passage tomorrow. I would urge all of my colleagues to join us and vote for this important legislation.

I have seen firsthand the progress we have made in recognizing that fairness and opportunity are not partisan issues; they are core American values. When I served in the House of Representatives, I worked with Congressman Barney Frank on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. We had many conversations with Members with varying political, personal, and religious beliefs. At times it was a difficult debate. There were many disagreements. However, the tone of the debate here on the Senate floor has been remarkably dignified and cordial. This has been true throughout the Senate debate. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised as a member of the HELP Committee that the committee markup of this bill took only a little over 5 minutes. I had been prepared to be in our markup for hours. This dignified tone of today's debate in committee and here on the floor reflects the progress our Nation has made in recognition of fairness and equality.

My home State of Wisconsin was the first State in the Nation to add sexual orientation to its antidiscrimination statute. At the time, back in 1982, only 41 municipalities and 8 counties in the entire United States offered limited protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Wisconsin's efforts pass the Nation's first sexual orientation antidiscrimination law was supported by a broad spectrum of supporters and advocates. It was a bipartisan coalition including members of the clergy, various religious denominations, medical groups, professional groups. The measure was signed into law in Wisconsin by a Republican Governor, Lee Sherman Dreyfus, who based his decision to support the measure on the success of municipal ordinances providing similar protections against discrimination.

Since Wisconsin passed its statute back in 1982, 20 States and the District of Columbia, representing nearly 45 percent of the population of the United States of America, have passed similar antidiscrimination measures. Sixteen States and the District of Columbia also protect their citizens on the basis of gender identity.

However, 76 million American workers have to contend with a very ugly reality. It is the reality that in more than two dozen States it is legal to discriminate against LGBT employees. That is simply wrong. This legislation seeks to right that wrong. We do not just want to live in a country where our rights are respected under the law; we want to live in a country where we are respected for who we are, where we enjoy freedom and opportunity because that is who we are as Americans.

The change in law that we work for this week and today can add up to incredible progress in our lifetime. This generation can be the one in which we fulfill the promise of freedom and equality for all, in which America finally becomes a place where everyone's rights are respected at work and every family's love and commitment can be recognized and respected and rewarded under the law.

Finally, I would like to recognize my Senate colleagues, the ones with whom I have worked to advance this bill, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Senator Merkley, Senator Kirk, Chairman Harkin, and Senator Collins' tireless efforts have led us this close to the finish line with regard to this bill.

Without naming all of them, I also would like to thank my colleagues who have taken the time to join in our effort to bring cloture and bring this debate before the body, the ones who have taken the time to sit down with me and my colleagues and talk through this issue so that we might answer their questions and move it ahead. It means a great deal. This is an important place we have reached.

As we prepare for the final vote tomorrow, I wish every Senator would stand with us and vote for fairness and opportunity. While we might not meet that high mark, I do hope it is a very strong vote. Passing this bill with a strong majority will show America that the Senate believes in a future that is more equal, not less, for all Americans.

I yield the floor.

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