NGLTF's Foreman talks about LGB-No-T and LGBT ENDA

Posted by Robin Evans  at 2:35 PM (PT)
In: activism, politics

Enough initials for you in that headline? Let's break it down:

jason_bellini
Jason Bellini

[see embarrassing update note below]
Matt Foreman, executive director of National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF or "The Task Force") will appear tonight on Logo TV (television; Logo doesn't stand for anything as far as we can tell). He'll discuss ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act). He'll no doubt try to explain to cutey-pie CBS News (Logo version) anchor Jason Bellini the political and activist issues surrounding the LGB-No-T version (protecting sexual orientation, ie, Lesbian/Gay/Bi) passed yesterday by a House committee, and the LGBT version that would add "gender identity" to the list of protected classes.

Bellini had a great report on the ENDA controversy, available here.

NGLTF explains in a press release:

Foreman will discuss the grassroots activism shown in the formation and work of United ENDA, a coalition of more than 325 LGBT organizations representing more than 2 million people. United ENDA opposes any employment nondiscrimination bill that does not include transgender people.

United ENDA has been at the center of a recent controversy about transgender inclusion in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which the House of Representatives is expected to consider early next week. A bill that does not include transgender protections has passed out of committee and is expected to come to a floor vote in the coming week. U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) is expected to introduce an amendment to include transgender people in the bill and there is a current groundswell of support for this effort.

The interview will stream in just a bit -- at 3:30pm Pacific -- on logoonline.com. A segment will air tonight on the cable network at about 4:57 pm.

[[Update 10/21: Details of an unforgivably embarrassing update that was necessary on the post: Thanks to a justifiably testy comment from Matt Comer (below), I did something I generally try not to do with posts: I changed a significant detail in this one rather than just making copy-editing changes.

As Mr. Comer points out, I made the incredibly bone-headed mistake in my haste to put up this particular post of assigning Foreman to HRC. I've changed it, but the damage is done. It was dumb, stupid, unforgivable mistake. Mea culpa. And it would probably be considered an insult to Mr. Foreman as well as a gross misrepresentation of HRC's position.

The thing is... I know that. Somehow I even knew it as I typed that this didn't seem consistent with HRC's approach to the whole issue.

I'm sorry I've alienated Mr. Comer -- probably for good -- but I hope other readers will understand (although I'd expect you to hold it against me nonetheless) that this double-hatted thing of doing the development work to create the site while also trying to keep up with the posts that I've been doing for years  sometimes leaves me a bit too fatigued to do either of them well. ]]

Last modified: 26 Apr 09 12:12

Comments

10/21/2007 10:29:54 AM #
Um... Matt Foreman is Executive Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Joe Solmonese is President of the Human Rights Campaign. How can you be a trusted source of gay news if you can't even get the very well-known names and positions of these leaders to match up with their respective organizations?
10/21/2007 3:51:01 PM #
Gawd, that's embarrassing. Let me repeat what I said in the update above: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

I guess it's a sign that I can't be fully trusted to do both of these current jobs right: Keeping posts at least slightly up-to-date (and accurate) and building this site.

It will haunt me. I'll take an extra bit of care in the future -- especially if I'm in a hurry or tired as I was when I posted this.

All I can say, again, is I apologize for the mistake. I hope Mr. Comer will consider returning at some point to see if anything we've done will justify a slight level of restored trust.

Comments are closed