Roll Call Publishes Anti-ENDA Column By Leader Of Anti-Gay Hate Group

Bilerico's Jillian Weiss alerts us that Roll Call, the respected DC journal of Capitol Hill goings-on, has published a vile anti-ENDA column by Andrea Lafferty of the SPLC-certified hate group, the Traditional Values Coalition. Rather than mentioning that ENDA would protect millions of gays and lesbians from employment discrimination, Lafferty focuses on the haters' favorite target, trans folk.

In 2008, students and parents were shocked to learn that a female music teacher at California’s Foxboro Elementary School underwent surgery to become a man. Parents were not informed about the sex change in advance so they could remove their children from her class. In addition, the kids were required to refer to her as “Mister.” The school district refused to notify parents about this teacher’s sex change because of “privacy laws” — that is, laws under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The federal government clearly oversteps its bounds when it places the privacy of a teacher above the right of the parents to look after the well-being of their child.

These cases are not isolated, and hundreds of school districts nationwide could face similarly sticky situations if ENDA is passed. Right now, 38 states do not have gender identity recognized as a protected status, but ENDA would change all of that. While states like Illinois and California do have laws protecting gender identity under non-discrimination guidelines, such laws should not be forced upon the dissenting majority. Bill passage would strip states of their right to legislate in matters of employee discrimination, education and morality. Aside from the federal government trampling states’ rights, what type of education are we giving to our children when we present them with difficult questions regarding gender identity?

Read Weiss' excellent ripping of Lafferty's many lies in her Roll Call column. And let Roll Call editor Charlie Mitchell know how you feel about him handing over column space to the leader of a nationally-shunned hate group: 202-824-6800.