Is Nancy Pelosi Getting the Message About the Employment Nondiscrimination Act?

One would like to think that Speaker of the U.S. House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, knows that in more than 30 states around the country, workers can be fired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. After all, it wasn't too long ago when Rep. Pelosi promised gay rights activists that there would be a vote on legislation to address this unfortunate fact, most notably in the form of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA).

But as Congress prepares to wind down its 111th session, it looks increasingly clear that both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are prepared to let ENDA fall by the wayside. And for many activists, especially those living in the 30+ states where LGBT people can be fired just for being LGBT, that's not sitting well. And they're raising hell.

We saw it two weeks ago, when several folks gathered on the busiest street in all of Las Vegas to commit civil disobedience in Sen. Harry Reid's backyard. Their message? LGBT people deserve full equality, and as such, the U.S. Senate shouldn't hem and haw.

And today, a group of eight activists with GetEqual joined a tour of the U.S. Capitol. Only when they got to the infamous rotunda, they adorned signs calling for the passage of ENDA, banded together, chanted for equality and committed yet another act of civil disobedience. They want Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who previously said she understands why LGBT people are impatient with the slow progress of ENDA, to really understand that LGBT folks aren't messing around.

One of the folks arrested today, Shannon Cuttle, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Blade, explaining what motivated her to participate in the direct action. For Cuttle, it was personal, given that she knows someone who committed suicide because of fear of being openly gay on the job.

"By participating in this direct action, I am choosing to fight for those who are unable to be out at work. To secure the protections that should already be in place on the federal, state and local levels," Cuttle wrote. "No one should lose their job because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. But sadly, until the passage of ENDA, LGBT employees will not have job security."

And then much like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminators 1 and 2, GetEqual folks made a promise: until ENDA is passed, they'll be back.

Video of today's action at the U.S. Capitol is below. In the aftermath of the vote, GetEqual issued a press release debunking the much heralded myth that because "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal is happening, that ENDA has to wait. For GetEqual, that line of thinking just isn't good enough.

"We know that Speaker Pelosi has the political prowess and the political bandwidth to take on ENDA while the Senate is shepherding 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' through the legislative process," said Robin McGehee, co-founder of GetEQUAL. "We are pressuring Speaker Pelosi to move on ENDA because, while we know that she values the legislation, we have yet to see her show the leadership she's promised in taking ENDA out of committee and moving it through the House."

This past weekend at Netroots Nation, Rep. Pelosi told a crowd of progressives that "it's almost embarrassing" that the U.S. doesn't already have a law like ENDA to protect people from being fired. She's right.

But that word 'embarrassing' can also be applied to a Congress that understands the immediacy of passing ENDA, but hasn't done much in the wake of getting a floor vote on the legislation. Until that floor vote happens, something tells me that Rep. Pelosi better get used to a lot more direct action.

Photo credit: Speaker Pelosi