House Speaker John Boehner, a
Republican from Ohio, has been quoted as saying that House passage of
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is not going to happen
this session.
Last year, a bipartisan majority of the
Senate approved ENDA, which would prohibit workplace discrimination
based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and President Barack
Obama has pledged his signature.
Rep. Mark Takano, an openly gay
Democrat from California, told gay weekly the Washington
Blade that Boehner made the comment while addressing members
of the LGBT Equality Caucus sometime last week.
“A number of us did meet with him,
actually the caucus met with Speaker Boehner,” Takano said. “He
said no way was it going to get done in this session.”
Brad Jacklin, executive director of the
LGBT Equality Caucus, confirmed that the speaker met with several
caucus members but offered few specifics.
“A number of members asked to meet
with the speaker, who tries to accommodate such requests,” Jacklin
said. “It was a members-only meeting and was off the record. The
Equality Caucus and its leadership continues to work together to
educate members of the House on LGBT issues and build bipartisan
support for legislation like ENDA.”
Currently, six House Republicans have
co-sponsored ENDA, the latest being Rep. Michael Grimm of New York.
(Related: John
Boehner calls gay workplace protections bill ENDA “unnecessary.”)