Is Congress really planning to force employers to provide special civil rights protections to transsexuals? That's what Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank and San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi have in mind – but don't hold your breath waiting to hear about it on the TV news.
With most pollsters and pundits predicting the Democrats will take Congress in the upcoming election, you'd think the media would report on what Democrats plan to do if they regain power. Instead, they're avoiding certain issues like the plague.
Nexis searches of news stories for the past month reveal that the media have produced literally thousands of stories about Virginia Republican Senator George Allen's "macaca" quip and Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley's sex scandal, but only a handful of stories about Democratic policy plans.
Only two stories, both published by the homosexual paper The Washington (D.C.) Blade, actually focus on Democrats' plans on social issues. Those articles reveal that Rep. Barney Frank, who would likely become chairman of the powerful Financial Services Committee in a Democrat-controlled House, plans to introduce a new version of the Employment Non - Discrimination Act (ENDA) that would add sweeping "sexual orientation" mandates for employers that include "transgender" rights.
ENDA legislation with or without the transgender language has far less chance of passing if the Republicans retain control of Congress.
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, told the Blade that getting what he calls an "inclusive" ENDA through Congress is his organization's "top priority." Two more top homosexual activist priorities also would be addressed in a Democratic Congress: a federal hate crimes bill expanding federal police power and adding homosexuals and transgenders, and a repeal of the military's ban on open homosexuality in the service.
A spokesman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who would become Speaker of the House in a Democratic victory, confirmed to the Blade that a Democratic House would probably enact the gay agenda. "There is strong bipartisan support for all of these issues" according to Pelosi's deputy press secretary, Drew Hammill. Pelosi's "commitment to non-discrimination and other protections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community will continue to guide her in her leadership of House Democrats."
At the same time, legislative proposals favored by social conservatives would be scuttled. Frank told the Blade that "anti-gay initiatives" like the Marriage Protection Amendment would have no chance of passage.
The Democrats clearly intend to carry water for the gay rights movement as a top priority in a Democratic-run Congress. However, they are also fully aware that radical social causes such as transgender rights are losers at the polls.
Frank admitted to the Blade that he had to delay introducing his revised ENDA bill, which was ready to go in September, until after the November elections. "If we introduced it in September, we would be in the middle of the election campaign. …We would have wound up with fewer co - sponsors. I argued that we should do it in January."
When Americans have had the opportunity to vote on the radical gay agenda, they've risen in massive majorities to just say no.
Liberals in Congress are betting that most Americans aren't thinking about what might happen under Democratic leadership.
The media's deafening silence allows Mr. Frank and Ms. Pelosi to operate unaccountably, in the shadows, waiting for January's opening gavel.
