There will be no vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) until Congress completes legislative action on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” according to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
During her weekly press conference on Friday, Pelosi told the Washington Blade that lawmakers “still have to finish ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’” before moving on to ENDA.
Pelosi called ENDA a “personal priority,” but said the House took up “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” because bringing the fiscal year 2011 defense authorization bill to the floor presented an opportunity for repeal.
“But because the defense bill came up now, we did ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ first,” she said. “But we want to finish that.”
While it could take several months for Congress to finish legislative action on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” supporters of ENDA have been pushing Pelosi to move forward with the legislation.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the U.S. Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity for civilian nonreligious employers with over 15 employees.
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Full story at the Washington Blade.
