ENDA

In the United States today, it’s perfectly legal under federal law and in a majority of states to fire someone for being LGBT. Today, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate once again introduced legislation that would change that. Read more »

Mitch Stein, a gay television producer living with his partner and two daughters in Pomona, Calif., had forgotten about some "fun" photos that he had posted online years ago.

One was a photo of the 36-year-old eating a corn dog at a fair and the other was a Halloween shot jokingly surrounded by drag queens.

But he believes those photos cost him his job last August as an assistant boys' water polo and swim coach at the Charter Oak Unified School District, where his 15-year-old biological daughter goes to school and is on the girls' team.

"I feel like they are fun photos taken with friends on my personal time, years before I even worked at Charter Oak," he told ABCNews.com. Read more »

As the Obama administration reviews whether to discard the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, House Democratic leaders are quietly pushing another testy issue in the culture wars: civil rights for transgender workers. Proponents of a bill known as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would provide job protections for gay and transgender workers, are actively taking a whip count to see whether the measure has enough support for floor action. The legislation is unnerving moderate and conservative Democrats who face brutal reelection battles this fall, and its prospects of passing the Senate are somewhere between slim and none. Nevertheless, its top backers are moving forward. "It's something we ought to do," House Majority Whip James E.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: August 27, 2009 Momentum is building for Congress to pass the first major civil rights act protecting gays and transsexuals, supporters say, and one of the stars in the debate is a barrier-breaking transgender staffer on Capitol Hill. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, would prohibit workplace discrimination -- including decisions about hiring, firing and wages -- based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It would exempt religious organizations, the military and businesses with less than 15 workers. The driving force behind the bill has been Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the longest-serving of the three openly gay members of Congress. He expects hearings on the measure to be held this fall.