Bill bolsters civil rights for millions of Americans

November 7, 2007

Today, US Reps. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) voted with a majority of the House of Representatives to approve the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Below is a statement concerning the passage of this legislation:

“Today, history was made. I am proud I voted to support the basic ideals of fairness, justice and equality under the law guaranteed by our Constitution. This bill prohibits discrimination against select groups of people simply because of who they are. I was a co-sponsor of Rep. Frank’s original ENDA bill, which included transgender individuals, and I still support the original form of the bill. However, I believe the bill we passed today reflects the best and most historic step we could take at this time to provide the same basic federal employment civil rights protections already provided to a person based on race, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability. Working Americans should only be evaluated on the merits of their work, not their sexual orientation. I am proud to support ENDA, and I will continue to work toward the ideal of equality.”