The passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is being heavily pushed by members of the gay community because it would provide protection from job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
However the Traditional Values Coalition is claiming that ENDA's possible passage will harm children:
Children Targeted in 38 States
President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and their homosexual and transgender allies are secretly plotting to rush through the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the next few weeks.
ENDA - aptly described as the "cross-dressing teacher's bill" - will force every American public school to hire men who dress like women as teachers.
Currently, 38 states do not consider men dressed as women (cross-dressing heterosexual men, gay drag queens, or transsexuals) as protected minorities under anti-discrimination laws. All of this will change under ENDA when it becomes illegal to re-assign transgender teachers out of the classroom.
In the next few weeks, if President Obama signs ENDA into law, your children will be trapped in classrooms taught by men who dress as women.
ENDA also forces every state and local government (including public schools), and every business with more than 15 employees to treat men who dress as women as federally protected minorities.
Thus, ENDA will:
* Impact critics and faith-based objectors who will be called bigots and troublemakers in school districts
* Allow men who dress as women to enjoy these special rights
* Elevate a serious mental disorder to protected class status
When I read this, I was thinking (strictly tongue in cheek of course) that this was a step up because it was the first time that I didn't read the Traditional Values Coalition refer to transgendered women as "she-males."
But lest we forget, a step up in manure still leaves mess on your shoe.
Of course the Traditional Values Coalition is lying about ENDA, but to put this lie in perspective, take a look at the following flyer from a racist group, the National Alliance:
So a racist group says that interracial romances are a bad idea because black men would "infect white women with HIV."
When one compares this claim to that of the Traditional Values Coalition (ENDA will lead to children being "trapped in classrooms with drag queens"), one finds that there is no difference between them. They are both lies geared to exploit ignorance via alarming calls that a "dangerous group of outsiders" are seeking to corrupt wholesome entities, be they white women or children.
No difference, that is, except for the fact that if the Traditional Values Coalition is pressed on this lie, the organization can fall back on the "we are a Christian group attempting to preserve morality" card.
But the similarity is definitely worth remembering because I'm willing to bet that before this entire thing with ENDA is settled, the Traditional Values Coalition and other like-minded groups will be claiming that gays and lesbians are trying to piggyback on the 1950s/60s civil rights struggle of the black community.
But in the long run, it doesn't matter who had to ride in the "back of the bus" or who gets chased down a street.
As long as there are entities willing to exploit fear and stereotypes, we all suffer.
Related posts:
Family Research Council exploiting Amanda Simpson's appointment to stop ENDA
Family Research Council head misrepresents credible information to hurt ENDA