Nov 08, 2007Quickie Link: What Does Victory Mean? -- by Paul Schindler
By vanrozenheim
(USA) - The United States House of Representatives, in a 235 -184 vote in the early evening of November 7, passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which provides federal protection barring workplace bias against Gays and Lesbians. The vote marked the first time that either house of Congress has approved a Gay rights measure, and came 32 years after the first Gay civil rights measure, more comprehensive than ENDA, was introduced by the late Bella Abzug, then a congresswoman from Manhattan's West Side. Despite the historic nature of Wednesday's vote, the victory is likely not to calm the deep divisions that emerged within the LGBT community in the preceding six weeks. Many will judge the win Pyrrhic, at best, perhaps even a setback in the longer term.
