National Gaze

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is preparing to reintroduce the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. But with a Republican majority in the House and momentum building for the 2012 elections, ENDA is not expected to end up on the president’s desk this year.

ENDA would make it illegal to fire or refuse to promote someone based on sexual orientation or gender in businesses that employ 15 or more people. The measure would not apply to religious institutions.

A landmark federal assessment emphasizes that medical research and data is straight-centric, overlooking LGBT populations and ignoring the unique needs of the community.

On March 31, the Institute of Medicine released a report recommending that researchers engage LGBT people in health studies and collect data about the populations to better understand health conditions that affect them.

A U.S. appeals court denied a motion asking that a stay be lifted so California can resume marrying same-sex couples.

The decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals answered a series of requests from LGBT groups and plaintiffs in the landmark dispute over Proposition 8 to lift a stay imposed after a federal judge deemed the voter-approved amendment unconstitutional.

These days, a grownup Barack Obama knows how to dismiss his bullies from Alaska to Arizona.

But as a kid he suffered when targeted by schoolyard taunts about having big ears and a funny name, the president told a group assembled March 10 at the White House for a landmark conference on bullying.

A federal appeals court in Illinois ruled that a worker was not a victim of religious discrimination when she was fired for harassing a gay coworker.

According to court documents, Tanisha Matthews worked as an overnight stocker at a Walmart store in Joliet, Ill. In September 2005 a co-worker identified as Amy filed a complaint with the store alleging that Matthews had harassed her for her sexual orientation during a work break.

A transgender man has sued the drug-treatment center where he worked, claiming it discriminated against him when it fired him from a job that only a man is allowed to do: watching men urinate.

Experts believe El’Jai Devoureau’s case is the first in the United States where a transgender employee has claimed an employer discriminated based on birth gender.

Advocates of increased protections for transgendered individuals will have to try again next year in Maryland.

The state senate voted 27-20 to send the proposal back to a Senate committee, effectively killing it on the last day of the 2011 session.

A bill to make Delaware the eighth state to allow civil unions or domestic partnerships for same-sex couples has cleared the legislature and Gov. Jack Markell said he looks forward to signing the measure into law.

House members debated for about three hours and rejected nine amendments before approving the bill last week on a 26-to-15 vote, prompting supporters in the balcony to erupt in cheers and applause. The senate approved the bill earlier in the month.

The city of Nashville, Tenn., has passed an anti-discrimination ordinance to protect gays and lesbians who work for companies that contract with the city.

Supporters of the law are calling its passage a milestone moment for the Music City, which joins more than 100 communities across the country that have enacted similar measures.

Five activists were fined $100 each for protesting House Speaker John Boehner’s decision to commit congressional clout and cash to the legal defense of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Boehner, R-Ohio, organized Republicans in Congress behind the legal defense after the Obama administration announced that the Justice Department could not defend the DOMA provision banning federal recognition of legal same-sex marriages. The administration has said it will enforce DOMA until repealed by Congress or voided by a court.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis and U.S. Sen. Al Franken recently reintroduced legislation to protect public school students from bullying, harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

At a press conference March 10 in Washington, D.C., the Democratic congressman from Colorado and the Democratic senator from Minnesota stood with Wendy Walsh, whose son Seth committed suicide after being bullied at school.