As of July 2011, the main outstanding federal policy adopted by Congress concerning lesbian and gay Americans discriminates explicitly. It is the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (which ignores same-sex couples’ marriages for federal law purposes and purports to allow states to do the same). Although the first gay civil rights bill was introduced in Congress more than 35 years ago, there remains no explicit federal statutory protection against sexual orientation discrimination. Support has grown for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would forbid sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment; the bill was heard in committee in the prior Congress, but there is no timetable for action in this Congress. Other bills to reduce federal discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans would allow an employee to take unpaid leave to care for an ill domestic partner as for a heterosexual spouse, include a domestic partner in COBRA’s requirement of temporary extension of health insurance for family members at the end of one’s employment, permit Americans to immigrate a foreign spouse or partner, and repeal the federal DOMA. Like ENDA, none of these has a timetable for action in this Congress.
