US House committee to vote on ENDA this morning-ish

It's Barney's GLB version. The Washington Post has an update on the story. Tammy Baldwin will offer the trans amendment on the House floor. As the Post notes, if that amendment goes down by a lopsided vote, it could set the transgender movement back years. Basically, you don't usually want to push for votes in Congress unless you know you have the votes. Yes, sometimes symbolic failures are necessary, but usually you don't want to get members of Congress on the record voting against you, lest next year they'll need to flip-flop in order to vote FOR you. And if the vote is quite lopsided against you, it can convince congressional leaders to put off your agenda for a few years until it's ripe. It also sends a message to members of congress in the middle, the wavering ones, that if they vote with you they won't have much cover, so many of them may turn against on this vote and in future votes on related issues.

Bottom line: The conventional wisdom on the Hill is that you don't seek votes unless you know, or think, you can win. The pro-trans-ENDA-inclusion-now faction believes Tammy's amendment may either pass, or at the very least won't lose by much. Either they're right, and America and Congress don't have very far to go on trans rights, or they're wrong, and they may very likely set their movement (and possibly ours, to the extent members of Congress, the media, and the public see our two movements as one) back by years if not longer. We'll find out next week, when ENDA is expected to be debated and voted on in the House.