In an Advocate op-ed, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force ( NGLTF ) Action Fund Executive Director Rea Carey said the organization has pulled its support of the current version of ENDA.
In part, Carey wrote, "After much soul searching, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund has decided to withdraw its support for the current version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. As one of the lead advocates on this bill for 20 years, we do not take this move lightly but we do take it unequivocallywe now oppose this version of ENDA because of its too-broad religious exemption.
"There is a better alternative: federal nondiscrimination legislation that contains a reasonable religious accommodation. LGBT people should have the same protections as those contained in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Legal equality is legal equality."
Later on July 8, the American Civil Liberties Union, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Transgender Law Center jointly signed a statement detailing their withdrawal of support from ENDA as well.
"Federal legislation to protect LGBT people from workplace discrimination is way beyond overdue, but Congress has no place giving religiously affiliated employers a license to discriminate against LGBT workers," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office.
Carey's full op-ed is at www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/07/08/op-ed-why-one-biggest-lgbt-orgs-has-stopped-supporting-enda.