Does Supreme Court Battle Halt LGBT Legislation?

Does Supreme Court Battle Halt LGBT Legislation?
By David Mixner
Copyright By David Mixner
Apr 15 2010
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Supreme-court With most of our legislation already in jeopardy despite promises last year by HRC, our congressional representatives and the White House, another factor might come into play to make it even more difficult. The battle over replacing retiring Supreme Court Justice Stevens might seriously impact our ability to force a vote on key issues. There is no question that the Obama team will be very hesitant to push on LGBT issues when they feel they have to have another tough bruising fight like the healthcare battle.

Is anyone in Washington capable of doing more than one thing at a time? If we look at history, we can see other presidents were capable of a vast agenda. Once again we are put at the end of the list. As Gilda Radner used to say as Emily Latella on "Saturday Night Live": "It's always something."

The backlog of LGBT legislation is becoming as crowded as a Los Angeles freeway at rush hour. The list is massive:

-repeal of DADT
-repeal of DOMA
-passage of insurance and pension benefits for Federal Employees
-immigration reform for LGBT citizens (will we be in new legislation?).
-healthcare reform for LGBT citizens (taken out of last successful legislation).
-passage of ENDA.
-inclusion in Social Security benefits.

That is just the tip of the iceberg in our battle for full equality. At this stage it appears that is a slight possibility that ENDA might be passed and some are still holding out hope for repeal of DADT. However, the Supreme Court battle will likely see the Obama team decide not to push hard on them and if they don't push and demand a vote, then to put it plainly, we are totally screwed.