r full human worth and to accord them places in society which will allow them to attain and contribute according to their full human and social potential.” (Bruce Voeller, in first NGLTF Newsletter.)NGLTF and other civil rights advocates have been working with Members of Congress and officials at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for more than two years towards the introduction of stronger and more effective federal hate crimes legislation. Just before Congress recessed for this year, legislation was introduced in the Senate and House to enhance the federal government’s enforcement of hate crimes and to broaden coverage of bias crimes to include not only those based on race, color, religion, and national origin but also those based on sexual orientation, gender and disability (Blumenfeld 311-312).Legislation to ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation was reintroduced in both the House and Senate on June 10, 1997. Efforts to educate about the advocate for The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is a high priority for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a national coalition of 180 organizations representing people of color, women, labor organizations, people with disabilities, older Americans, LGBT groups, and major religious groups. The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee held a hearing on October 23.As in the last Congress, there was another unsuccessful attempt this year to deny joint adoptions by gay men and lesbians in the District of Columbia using the annual DC appropriations bill. There was also an attempt to limit joint adoptions to ?spouses? of the person petitioning for adoption. The same approach was tried this year, although language was added to this year’s amendment to make clear that unmarried persons could still adopt so long as no one else joined in that adoption.On October 29, Representatives Barney Frank introduced The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obl...
