EQUALITY SOUTH DAKOTA(tm): EQUALITY NEWS

Greetings,

In South Dakota and 38 other states, it's legal to fire someone simply because they're gay or transgender.  Equality South Dakota is working on changing that at the state level, but I wanted to make sure you heard the latest news at the federal level: the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA (S. 1584) was introduced Wednesday in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), along with 39 co-sponsors. The House version was introduced in July (H.R. 3017), and both bills are making their way through the committee process. 

ENDA would put important protections in place for hard-working LGBT employees, who often live and work in fear of their employer or co-workers finding out about their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Everyone deserves to work in an environment free from fear of discrimination, and ENDA can help make that a reality for millions of Americans, including people right here in South Dakota. 

To make this a reality, we need your help. 

Sen. Johnson and Rep. Herseth Sandlin need to hear from you about why they should support this legislation -- about why they need to protect ALL employees from discrimination.  Call Sen. Johnson at (605) 332-8896, and Rep. Herseth Sandlin at (605) 367-8371, and tell them it's time to put these basic workplace protections in place.  Ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor to ENDA, to send a message that workplace discrimination is simply not acceptable. 

We know South Dakotans support ENDA.  According to an informal poll Equality South Dakota conducted last year, 77% of South Dakotans want our Congressional members to support ENDA.  Large and small employers in South Dakota like Sanford Health and the SD Board of Regents, along with many school districts, cities, and counties have similar employment policies.  Because of the work Equality South Dakota has done this year, 11,000 employees in the state are protected from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.  Sadly, there are still thousands of employees left vulnerable, which is why federal legislation is so important.  There is broad-based support for passing ENDA, and with your help it will become law. 

Please take a moment now to place a call to Sen. Johnson's and Rep. Herseth Sandlin's offices.  After you've called, let us know at info@eqsd.org how the conversation went.  Additionally, we know that in-person meetings are the most effective way to get their support.  If you're also interested in taking part in a meeting like this in one of their offices around the state in August, please let us know at info@eqsd.org. 

Thanks for all you do!

In solidarity,

Angie Buhl, and everyone at Equality South Dakota