Washington – An unlikely coalition aiming to expand workplace protections for gay and lesbian employees is seeking support from a small group of Republican congressmen, including Minnesotan Erik Paulsen.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights lobbying group, has joined forces with American Unity Fund, a conservative-leaning group founded by a wealthy GOP donor, to target GOP legislators who represent politically moderate districts.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which passed the Senate with 10 GOP votes but has stalled in the House of Representatives, would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Supporters hope that if a majority of the House — at least 218 lawmakers — publicly favors the bill, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, may reconsider his decision not to vote on it this year. At least 202 House members are cosponsors of the bill, including six Republicans. Five of those are with the Republican Main Street Partnership, a moderate, pro-business group of GOP lawmakers of which Paulsen is a member.
Paulsen, who represents the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, declined to comment for this report.
The campaign, managed by a group called Americans for Workplace Opportunity, has a budget of $2.2 million, including $375,000 from the American Unity Fund, founded by Republican Paul Singer.
The group also spent more than $250,000 last year supporting Minnesota's efforts to legalize same-sex marriage and has hired former Republican Minnesota U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman to lobby lawmakers for the bill.
Coleman opposes same-sex marriage, but supports workplace protections for gays and lesbians. As mayor of St. Paul in the '90s, he appointed a transgender person as his deputy mayor.
