United Enda

Dear Colleagues: The United ENDA steering committee is working in coalition with the ACLU to help find stories of employment discrimination against LGBT people, with a special emphasis on those who were discriminated against by government employers. Please help us reach those with stories to share by distributing this ACLU request for stories widely. Thank you, Rea Carey and Mara Keisling, United ENDA Steering Committee Co-Chairs PLEASE FORWARD Have You Been Fired or Refused a Job By a State or Local Government? We have a very real chance that LGBT discrimination on the job will finally become illegal throughout the country. Congress is poised to pass and the President Obama has promised to sign a federal bill, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), that bars workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. But we need your help to persuade lawmakers in Washington that this is a problem that state and local government employees face too. We need to hear from people who wanted to work for a state or local government but have been fired, refused a job or faced harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We are looking for people from all walks of life and who have held all kinds of jobs including faculty, teachers, and staff at colleges and schools, courts employees, law enforcement and correctional officers, prosecutors, bus drivers, and sanitation workers. If you can prove that you were fired, refused a job or harassed for being LGBT, that's great. But the proof doesn't have to be in writing. It could be something your boss or other employees said to you. If you have faced this type of discrimination, please take just a few minutes to fill out our online survey at www.aclu.org/endasurvey. If you know someone who has faced this type of discrimination, please send them this e-mail and ask them to fill out the survey. Your name and contact information will be kept safe with us. We are working with a coalition of other LGBT and civil rights groups and may share your story internally. We will always contact you first for permission if we are interested in using your story in our lobbying and media efforts. Thank you for taking this important step towards ending discrimination against LGBT people in the workplace.