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An organizer for the Human Rights Campaign convinced the wife of Republican Senator John McCain to add her signature in support of legislation which would protect LGBT people from discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity, reports the Washington Post.
HRC organizer John Gomez approached Cindy McCain at a Staples in Phoenix where he spoke with her about the efforts being made to pass the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act and requested she sign a postcard urging her husband to endorse ENDA. She agreed and signed the postcard, adding her signature to the tens of thousands the HRC has collected in support of the bill. Though senator McCain has not supported ENDA in the past, the bill passed a Senate committee in July and is expected to come to a floor vote in the near future.
Cindy McCain's support of ENDA is in line with the majority of Americans according to a new poll being touted by the Human Rights Campaign today in its push to pass the legislation.
The nationwide poll, conducted by conservative polling agency TargetPoint, surveyed 2,000 registered voters between September 3 and 8, and asked whether those voters believed it should be illegal to fire someone for being gay or transgender and whether it was already illegal on a federal level to do so.
A staggering 80 percent of respondents said they believed that federal law already forbade employer to fire, refuse to hire, or refuse to promote someone because they are LGBT. A full 60 percent of national registered voters surveyed said anti-LGBT discrimination is a problem, while 54 percent of self-described Republicans said such discrimination is a problem.
When asked if they support a federal law that protects LGBT Americans from workplace discrimination, 68 percent of respondents answered in the affirmative, according to the poll. Just 21 percent said they oppose such legislation, with just 15 percent saying they "strongly" oppose such a bill. Among Republicans, 56 percent of respondents said they support a federal workplace nondiscrimination law, while just 32 percent answered that they oppose such a law.
