Out U.S. Congressman Jared Polis joined a group of his colleagues and more than 30 advocacy groups yesterday at a press conference on Capitol Hill to call for immigration reform that includes LGBT families.  The Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld reported:

The press conference and the lawmakers’ insistence on LGBT inclusion represents a shift in the immigration landscape away from a deference to social conservative groups who have fought to exclude same-sex couples from the greater immigration effort.

[Rep. Jerrold] Nadler [D-N.Y.] addressed one of the main objections of conservative groups head-on during Thursday’s press conference. While some detractors of [the Uniting American Families Act] have suggested that allowing LGBT people to sponsor their partners is related to the marriage debate, Nadler rejected the assertion emphatically. 

“It is simply a question of whether the law should [perpetuate] gratuitous cruelty,” he said. “Keeping couples apart is simply gratuitous, purposeless cruelty on the part of our government. Government should never ever engage in purposeless gratuitous cruelty.”

Learn more about UAFA and Immigration Equality’s fight to include LGBT families in comprehensive immigration reform here.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) says an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act will pass easily in the House of Representatives in the next few weeks, but finding 60 votes in the Senate isn’t a sure thing yet, reports Karen Ocamb, who blogs at LGBT POV.

Ocamb interviewed Polis at a Stonewall Democratic Club event in Los Angeles, where he was honored as “Elected Official of the Year.”

KO: Where are we on ENDA?

JP:  We have the votes to pass ENDA in the House and we hope to bring it before the committee I serve on – the Education Labor Committee – within the month – by the end of April. And then, once it passes the committee, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks – a week or two – to schedule it for the floor.  It’s just a scheduling matter.

We think we would have passed it by now if it wasn’t for healthcare taking up much of the workload of our committee.

I don’t know about the Senate – but in the House, we expect to pass out substantially. It has substantial support. The Senate requires 60 votes so it’s a matter of getting some Republican moderates to support it.

KO: Will Obama use bully pulpit and will you nudge him along on ENDA?

JP: I think President Obama played a constructive role in helping bring hate crimes to his desk and I think he’ll play a similar role in helping to get ENDA to his desk.

KO: What are the talking points to pass ENDA?

JP: In terms of tying it into a jobs message – it’s certainly about security about jobs, about a society that’s free from discrimination. Of course, many states already have inclusive ENDA.  California has an inclusive ENDA, I believe and so does Colorado, by the way – my state. So it won’t make a difference, per se, in those states. But in areas of  the country where gays and lesbians face the most discrimination, it will make a big difference.

Go to LGBT POV for the full interview.

Openly gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) is an avid Twitter user who, like most of his tweeting Congressional colleagues, writes a lot of 140-character-or-less missives about some fairly dry stuff–education policy, school nutrition, Lady Gaga videos.

Wait a minute–Lady Gaga videos?

Politics Daily columnist Sandra Fish caught this one (no pun intended):  ”Lady Gaga’s AMAZING new video: http://bit.ly/bvCJhI luv it! #gaga#ladygaga,” Polis tweeted at 6:47pm on March 12th.  She followed the link and watched the bawdy video Polis recommended, concluding:

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the queen of glam. But if I want advice on hot new videos, well, I’m kinda thinking it should be from someone other than my congressman…The 9-minute Gaga saga begins with the Lady being stripped by prison guards and and tossed in a cell and then, well . . . Warning: Not Safe For Work. Polis should have included the NSFW tag, too. Because there’s plenty more skin, some serial killing, lots of dance moves and shout-outs to “Kill Bill” and “Thelma and Louise.”

For his part, Polis says he’s trying to get his diverse Twitter audience interested in each other’s issues.  ”If there are stodgy conservatives among my charter school followers then they would benefit from a dose of Gaga.  And I want my LGBT friends to know about education policy!”

President Obama may have hoped to bring people together, but Congressman Polis is doing it–one tweet at a time.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) has introduced a bill that would make discrimination against or harassment of LGBT students in public schools against federal law, according to the Denver Post:

“It’s a well-tried area of law,” said Polis, one of three openly gay members of Congress. “Title IX already applies to gender, so we’re not creating a whole new thing, we’re simply adding a new category.”

The protections offered by the legislation would be broad, and would hold school officials liable for failing to stop bullying of gay students in schools — or even students who were perceived to be gay by their peers.

“In many cases they might very well be straight boys who are feminine and are discriminated against because of that or beaten up because of that,” said Polis, whose bill now has 58 co-sponsors in the House. “It’s a very common occurrence and I think anybody who has been to junior high or high school anywhere in the country is familiar with that concept.”

Photo:  Metro Weekly

Bilerico founder and editor-in-chief Bil Browning sat down with out Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) at the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference in San Francisco this past weekend to talk about ENDA, DOMA, and other issues facing the LGBT community.

Here’s a clip, posted on Bilerico.com: