Democratic leaders have scheduled a vote in the House of Representatives this week on a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that limits its protection against job discrimination to gays and bisexuals.

The decision to bring the bill, known as ENDA, to the House floor comes after weeks of behind-the-scenes debate among Democratic leaders over whether to allow a vote on an amendment to restore protections for transgender persons to the bill. Sources told the Blade Tuesday that a vote is likely to be held Wednesday, contradicting earlier reports that it would happen Tuesday.

News that House Democrats had decided to move ahead with the legislation surfaced late Monday afternoon, when the House Rules Committee announced it would meet within a few hours notice to decide on ground rules for the debate and vote on the bill.

In the hastily called meeting, which drew protests from Republicans, the Democratic-controlled rules panel approved a rule allowing three pre-arranged amendments to be introduced during the debate on the bill. One of the amendments calls for adding transgender protections to the legislation.

The rule states that the trans amendment, set to be introduced by gay Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), “may be withdrawn by its proponent” before it comes up for a vote.

Baldwin spoke on behalf of her proposed amendment during the Rules Committee meeting, but she made no mention of whether she would withdraw it following a discussion on the House floor. Rules panel members did not raise the question of a withdrawal of the amendment.

But sources familiar with the behind-the-scenes discussions over ENDA have said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) decided against allowing a vote on the Baldwin amendment after first-term Democratic House members told her such a vote could hurt their re-election chances next year.

Pelosi and other House Democratic leaders then worked out an agreement with Baldwin to enable her to introduce the amendment and discuss it on the House floor before she withdraws it from consideration, without a vote, the sources said.

Democratic leaders, led by Pelosi, decided to remove trans protections from the bill in late September after determining they did not have the votes to pass a trans-inclusive version of ENDA.

Pelosi delayed an expected vote on the gay-only version of the bill for more than two weeks, raising speculation that objections from liberal Democrats who want a trans-inclusive bill might have jeopardized the bill’s chances of passing.

In addition to the Baldwin amendment, the Rules Committee agreed to allow consideration of an amendment proposed by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chair of the House Committee on Education & Labor, which voted two weeks ago to approve ENDA. Miller’s amendment clarifies that the exemption in ENDA for religious institutions, such as church-run schools or associations, is identical to the religious exemption in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the lead sponsor and author of ENDA, said he agreed to Miller’s amendment as a means of assuring potential opponents among his fellow House members that the bill would not require religious institutions to adhere to non-discrimination requirements for ENDA that would be any greater than the existing requirements in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That act bans discrimination based on race, religion, and ethnicity.

Another provision in Miller’s amendment “clarifies that ENDA does not alter the Defense of Marriage Act in any way,” according to a summary of the amendment released by the Rules Committee. The summary says the amendment clarifies that the term “married” in ENDA “has the meaning given such term in DOMA, directly incorporating DOMA’s definition of marriage.”

Miller’s amendment pertains to a section of ENDA that prohibits employers covered under the bill from requiring someone to be married or eligible to be married as a condition for employment.

Frank said he supports Miller’s clarifying amendment as a means of heading off opposition by Republicans who claim ENDA would weaken DOMA. DOMA defines marriage under federal law as a union only between a man and a woman and gives states the authority to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed by other states.

As a further concession to some GOP opponents, Democrats on the Rules Committee agreed to allow Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) to introduce an amendment on the House floor to remove the “marriage” provision from ENDA.

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