Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Mateo), in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with the Bay Area Reporter, said she is confident that lawmakers in D.C. will pass a federal bill banning workplace discrimination against LGBT people this year.

But Speier also raised doubts about Congress' ability to approve other legislation of importance to the LGBT community during the nearly 90-minute sit-down at her district office in downtown San Mateo Saturday, July 11. In regard to a bill that would allow LGBT Americans to remain in the country with their foreign-born partners, Speier said the issue had not gained enough traction in Congress to become a priority.

And she was critical of how President Barack Obama has handled the issue of LGBT people serving openly in the armed forces. Speier is a co-sponsor of a bill that would repeal the anti-gay "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that forces LGBT service members to remain closeted.

While she was not asked to sign on to a letter asking Obama to suspend discharges under DADT before the bill goes to the White House, Speier said she supports the idea. Obama has refused to issue such a memorandum, arguing he cannot ignore the country's laws, but has said he wants to see the policy changed.

"I am disappointed with the lack of attention the president has given to this issue generally," said Speier. "He has gotten a fair amount of pushback lately, and rightfully so, but in fairness to him, he has a lot on his plate."

Speier, whose district includes parts of San Francisco, including sections of the Castro, Diamond Heights, and Glen Park districts, chalked up the White House's slow pace on LGBT issues to the administration wanting to avoid past blunders made by former President Bill Clinton , who signed into law both the DADT policy and a federal ban on same-sex marriage.

"He wants to be careful and not make the same mistakes of previous administrations," she said.

With a hate crimes bill already passed by the House, the next bill with the best chance of getting passed this year is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which now includes gender identity along with sexual orientation protections, said Speier. The three openly gay members of Congress introduced it June 24. The bill has 142 co-signers as of this week, including several Republicans; it needs at least 218 votes out of 435 to pass in the House.

A bill stripped of protections for transgender people passed the House in 2007 but stalled in the Senate. At the time out gay Representative Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and congressional leaders said they did not have the votes to pass a fully inclusive ENDA. The move sparked national outrage, with critics especially upset at the vote since then-President George W. Bush was unlikely to sign the bill.

At the time, Frank defended the decision to push for a gay-only ENDA, saying the groundwork had not been done to convince House members to support an ENDA with transgender protections. Two years later Frank is now convinced that transgender activists have been able to make their case on Capitol Hill.

Like Frank, Speier predicts the House will pass ENDA before the end of the year.

"I am pretty optimistic this year. We have seen a sea change. I think ENDA will pass," said Speier, a member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus in the House. "You have a president that has already signaled it is discrimination that can't be tolerated. Even in conservative districts, how can you argue that discrimination is okay?"

On the other hand, Speier said the Uniting American Families Act, introduced by Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-New York) in February, has no chance of being passed. Instead, same-sex couples fighting deportation proceedings will need to seek intervention by one of their state's senators for the time being, she said. Such "holds" can be reintroduced in each session of Congress.

"There is great likelihood that ENDA will pass before the Uniting American Families Act passes. I am just being honest," said Speier, who worked with Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) to secure a hold for one of her constituents. "I don't think we have had the opportunity to explore this issue as intensely as it needs to happen."

As for federal recognition of same-sex marriages, which Speier supports, she predicted it would take several years before LGBT couples received all the same rights and privileges as those granted to heterosexual couples. No bill seeking to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act has been introduced in Congress, as the LGBT community continues to debate what form the legislation should take.

"I am very hopeful this whole issue will be resolved within a very short period of time. The dike is broken (no pun intended)," said Speier, pointing to the fact that six states now allow LGBT people to marry, and in California, there are 18,000 legally recognized same-sex marriages. "This will happen, I think, in less than 10 years. Now having said that, I fully appreciate that is not fast enough ..."

Speier yet to endorse in local races

The B.A.R. also asked Speier about whom she may endorse in a variety of local races, from a special congressional election this fall and the Democratic gubernatorial match-up next June to several San Francisco races.

In the East Bay race to fill a vacancy in the 10th Congressional District, Speier said she is staying out of the election because she knows several of the candidates "really well."

And before she backs either San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom or state Attorney General Jerry Brown for governor, Speier wants assurances they are "willing to make tough decisions on state issues, and that includes not kowtowing to special interests in the state."

In the 2010 contest for the city's District 8 supervisor seat, Speier said none of the four candidates expected to run have called on her yet for an endorsement, though she joked, "They will be calling now, after they read this."

Speier said that, among the quartet expected to enter the race, she knows three "very well:" deputy city attorney Scott Wiener; assistant district attorney Rebecca Prozan; and Laura Spanjian , a staffer with the city's Public Utilities Commission. As for the fourth candidate, attorney Rafael Mandelman , Speier struggled to remember his name and said she didn't know him well. So far, only Mandelman and Wiener have officially declared their candidacies.

"I haven't decided on that race," she said about making an endorsement.

Speier did endorse the man they want to replace, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, during his runs for the board, but when asked about endorsing Dufty for mayor, she said she "didn't know" about his planned mayoral run in 2011.

Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http://www.ebar.com Monday mornings around 10 a.m. for Political Notes, the notebook's online companion. This week's column highlights CA Chief Justice Ronald George's remarks about the court decision upholding Prop 8.

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Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mail mailto:.