Back when I was a Pentecostal (waaaaaay back in the 1970’s), I got it drilled into my head what the difference was between saying you’re sorry and repenting. Saying you’re sorry was an admission of doing a wrong thing, while repenting meant you first said you were sorry for what you had done, and then you made a commitment to yourself not to do repeat the act. It didn’t mean you actually never repeated the same type of wrong act again, but it meant that you had the intent of behaving better, and not repeating your bad acts.

So when I hear those “I’m sorry I got caught,” “I’m sorry that you were offended,” or even the “I’m sorry I was wrong” apologies if they don’t come with a “and this is how I plan on changing my behavior” comment — well, I take all of these kinds of apologies with a grain of salt. And, it’s because there’s no real repentance in the apology.

Welcome to the Charlie Stadtlander apology to transgender people and drag queens. Charlie Stadtlander, a former Republican and leader of Log Cabin Republicans groups in Missouri and Atlanta, is planning to run for the District 6 seat on the Atlanta City Council. He’s expected to formally announce his candidacy this week.

From Stadtlander’s statement at Project Q Atlanta:

My views have changed. At the time, I did not know very many transgender people. I was a gay rights lobbyist within the conservative party in Missouri. We all make mistakes. I probably said some things that were ill informed positions.”

That was then — it was four years ago. Times have changed. My views have changed. I want to be very clear that I do not support discrimination against transgender people. I think it is horrible that transgender people are discriminated against, that gay and lesbian people are discriminated against. I fully support any measures, policies, laws or protections for transgender people. I do not think that anybody should be discriminated against and it is a travesty that any transgender people are discriminated against”

So what did Stadtlander say years ago that was so bad? And why, in my opinion, is this apology statement a not-good-enough-for-government-work-apology? Answers below the fold.

Again, from Project Q Atlanta:

In a guest column in a campus newspaper a year after the drag show, Stadtlander continued his criticism and complained that drag shows harm the gay rights movement.

It would be a simple task to banter with the liberal and often times irresponsible gay rights movement, as to why events such as drag shows greatly harm the gay and lesbian community and set our cause back immensely.

In the interest of clarity however, it is prudent to explain the rationale behind my alleged “assault” on the freedom of speech at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the harmful effects on gay rights that UMSL’s Department of Student Life has perpetuated by sanctioning an event such as the above referenced.

To label last October’s “show” as anything other than sexual and appalling is false. As an attendant at last year’s drag show, I was amazed at the indecency and crudeness allowed to take place on the University campus with funding from student fees and underwriting by Missouri taxpayer dollars.

To be clear, this event was not at all comparable to such acts as comedy shows or Homecoming dances, but was instead at a level of vulgarity one would expect to witness in a nudity club or an “adult’s only” movie theater.

Male performers not only displayed hormone induced bare breasts, but featured undergarments revealing private areas. Performers caressed themselves and touched audience members in a sexual manner that would certainly result in citations by law enforcement in most municipalities.

Simulated sex acts were performed on students with the star performer even directing an audience member onto stage where he/she verbalized and physically demonstrated oral sex on the student. The event culminated with a lap dance by a top-nude performer as the audience member placed money in the dancer’s G-String.

The commentary also included a stinging rebuke of transgender people and drag queens.

The negative effects of events such as this drag show reach far beyond UMSL. Transsexuality, including transgender people and drag queens, represent a fringe part of society that has nothing to do with being gay or lesbian and is not representative of our community as a whole.

By giving this radical and unrelated group a launching ground for freak behavior associated with gays and lesbians is detrimental. The gay community must recognize that either fair or unfair, we are the ones fighting for equal rights. In this role, we must always put forth an image of responsibility, diversity, and normalcy.

Being gay or lesbian is not a choice, but we do have the choice as to how we present ourselves and for the message we deliver to a society which is desperately trying to accept us, but keeps getting pushed back by the very people who are seeking equality.

So saying he’s sorry for making these statements is a good thing. However, he’s not willing to embrace full equality — full civil rights — for transgender people should he become an Atlanta City Councilman. And yet again, from Project Q Atlanta:

But he stopped short of fully embracing non-discrimination legislation that includes gender identity among its protected categories along with sexual orientation if it meant the measure might not gain approval. His comments echo a firestorm that erupted in 2007 over passage in the U.S. House of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which bars workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. The measure does not bar discrimination based on gender identity. The Human Rights Campaign and gay Rep. Barney Frank were criticized for supporting the gay-only version of the legislation that passed.

“The political reality is that we don’t have equality and we have to be strategic in our movement and we won’t always get what we want at the time. It is an incremental effort. We have to move one step at a time with ultimate goal of all people being protected and treated with equality,” Stadtlander said.

“There is a large number of people, and I am one of them, who believe transgender is not the same as gay and lesbian. It is not the same. Simply because you are transgender does not mean you are gay or lesbian. There are gay and lesbian transgender people, absolutely there are, and there are transgender people who are not gay and lesbian,” he added.

“This is a gay and lesbian movement, a gay rights movement. I welcome transgender people into that movement, but I am not willing to say that if a piece of legislation that has been introduced that protects gay and lesbian, like ENDA at the federal level, I am not willing to say that I will sacrifice that entire piece of legislation. It is an incremental step and incremental movement,” Stadtlander continued.

Charlie Stadtlander is out of step with the activists in the LGBT civil rights movement; he’s out of step with civil rights as a human thing. This is especially since transgender people have a difficult time finding jobs in Atlanta specifically because they are transgender; especially true since Police Officers Atlanta are referring to transgender sex workers by the pejorative “transvestitutes”; and especially true after Atlanta Police Department GLBT liaison Officer Darlene Harris stated in 2006 that:

…she’s working with transgender activists to establish job training and workshops to get the sex workers off the streets. She said they are seeking corporate sponsors to realize the effort.

Harris also said one of the key elements to ending the problem is bringing all sides together.

“We’re definitely trying to work on communications with APD and the transgender community,” Harris said. “We make it known that prostitution, regardless of who you are, is not tolerated. The Atlanta Police Department is not going to stand by it and as a liaison I’m not going to condone it and say it’s OK.”

We need commitments from gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender candidates to commit to full civil rights inclusion for LGB and T people, especially in the areas of housing and employment. To quote Martin Luther King Jr.:

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?

And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.

Charlie Stadtlander’s apology is good, but it’s not enough. In my opinion, it’s an apology without repentance. He still would leave gender identity and expression out of legislation that would provide civil rights protections for sexual orientation, and that’s not good enough for an openly gay candidate — especially one who has made anti-transgender and anti-drag queen statements in the past. When it comes to civil rights for LGBT people, it’s no longer acceptable to play it safe or politic, or wonder if fully inclusive civil rights for all LGBT people is popular enough with the electorate — it really is the time for all LGBT candidates and politicians to stand up for what is right.

I wouldn’t vote for this Log Cabin Republican; I would recommend no LGBT person or their allies vote for him either. Frankly, I would rather have a complete enemy in office than a “friend” like Charlie Stadtlander in office — at least I’d know a complete enemy would vote against my trans peers and my civil rights. With Stadltander, I’d always be hoping he’d work for for fully inclusive civil rights for all people, but always know he’d consider dropping gender identity and expression from civil rights legislation if there were even the slightest opposition to including it — that’s just not the kind of gay politician I want in any political office.

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H/t: Matt Hennie of Project Q Atlanta. Quotations of Project Q Atlanta material by permission.