The Advocate has a article out on a new Hunter College poll, entitled Poll: Only 2.9% of Americans Are LGB.

Hunter College released the results of a groundbreaking poll Wednesday that found only 2.9% of Americans older than 18 identify as LGB, lower than the 4%–5% often cited in voter exit polls.

Professor Patrick Egan of New York University, one of the poll’s authors, explained that exit polls generally provide an over-representative sample of LGBs. “Exit polls are based on voters — the people who show up at the polls. Gays and lesbians vote much more consistently than the general population,” Egan said.

Why weren’t the transfolk included in the numbers?

…Transgender individuals were not included because to date their numbers are too few to provide a statistically accurate representation.

Lots of other interesting stuff in the poll results, including:

* LGBs are more politically active than their straight counterparts (partly due to a sensibility developed during the coming-out process)

* LGBs may be having a disproportionate impact on the political process, not only through participation at the polls but through civic engagement in activities such as volunteering for campaigns, writing letters to editors, contacting government officials, and attending protests and rallies.

* The poll also found that LGBs are younger overall than mainstream America, with the average age of those over 18 being 41 years of age, versus 46 for the general population. Even more striking, only 3.5% of LGBs are 65 or older, whereas seniors constitute 16.3% of American adults.

With the HRC’s recent credibility problems, it probably should be noted that:

The Hunter College poll was funded through a grant from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Professors Murray Edelman of Rutgers University and Kenneth Sherrill of Hunter College authored the poll along with Egan.

I don’t usually quote articles in entirety without comment. However, there’s nothing I can add or take away from this bit of news from San Diego’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Center on the status of California’s proposed Anti-Marriage Amendment:

[Media release after the fold]
Read the rest of this entry »

Many of you know about San Diego’s Third District City Council race because James Hartline is running for the seat. It’s obvious that I wouldn’t vote for Mr. Hartline, but it hasn’t been obvious who I’m for in the race.

So, who I’m for is Stephen Whitburn.

I became aware of Mr. Whitburn a long time ago specifically because of his support of transgender civil rights issues. Mr. Whitburn, as a member of the San Diego Democratic Club, was there supporting the adding of gender identity protections to San Diego’s Human Dignity Ordinance in 2003.

Since the passage of the HDO amendment, I’m aware he’s attended every major transgender event members have put on at The Center. Let me tell you, it’s not because my community has a lot of resources to dole out to his campaign, or have a large population of volunteers that will rush to his electoral assistance, but just because he genuinely embraces civil rights and human equality as values.

His stands on issues — and his priorities related to those issues — pretty much matches my own. Top among his and my concerns are open government — in line with the spirit of California’s Brown Act — and honest budgeting:

Excerpt:

…My name is Stephen Whitburn. I live in North Park, in council district three, and participate in several community groups.

I’m here to ask you to vote in favor of this item.

We — the citizens — have a right to know about plans to change the city services we receive. We also have a right to participate in the decision-making process.

The right to know is at the core of our state’s Brown Act. It requires that deliberations and actions be conducted openly.

Our city is in financial trouble partly because of discussions and decisions that we – the citizens – weren’t aware of. Now, more than ever, our city leaders should embrace our right to know what’s going on…

He’s also taken a pretty stong stand for marriage equality:

His commitment to equality in general, and marriage equality in specific, isn’t just mere words. He and I both worked on the same shift a few Saturdays ago in the Decline To Sign campaign, which was an attempt to keep the marriage initiative off California’s November ballot.

Well, I’ve even donated money to Stephen Whitburn’s campaign too — I’d only donated to the campaigns of transgender candidates prior to Mr. Whitburn’s run for City Council. And, now that I’m pretty much recovered from my gastric bypass, I’m sure I’ll be volunteering some time to his campaign as well.

Thanks Stephen, for giving me a candidate besides James Hartline to focus on in San Diego’s 3rd City Council District.

Events …

• The National Day of Silence was observed April 25th.

Law and legislation …

• In Montgomery County, Maryland, lawyers “involved in a challenge to the referendum on overturning the county’s new protections for transgender people were in court last week to talk about the scope and timing of the case.”
• Also in Montgomery County, Dan Furmansky of Equality Maryland “said a review of signatures collected to overturn the Montgomery County law has been hastened so it can be completed by month’s end.”
• In Massachusetts, a state legislator filed legislation to block payment for a prisoner’s sex-change operation.
• On the Isle of Mann the government has introduced draft legislation entitled The Gender Recognition Bill 2008. “The main points of the Bill include allowing a transsexual person who has been issued with a full gender recognition certificate to be legally regarded as being of their acquired gender, and that a transsexual will be able to marry a person of the opposite gender to their acquired gender.”
• In Detroit, Michigan, the City Council passed a “gender identity discrimination ordinance.”
• In Florida, “the Pinellas County Commission expanded its human rights ordinance to protect gays, lesbians and bisexuals. Included in the vote was a promise to explore expanding the ordinance to bar discrimination against the transgendered.”
• In Ventura County, California, the attorney representing the teenager accused of murdering Larry King sought to have his client tried as a juvenile. The attorney also broached the possibility of employing a “gay-panic-esque defense“, saying “he believes school administrators supported one student expressing himself and his sexuality — King — and ignored how it affected other kids, despite complaints. Cross-dressing isn’t a normal thing in adult environments, he said, yet 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds were expected to just accept it and go on.”
• In California, a transsexual former inmate settled an abuse case against the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “The inmate suffered severe bleeding and lost more than 25 pounds after deputies didn’t give him prescribed testosterone shots in October 2004. Instead, jailers harassed the inmate, such as snapping his mug shot, taping it to a glass on which deputies had written “FEMALE” on it, according to court records.”

Employment and education …

• In Texas, a “Houston business has settled a lawsuit filed by a transgender woman who said a job offer was rescinded because the company learned she was born a man.”
• Also in Texas, Gerald Jeanmard “is suing a company he says fired him. The Port Arthur man claims he was removed from his position with KT Maintenance at the Motiva Refinery after KT found out he was becoming a woman.”
• In New York, there was a meeting in Manhattan to discuss the proposed Gender Employment Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA). Regardless of Empire State Pride Agenda “polling data showing that 78 percent of New Yorkers support the legislation,” the prospects of advancing the legislation in the state legislature this year do not seem promising.
• The Human Rights Campaign released its Transgender Inclusion in the Workplace, 2nd Edition. Prof. Jillian Weiss commented on this report in her blog.
• In the UK, The Independent published “Lonely road: Why school is hell for transgender pupils.”

Religion …

• In Texas, United Methodists met to discuss trans people.

Science …

• A research report released last week showed some evidence that how “much a mother eats at the time of conception may influence whether she gives birth to a boy or a girl … ” “The reason food intake may influence the development of one sex of infant rather than another isn’t fully understood. However, in vitro fertilization studies show that high levels of glucose encourage the growth of male embryos while inhibiting female embryos.”

People …

• In California, Victoria Kolakowski is “running for Alameda County Superior Court Judge.”
• The Gateway published a feature on University of Nebraska professor Meridith Bacon, who is the chair of the board of directors for the National Center for Transgender Equality.
• The National Center for Transgender Equality’s Mara Keisling spoke in Ohio. According to the Gay People’s Chronicle, Keisling spoke at length about (non-transgender-inclusive) ENDA and “said members of Congress should be told to reject any attempts to take transgender protection out of ENDA.”
• Between The Lines wrote about Aaron Watkins and Crystal Proxmire (”FTM? Fine by me“).
• Zagria wrote about Virginia Prince at her Gender Variant Biography blog.
• In Arizona, a “ceremony honoring the memory of Amancio Corrales will be observed with a demonstration of unity and support on May 6, the third anniversary of his murder.”
• In television news, Ugly Betty’s Rebecca Romijn and her transsexual character, Alexis Meade, will be fading out.
• In Canada, the Ottawa Sun published “A coming out party” — “In the coming months, you’re going to hear more from Ottawa’s transgendered community as it makes an effort to gain understanding and acceptance” — and accompanying articles, “Coming out the hardest part for cross-dresser,” “Escaping from the ‘fear’,” “The times, they are a changing” and “Ottawa’s one-man health care sector.”
• The New York Times published a feature on Fran and Denise Brunner from New Jersey (”Through Sickness, Health and Sex Change“).

~~~~~

All these news items are archived at Transgender News, which you may find here or here.

I really enjoy reading information heavy articles and documentation, ful facts and figures on issues I care about, especially when the information is presented with easily understood bar graphsand simply designed, but “dense” tables. So I was very pleased to have my friend Babs send me a link to a webpage by eQualityGiving.org, entitled States Of Equality Scorecard. Here’s the paragraphs from the webpage that describe what’s provided:

Are you a second class citizen in your own state? Review state by state comparisons of the score on equality and gay rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Americans.

The score indicates the number of Equality Goals that have been reached in that state. Each “YES” gives 1 point. Half a point is given for partial achievement of an Equality Goal. One of the seven Equality Goals (repealing “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”) can only be achieved at the federal level. Therefore, at the state level, the maximum score is 6.

Here’seQualityGiving.org’s analysis of the graph and table:

ANALYSIS (50 states + District of Columbia):

? Half of the states satisfy none or just one of the 6 Equality Goals that are required to ensure that LGBTQ people have the same legal protections as everyone else.

? No state offers full legal equality. California would have been the first state offering full equality if it were not for the veto of marriage equality legislation by Governor Schwarzenegger.

? Only two states (California and New Jersey) achieve 5 of the 6 Equality Goals.

? Massachusetts scores only 4.0 despite that if offers marriage equality. This is because it falls short in transgender protections in hate crimes, non discrimination, anti-bullying, and providing new birth certificates.

? Passing federal legislation on an Equality Goal would increase every state score by 1.

Of course an organization with a name like eQualityGiving.org is going to provide a list of organizations, state-by-state, that it believes are working towards full equality for LGBT people.

The eQualityGiving.org scorecard does have me thinking in terms of full equality issues for my state of California. Where do I need to spend my personal resources (time, money, etc.) towards full equality that to obtain basic equality for all LGBT people?

Even before seeing the scorecard’s score for California, the conclusion that marriage equality is probably one of the most significant full equality issues in my state is why I’ve volunteered approximately 40 hours to this point for the decline to sign campaign.

I have a “insider” friend that sends me emails of interesting stories a few times a week, and over the past few weeks I’ve only posted on a few of these. I’ve been recovering very slowly from the gastric bypass, and as an activist I’ve been working locally when I’ve been able to support the decline to sign campaign when I’ve been physically and emotionally up to it, so I haven’t had the energy to post diaries as much as I’d like.

My friend is an activist, and she and I are both pretty clear as to were our agendas intersect.

Over the past few days, she’s sent me two stories of note. The first story, which is the subject of this diary, is regarding a meeting that occurred this week while transgender activists were in DC for the National Center For Transgender Equality (NCTE) Lobby Day and senior staff members for Senator Hillary Clinton. Here’s my source’s report:

At the NCTE lobby day on April 15th in Washington DC, Melissa Sklarz, a member of the New York delegation to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and a presumptive 2008 delegate, let a group of transgender New Yorkers to the office of Senator Hillary Clinton, where they met with the Senator’s Chief of Staff and Chief Counsel to discuss issues affecting transgender and gender variant gay and straight Americans, including ENDA, the Employment Non Discrimination Act, which has not yet been introduced by Senator Ted Kennedy in the US Senate.

They reported a very positive session with Senator Clinton’s senior staff in which there was agreement in the hope that Senator Kennedy would not introduce a non inclusive ENDA, as it was bad strategy and bad timing. The NY transgender constituents in their meeting with the Senator’s senior staff were very much aware of the divisive actions and reactions that followed within the LGBT and progressive communities that occurred when in 2007 protections for transgender and gender variant gays and straight people were stripped from the House version of ENDA.

So, Sen. Clinton apparently isn’t in favor of introducing any version of ENDA that doesn’t include gender identity and expression in the Senate prior to the November election. I’ll take that as a good thing.

~~~~~
H/t: Babs

Lambda Legal put out an email today, letting us know about tomorrow’s California Supreme Court coverage:

Tomorrow, March 4, you can watch the arguments before the California Supreme Court in our historic marriage equality lawsuit!

Lambda Legal has been working for four years with lead counsel National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), the ACLU of California, Heller Ehrman LLP and the Law Office of David C. Codell to make marriage legal for same-sex couples in California. Tomorrow our voices will be heard in the highest court in California.

Watch the arguments from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon PT (6:00 am to 9:00 am ET) at www.calchannel.com or, if you live in California, on the cable California Channel.

Shannon Minter, NCLR Legal Director, will be arguing on behalf of our plaintiffs: 15 same-sex couples, Equality California and Our Family Coalition.

Join Lambda Legal here in the next 24 hours and you’ll have access to our members only briefing — and your gift will be doubled!

Legal Director Jon Davidson will summarize and comment on the arguments at the Supreme Court in San Francisco. He will also respond to questions that are emailed in during the call.

Should be interesting television/computer screen watching tomorrow.

Y’know, in Texas, Mishell Blomenkamp wouldn’t have had a problem getting married to a woman because that state considers her sex to be “fixed by our Creator at birth.” In Missouri (the Show Me state); however, Mishell might have to lift her skirt for the court to prove she still has male genitalia:

Two Missouri women said their marriage isn’t illegal because one of the women is physically a man.

Mishell Blomenkamp used to be Michael Blomenkamp. She had her name changed, but she said she never had gender reassignment surgery.

When she applied for a marriage certificate, she said she was a man. According to the state of Missouri, that is perjury.

“I live as a female because that’s what I am in my head,” Blomenkamp told KMBC’s Chris Nagus. “Biologically I’m still a male.”

Blomenkamp married Anita Frazier. Blomenkamp said that because she’s still technically a male, she never thought that applying for a marriage license in Carroll County would be a problem.

At first, it wasn’t.

“They issued it, and we went and got married,” Blomenkamp said.

But the honeymoon was short-lived. Blomenkamp was arrested and charged with perjury, which is a felony.

[Checking under the skirt soon for male genitalia? More after the fold.]

Read the rest of this entry »

While only about fifty protesters showed up outside the HRC’s New York Dinner, the bigger story was that their was the complete “absence of every lesbian, gay, and bisexual elected official from New York City” at the annual fundraising event. Per the Gay City News:

Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, used his keynote address at the group’s annual Midtown Manhattan dinner to answer critics who fault it for going along with a version of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that does not include protections for transgendered Americans.

The Gay City News said this of Joe Solmonese’s speech:

“I understand and I hear every day that some members of our community are feeling forgotten or left behind. It is easy to understand why,” Solmonese told a crowd approaching 1,000 in the ballroom of the Hilton on February 23. But he also said, “We have to overlook our differences and we have got to see instead of our individual wants and immediate desires… a vision for the America that we all want to live in.”

…In his toughest volley against some in the LGBT community who argue that HRC has lost its right to lead the battle on ENDA, Solmonese suggested it is others who have left the field.

“I have to ask myself: When did we all become so impatient? When did we say to ourselves, okay that civil rights thing, I’ll give it a year, maybe two, then I’m done,” he said. “Let me be very clear: No, we are not done. We are in the grueling, blinding middle of this fight and the middle of this fight is the hardest part.”

Having stated HRC’s commitment to delivering hate crimes and job protections — as well as marriage rights — for all members of the LGBT community, Solmonese said, “Some of us may want to stand back or check out, but there is no standing back. There is no checking out. Because sometimes — and I know this is frustrating — the fight for our rights feels like hell, but as Winston Churchill so aptly put it, ‘When you are going through hell the most important thing is to keep going.’”

It seems there were a lot of “scheduling conflicts” …

[Which politicians didn’t show after the fold.]

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been reporting for a few months on the Democratic presidential candidates LGBT statements and positions — and especially relating to transgender inclusion in civil rights legislation like ENDA.

There are clear statements now on the record for Senators Clinton and Obama on gender identity inclusive ENDA and hate crime legislation, written under their own bylines:

Sen. Barack Obama:

I will also place the weight of my administration behind the enactment of the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes and a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Sen. Hillary Clinton:

We’re going to expand our federal hate crimes legislation and pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and assure that they are both fully inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

My transgender peers, my transgender allies, and I are putting the candidates on notice: Lip service to transgender inclusion in ENDA and hate crimes legislation will not be sufficient past January 20th of 2009. It will not acceptable to just sign any ENDA that passes their desks. I expect whichever of these two becomes president to put the full weight of the Oval Office — including the pressuring reluctant Congresspeople — to pass a fully inclusive ENDA.

My peers, my allies, and I will accept no less from them than a vigorous push by them for fully inclusive, LGBT equality under the law. We will not accept the excuse “I’m signing the non-inclusive ENDA bill because that’s what Congress sent to my desk to sign.”

No lip service. No weaseling out of his or her statement once he or she takes office. In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., we demand equality under the law:

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

If no where else but here at PHB and Stephanie Stevens’ and my pee-wee blog The View From (Ab)Normal Heights, I will personnaly hold our current candidates accountable for ensuring gender identity or expression is in all federal LGBT civil rights and hate crime legislation. Nothing less than a Democratic President’s signature on fully inclusive versions of ENDA and hate crimes legislation will be acceptable.

~~~~~
Related:
* Q Of The Day - What’s Your “Deal Breaker” Issue?
* Do They Mean What They Say? Do They Say What They Mean?
* With Regards To LGBT’s T, Trying To Define “Change” This Election Year
* Donna Rose Comments On The LGBT Americans For Hillary Steering Committee
* Sen. Clinton Today Wrote The Words “Fully Inclusive” With Regards To ENDA

~~~~~Update~~~~~

The language of the letter was updated at some point after the intitial publication, specifically to clarify what “fully inclusive” means. The change in italized, with the previous language lined out the updated language included in blue: