HRC Speaks To Southern Comfort Conference (Transgender)

On September 14, 2007, HRC President Joe Solmonese spoke about the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), to a transgender defined audience (transgender people, their significant others, freinds, and family members) at the Southern Comfort Conference (Atlanta, Georgia).

There were 871 transgender defined members in the audience.

As of 2:00 PM, Pacific Daylight Time today:

THE Q : Washington Blade’s Viewer Poll

Washington Blade
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2007

Should gay rights groups support ENDA if transgender protections are removed?

–

a. Yes, we need to win rights incrementally. 12%

b. No, we should stick together. 85%

c. Who cares? Bush is going to veto it anyway. 1%

–

Check back regularly for updated polling questions concerning your community!

© 2007 | A Window Media LLC Publication

It could’ve been wurst …

What? Did I say something wrong?

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian doctors have reattached a man’s nearly severed penis after his first wife, enraged by his comparison of her sex skills with those of his younger second wife, decided to chop it off with a kitchen knife.

The man, a 43-year-old Indonesian worker in southern Johor state, was lying in bed with his 48-year-old wife talking about his newly wed second wife, who is in her 30s, when the incident happened, the New Straits Times newspaper reported.

Despite his shock and pain, the man managed to pull on his trousers and ride his motorcycle to a nearby hospital, where doctors had to put in 11 stitches to reattach the organ.

The man later complained to police, who arrested the woman and plan to charge her with voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon, which carries the penalty of a three-year jail term and a fine, the newspaper reported.

Believe it or not, primarily I’m not a blogger. What I usually spend more time each day doing is archiving news for transgendernews.

And in that role, I’m exhausted. Usually the two other archivists and I average around 100 postings a week. This week, we’re already up to 185 archived articles. The recent developments with regards to transgender inclusion in ENDA have caused the number of news pieces archived to just skyrocket. We don’t want to miss what any key individuals or groups are saying on ENDA - whether they are for or against the current House strategy of cutting out the transgender specific language out of the main ENDA bill.

Our transgendernews archive goes back to 2002. We’ve archived a lot of the public discussions about adding transgender people to ENDA bills over the years. In 2004, many of us transfolk optimistically believed the discussion was essentially over when all of the major LGBT 501(c) and civil rights organizations said they would only support a transgender inclusive ENDA.

Then, as it is now, transgender inclusion in ENDA was highly discussed. One can get a picture at this link of just how much the transgender inclusion issue for ENDA was discussed/archived in 2003 and 2004. I’m sure the archive is in no way a complete archive of the public discussion.

But what I do know, even from that incomplete picture the archive provides, is what Mara Keisling, the Executive Director for the National Transgender Center for Equality said in August, 2004:

Until now, we’ve spent an unconscionable amount of time trying to convince our friends to be our friends, that we’re all playing on the same team. Now we can concentrate on making some inroads.

Now, perhaps not.

It’s absolutely amazing what Representatives Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, and George Miller, (the latter being the Democratic Representative who chairs the committee that will mark up the ENDA bill Tuesday) have done to undo the work on transgender inclusion that was thought to have been already done prior to August, 2004.

This new congressional fight isn’t at all about educating Congress, as the Washington Post has suggested. At the recent Southern Comfort Conference, Human Rights Campaign Executive Director Joe Solmonese praised Mara Keisling for all of the education work that has occurred. NTAC, GPAC, and NCTE have all ran lobby days on transgender inclusion in ENDA going back to the nineties. The HRC itself ran an educational Ad Campaign directed at Congress back in 2005.

No, this isn’t about education. It’s not even really about passing ENDA. As Chris Anders, an advocate on gay issues for the American Civil Liberties Union stated:

“This is about House politics, not about moving legislation through Congress and to the president’s desk.”

I just want to scream “Employment protection for LGBT people — including transgender people like me — shouldn’t be about politics! It’s supposed to be about social justice, freedom, and equality!”

But apparently, it isn’t. It is about politics.

When we look back to August of 2004, why did all of the major LGBT 501(c) and civil rights organizations said they would only support a transgender inclusive ENDA? This is how the Human Rights Campaign answered that question:

Passing ENDA without gender identity and expression is like passing a copyright law that covers books and television shows but doesn’t cover digital music or videos. But ENDA is about people’s lives, not MP3s or DVDs. That’s why it’s so important that we have the strongest and most comprehensive bill possible.
–Past Human Rights Campaign Executive Director Cheryl Jacques

The Washington Blade stated in the same August 13, 2004 article where I found that Cheryl Jacques quote:

Human Rights Campaign Executive Director Cheryl Jacques pointed to polling data that shows 85 percent of gay voters support workplace protections based on gender identity and expression.

But here we are now, back to discussing whether or not transgender protections belong in ENDA. Pam, Lane Hudson (of the Huffington Post) and a lot of LGB and T organizations have argued for transgender inclusion. People arguing going forward with a “sexual orientation only” ENDA (without transgender protections) have included Chris Crain (former Executive Editor of the Washington Blade), Jonathan Capehart (writing the editorial for the Washington Post), John Aravosis (of Americablog), and Peter Rosenstein (who at one time worked for Congresswoman Bella Abzug — the congresswoman who submitted the first ENDA bill to Congress).

The activist community demanded transgender protections be added to ENDA legislation in 2004. Well, to remove the protections now, in the face what should have been anticipated opposition arguments, can’t in any way be seen as progress.

You don’t stab a man in the back nine inches and pull it out six inches and say you’re making progress.
–Malcolm X

All of the major LGBT 501(c) and civil rights organizations added a T to their mission statements. They didn’t have to add T’s to their mission statements, but they did. After they added the T’s, they banded together and said that they “will only support ENDA if it is inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. That said to transgender people like me that “The LGBT community is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, AND transgender community.”

Rep. Barney Frank is going to submit two ENDAs next week — actually better described as an ENDA and a GENDA. But, “Separate but equal” ENDA’s aren’t going to cut the mustard at this point; either transgender people are the LGBT community, or transgender people aren’t. Two bills means transgender people like me are not part of the greater LGBT community. Rep. Frank is essentially saying it’s not LGBT, but LGBt.

Congressional Democratic Leadership, in the form of Rep. Franks’ ENDA and GENDA, has presented major LGBT 501(c) and civil rights organizations with a dilemma. Either these organizations can choose to support a single ENDA that covers both sexual orientation and gender identity, or chose not too. But, even though legislatively it may be easier and more convenient to leave transgender people out the main ENDA bill, the “separate but equal” approach to ENDA legislation will mean deep, public division for the LGBT community. It already has meant bloody havoc — and it’ll get worse.

So to the one, large, LGBT civil rights organization that has yet to announce how it’s going to come down on the “separate but equal” approach to ENDA, I have this to say:

My transgender peers and I am watching you, Human Rights Campaign, for your final statement on the “separate but equal” approach to ENDA legislation. If you support the “separate but equal” approach to ENDA, I know I’ll be among the first calling for you to take the T out of your mission statement. “Separate but equal” is not going to be an acceptable option at all to transgender people, their significant others, friends, families, and most of our allies.

As for congressional Democrats, they’ve lost a lot of LGBT respect. They’ve divided their LGBT base for politics alone — that can’t be good for future votes or political donations.

… as we ride that “separate track” …

I don’t wonder where you are.

Apparently, an HRC insider is blabbing to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carolyn Lochhead:

The decision by House Democratic leaders yesterday to dump transgender people from a civil rights law protecting gays and lesbians from workplace discrimination has put the Human Rights Campaign in a terribly awkward position.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco is to be the guest of honor at the HRC’s big national dinner Oct. 6, where she is to be feted for her accomplishments on behalf of gay people.

The HRC gala could help explain the sudden rush to push the long-languishing Employment Non-Discrimination Act, known as ENDA, through the House next week — even if it means throwing transgender people off the bus.

The move has generated outrage in the gay rights community — with the notable exception of HRC, which so far remains silent, refusing to return repeated phone calls. Sources say HRC has scheduled and cancelled at least two emergency board meetings over threats by some board members to quit if HRC endorses the new ENDA bill, sans gender identity protections.

E-fricking-gads. The Democratic Party has been considering “throwing transgender people off the bus” for the sake of making Speaker Pelosi look good at an HRC fund-raising dinner. Oh … my … gawd.

The HRC’s continued public silence on ENDA isn’t golden, at this point.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
–Martin Luther King Jr.

~~~~~
Related:
* Twelve LGBT Groups United: Don’t Strip Trans Protections From ENDA
* The Washington Post Argues Against A Trans Inclusive ENDA

Contact: Brendan Daly/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616
Friday, September 28, 2007

Pelosi: ‘ENDA is an Historic Advancement for Gays and Lesbians’

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement this afternoon on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act:

“For my 20 years in Congress, ending discrimination against gays and lesbians has been a top priority of mine. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, ENDA, sponsored by Congressman Barney Frank, is an historic advancement for gays and lesbians and their families. I am proud to be the first Speaker to bring this legislation to the House floor, which was first introduced in 1994.

“While I personally favor legislation that would include gender identity, the new ENDA legislation proposed by Congressman Frank has the best prospects for success on the House floor.

“I will continue to push for legislation, including language on gender identity, to expand and make our laws more reflective of the diverse society in which we live.”

# # #

I rarely get as angry as I’m feeling this afternoon about politics, but this feels incredibly personal. How spineless can the Democrats get? A quote from Kelly’s song Let Me Borrow That Top pretty much sums up the feelings I have regarding Rep. Nancy Pelosi at this moment:

F*ck you with something hard and sandpapery.

And yes, my feelings would be the same if she were a male Speaker of the House – in fact, my feelings are the exactly the same for Rep. Barney Frank.

Coming soon?

***

This is a “connect the dots” post. It’s an hindsight argument as to why HRC’s/Logo’s VisibleVote*08 choice of Jonathan Capehart was perhaps an LG choice for a journalist/questioner, and not an LGBT choice for an LGBT debate.

1.) Today, the Washington Post published an editorial entitled A Civil Rights Law; Employment discrimination against gays and lesbians should be outlawed.:

REP. BARNEY FRANK (D-Mass.) is set to introduce two versions of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the House Education and Labor Committee. One would extend civil rights protections based on sexual orientation. The other would do so for gender identity, which would cover transgender people who have changed their sex, are living their lives as the opposite sex or who do not conform to traditional gender roles. This will be done because within the past few days it became clear that an inclusive bill would be defeated because of the transgender protection. Mr. Frank, one of two openly gay members of Congress, deserves credit for devising the plan that might well save the basic bill.

It requires time and patience to educate the public and lawmakers about how prejudice harms some people. That’s what gays and lesbians have been doing in their quest for equality for nearly 40 years. And that’s what transgender people will have to do. Delaying passage of ENDA, which was first introduced in the House in the mid-1970s by Rep. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.), until the transgender community changes enough hearts and minds would be a mistake.

2.) Jonathan Capehart is an editorial writer for the Washington Post.

3.) Back when Jonathan Capehart was a writer for the New York Daily News in 2002, he argued against including transgender protections in New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA):

[New York State Senator Tom] Duane [(D-Manhattan)] and his gay constituents already are protected by [New York] city’s human rights law. The transgendered, too. The senator’s fight puts the protection of gays and lesbians throughout the state at risk.

“I’m not trying to stop SONDA,” he said recently. “What have I been in office for? It’s been a part of my platform.”

But the eleventh-hour amendment could undermine that platform. That’s why Duane should put off his transgender activism until after the bill is passed. Untold numbers of gays and lesbians around the state need legal protection. It’s long overdue.

When the HRC and LOGO picked Capehart as a panelist/questioner, they picked someone who in the past of advocating against transgender inclusion in a non-discrimination act. Now the Washington Post, with Capehart as an editorial writer, is advocating against transgender inclusion in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). I believe Capehart’s previous commentary on SONDA and the Washington Post’s current editorial on ENDA are too similar in perspective to be disconnected.

I guess no one should be surprised to learn that Jonathan Capehart asked no transgender specific questions at the VisibleVote*08 forum.

Should I be inferring anything about the HRC’s position on transgender exclusion from ENDA because LOGO and the HRC chose Capehart as an LGBT community representative for the VisibleVote*08 forum?

Again, the HRC’s silence so far on the ENDA developments is deafening.

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
–Martin Luther King Jr.

~~~~~Upates at the bottom of the post~~~~~

Last night, Window Media reported that ENDA is in trouble over transgender inclusion.

Today (September 27, 2007), twelve LGBT groups spoke out in opposition to the idea of stripping transgender protections from ENDA; the groups aren’t silent in objecting to the idea of removing trans protections from ENDA.

Leaders of 12 LGBT rights groups issued a statement Thursday opposing any effort to remove transgender protections from the latest iteration of the 33-year drive to add gay men and lesbians to federal anti-discrimination law.

“If true, this decision was made without consultation with leaders of the lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual community,” the statement read.

Signatories included leaders of PFLAG, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the National Stonewall Democrats, Lambda Legal, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and the AFL-CIO’s Pride at Work, among other groups, as well as the National Center for Transgender Equality’s Mara Keisling.

Human Rights Campaign spokesman Brad Luna confirmed that House leaders were likely to consider a bill without trans protections.

“HRC is deeply disappointed and did not assent to this position,” Luna said.

Adamske said that putting a trans-inclusive bill on the floor for a vote could result in a bruising debate that would make it very difficult to revisit the bill.

“The one thing we don’t want to do is embolden the enemy,” he said of Republicans who might be looking to exploit the vote as a wedge issue.

From a joint statement (as quoted in 365Gay.com):

Our organizations oppose the removal of protections for transgender people from ENDA. We would also oppose any employment nondiscrimination bill that did not protect transgender people,” the joint statement said.

While we don’t doubt the sincerity of congressional leadership’s intent to take action and be helpful to the LGBT community, we cannot disagree more with this strategy. We will continue to work with LGBT-supportive members of Congress to urge their colleagues to immediately drop this strategy.

The Advocate reported:

Earlier in the day, shortly after reports of the change originally surfaced on the Washington Blade’s Web site, LGBT advocacy groups fired off statements of disapproval.

“If media reports from the last 24 hours are accurate, it is unconscionable that congressional leaders would rush to a decision to strip protections for transgender people at the same time as states across the nation are adding these protections at an unprecedented pace,” said Matthew Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Foreman called it “incredibly ironic” that the House is considering such a move on the same day that the Senate voted 60-39 to allow a voice vote on a trans-inclusive hate-crimes bill. The House has passed a hate-crimes bill twice that included gender identity.

The National Stonewall Democrats put out a statement echoing Foreman’s sentiments, adding, “We would oppose any bill that did not protect transgender people.” Eleven other organizations signed on to the statement: Empire State Pride Agenda; Equality Texas; Garden State Equality; the Mautner Project; National Center for Lesbian Rights; National Center for Transgender Equality; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; National Stonewall Democrats, National Coalition for LGBT Health; National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects; Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; and the AFL-CIO’s Pride at Work.

Noticeably absent from the group that stated “We would oppose any bill that did not protect transgender people” is the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). The HRC’s HRC Back Story page has no story up as yet on the possible removal of transgender protections from the ENDA bill being considered in the U.S. House.

Emphasizing this point, Chris Crain (former Executive Editor of Window Media), in a Citizen Crain blog entry entitled Is ENDA about to go trans-free?, stated:

Missing, of course, are our friends at the Human Rights Campaign, even though the HRC board voted during Cheryl Jacques’ tenure to take a similar “trans or bust” stance on ENDA.

Fortunately, Barney Frank and the House Democratic leadership are more realistic politically and hopefully HRC’s usual pragmatism will keep it on board, even if trans protections are removed. If HRC holds tough, no one will sing their praises higher than your’s truly, though to me the decision is a political, moral and civil rights no-brainer.

As a transwoman, I’m reminded of a Martin Luther King Jr. quote:

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

With regards to ENDA, I hope we hear exactly what the HRC will or won’t support very soon. The silence is deafening.

~~~~~

A transgender inclusive hate-crimes bill advanced in the Senate today (September 27, 2007) with 60, bipartisan votes. The HRC wasn’t silent on this: HRC Back Story has a story up on the transgender inclusive Matthew Sheppard/Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Protection Act vote in the Senate.

Joe Solmonese releases video celebrating first trans-inclusive federal legislation to pass Congress

For at least that, we can be proud of our Senate. Too bad this victory was soured by news from the House.

~~~~~

Further reading:
* Transadvocate: It’s Put Up Or Shut Up Time
* Bilerico Project / Matt Foreman: A non-transgender-inclusive ENDA? No way!
* Transgriot: Political Good News-Bad News
* Press release: Nine national LGBT advocacy organizations issue collective call forgender identity to remain in Employment Non-Discrimination Act

~~~~~Update~~~~~

I received an email update from Cecilia Chung this evening from her personal e-address (not her business eaddress):

Dear Friends:

We just got confirmation this afternoon that the leaders in the House of Representatives have indeed stripped gender identity from ENDA. There is still time though for you to join me and contact all the democrats in the House, especially the leadership:

Speaker Pelosi
California-8th, Democrat
235 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0508
Phone: (202) 225-4965

Barney Frank
Massachusetts-4th, Democrat
2252 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-2104
Phone: (202) 225-5931

George Miller
California-7th, Democrat
2205 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0507
Phone: (202) 225-2095

It is imperative that we demonstrate unity and urge the Speaker to put gender identity back in the bill.

She included links to three articles.  Here’s the jist of what’s going on from Rep. Barney Frank, as told by the Bay Area Reporter:

The federal trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act that has been a centerpiece of LGBT legislation for the Human Rights Campaign and other gay rights groups appeared headed for collapse in the House of Representatives Thursday, September 27 with a plan by gay Congressman Barney Frank to introduce two versions of the bill - one addressing sexual orientation and one addressing gender identity.

…Foreman said that according to what he was told, the gender identity bill would be “left on the table,” meaning it would not be passed now.

There was no answer in Frank’s Capitol office late Thursday afternoon. A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

A message left for HRC was not immediately returned.

Asked if the recent developments were a surprise, Foreman said, “Yes, we were caught off guard by this.”

…Frank told the [the Washington Blade] that “the notion that we should let the whole bill die if we can’t pass [a] transgender [provision] is a terrible idea. It’s exactly the opposite of what the civil rights movement always did.”

The other two articles were linked to in my original post: the 365Gay.com article, and The Advocate article.

~~~~~Update 2~~~~~

TheSan Francisco Chronicle is reporting this morning House cuts transgender people from hate crimes bill:

Even as the Senate passed a hate crimes bill sought for a decade by gays and lesbians, House Democratic leaders decided Thursday to strip transgender people from another long-languishing civil rights bill, generating dismay in the gay community and furious but fruitless lobbying for more time.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Reps. George Miller, D-Martinez, Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., believe they lack the votes in the Democrat-controlled House to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act if it includes gender identity along with sexual orientation as a prohibited ground for firing an employee.

Frank and Baldwin are the only openly gay members of Congress.

“People now accept the fact that we just don’t have the votes for the transgender,” Frank said.

Nervous Democrats had been hearing about Republican amendments to the employment bill, Frank said, “that would talk about schoolteachers, and what happens when the kid comes back from summer vacation and teachers change gender. We just lost enough Democrats and we couldn’t be sure of the Republicans.”

…Some gay activists said Democratic leaders were worried that including transgender people in the employment discrimination bill would expose conservative House Democrats to a tough vote.

Frank dismissed that charge as “stupid.”

“They had no idea what they were talking about,” Frank said. “We put them to a vote on transgender hate crimes. We’re going to put them to a vote on sexual orientation. The problem wasn’t that we were afraid of it. We just didn’t have the votes.”

To those who argue Frank and other Democrats were caving in by dropping transgender people from the employment discrimination bill, he said, “Have they been living in Sweden and thinking they were in America for the last 20 years? We’re going to go ahead with sexual orientation for the first time in American history. Why would timid people be pushing people to do that?“

Our Wednesday and Thursday, 100% more news edition …

#1 - Inside Indonesia looks beyond the stereotypes in this profile of the country’s transgender (waria) community …

Before she even opens her mouth, the petite, jilbab-wearing and refined looking Shuniyya Ruhama Habiiballah has already gone a long way towards achieving one of her driving missions in life: to challenge the dominant stereotype of Indonesia’s large transgendered community, who describe themselves as waria, a term for transgendered people derived from the words wanita (woman) and pria (man).

As Shuniyya says in her softly spoken, decidedly feminine voice: ‘People see the waria as sex workers on the side of the streets at night, dressed in mini-skirts, with silicone-inflated breasts as large as watermelons. They see the show business drag queens who perform on stage and on television. They see these waria and think that they know what a waria is. They don’t. The waria they see are just the most obvious and easy to identify, and the ones the straight community are most likely to meet.’

…

Defining waria

#2 - As Oakland Park has become the latest Florida community to protect its transgender employees and residents from discrimination, Palm Beach and Broward counties may be next to do so …

Transgender is quietly becoming a protected class in South Florida as cities vote to prohibit discrimination against a group that faces tremendous challenges fitting in.

Palm Beach and Broward counties may extend the protection next, which could leave the broadest imprint by affording civil rights to people for their gender identity or expression. The movement accelerated with the March firing of Largo City Manager Susan Stanton, who transitioned from male to female this year.

“It shined a light on what this discrimination is,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Stanton’s attorney. “It really underscored how important it is to have these ordinances.”

Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Tequesta and Oakland Park have approved nondiscrimination clauses this year either covering city employees or all residents. Oakland Park was the latest last week and Wilton Manors may consider adding transgender as well.

County ordinances would go further by outlawing discrimination in the workplace and housing in all cities and unincorporated areas. Thirteen states and more than 90 cities and counties already have such laws, with the first passed more than 30 years ago. Advocates hope local ordinances will lead to a statewide law, health insurance coverage for sexual reassignment surgery and greater acceptance.

…

Transgender community works to gain protections in South Florida

(You can vote in the Sun Sentinel’s “Transgender poll” here. The Sun Sentinel, by the way, does not support this legislation.)

#3 - Candis Cayne appears Wednesday evening in the debut of ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money.

#4 - Some reading from the “dark side” …

Homosexuals and cross-dressers may in fact be a lot of things, but an oppressed minority they are not. And I, for one, resent their temerity in suggesting that a rejection of their chosen lifestyle is in any way equivalent to what truly oppressed peoples in this country went through for the right to vote, sit at a lunch counter and/or stay in the hotel of their choice.

Homosexuals are not immutable – there is a difference between refusing to change one’s behavior and being unable to change the color of one’s skin. They are no more economically deprived than others, and they certainly do not have a history of political and historical powerlessness. Ergo, sexual orientation is not a civil right. Homosexual activists represent one of the most powerful lobbies per capita in the country. But I digress.

Homosexuality is not a civil right

The conflated logic of the ACLU’s bathroom briefs seems to be that someone entering a public restroom intending to use it for traditional purposes has no protection either from the gender sign posted at the door or from the otherwise vaunted right to privacy. Someone entering a public restroom intending to solicit and engage in sex, on the other hand, is protected by both the First Amendment and the right to privacy.

What else would you expect from a group that embraces an ideology that holds that partially born babies have no right to keep their skulls intact?

Get the ACLU Out of Our Bathrooms

ENDA would “strike at the very heart of our American liberties,” said
Doug Napier, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. It’s
especially threatening to businesses that are already “regulated to
death,” Napier said. “And now we’re going to tell you who you can hire
and who you can’t fire, based on a category of protection that is not
based on an immutable characteristic, but a choice of lifestyle.”

Tom Strohbar, an expert in stockholder interests in Dayton, Ohio, said
the workplace is the wrong place for this issue, where it is
inappropriate – even illegal – for employers to inquire about workers’
sexual activities or orientation.

“Really, what they should be asking employees is that when they come
to work, they don’t talk about their personal sexual interests and
activities,” Strohbar told Family News in Focus. “And if they don’t
talk about these things, the issue is completely moot. We don’t need
the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.”

ENDA: Workplace is the Wrong Place for Sexual Politics

#5 - The Boston Globe had an op-ed piece yesterday about the some of the deceitful disinformation being aimed at the Matthew Shepard (Hate Crimes) Act pending in the U.S. Senate …

AMERICANS who understand basic principles of justice have no problems with the hate crime bill known as the Matthew Shepard Act. This legislation, now awaiting a vote in the Senate, would finally protect the many citizens who are targeted for violence simply because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, and it would provide law enforcement the necessary resources to investigate bias-fueled brutality.

Unfortunately, some clergy across the nation have joined together to oppose this bill in an aggressive and divisive manner. For instance, conservative African-American leaders - most notably Bishop Harry Jackson of Maryland’s Hope Christian Church - have been inundating the media and faith communities with the message that this legislation will allow police to storm into worship services and arrest clergy if they speak against being gay. They make the incendiary allegation that the bill will create “thought crimes” by punishing people for thinking ill of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

The truth is that the Matthew Shepard Act protects all First Amendment rights. And, although that is a given, this bill goes out of its way to protect the free speech of ministers. Those pastors who wish to continue condemning and dehumanizing the gay community will be free to do so.

The hate crimes bill provides resources for the investigation of violent actions - not beliefs, thoughts, or words. The proposed federal statute does not punish nor prohibit free expression of one’s religious beliefs. As University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey R. Stone recently concluded, “The argument of the pastors that the proposed legislation in any way threatens their right to preach their version of the Gospel is, to be frank, ridiculous.”

…

Fabricated fears about hate crime legislation

#6 - Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who’s visiting the U.S., has claimed that his country does not have a gay problem …

At Columbia University on Monday, Mr Ahmadinejad said homosexuality did not exist in Iran. “In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country,” he told a questioner who accused his government of executing gay people. “In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who has told you that we have it.”

(Nature abhors a vaccum.)

While Mr Ahmadinejad may want to believe that his Islamic society is exclusively non-gay, it is a belief undermined by the paradox that transsexuality and sex changes are tolerated and encouraged under Iran’s theocratic system.

Iran has between 15,000 and 20,000 transsexuals, according to official statistics, although unofficial estimates put the figure at up to 150,000. Iran carries out more gender change operations than any country in the world besides Thailand.

Sex changes have been legal since the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, passed a fatwa authorising them nearly 25 years ago. Whereas homosexuality is considered a sin, transsexuality is categorised as an illness subject to cure.

While the government seeks to keep its approval quiet, state support has increased since Mr Ahmadinejad took office in 2005. His government has begun providing grants of £2,250 for operations and further funding for hormone therapy. It is also proposing loans of up to £2,750 to allow those undergoing surgery to start their own businesses.

Maryam Khatoon Molkara, leader of the country’s main transsexual organisation, said some of those undergoing operations were gay rather than out-and-out transsexuals.

…

Sex change funding undermines no gays claim

#7 - Christine Daniels writes about going to Southern Comfort and … talking football …

When I say Southern Comfort played a big part in my recent vacation, I don’t mean I went on a five-day whiskey bender — although it’s fair to say I spent the time surrounded by some high and lively spirits.

Southern Comfort, held annually in Atlanta, is said to be the largest transgender conference in the country, which is a much more substantial claim today than it was when the event debuted 17 years ago. The map and the calendar are now dotted with such events: Be All (Chicago), California Dreamin (San Jose), Colorado Gold Rush (Denver), Esprit Gala (Port Angeles, Wash.), Fantasia Fair (Provincetown, Mass.), IFGE (Tucson next spring) — just to name a half-dozen. They are all examples of a North American transgender community continuing to grow, wanting to connect and needing to educate.

…

Southern Comfort (plus refreshments!)

#8 - Sad to say, Holly Woodlawn has seen better days …

“Holly came from Miami F-L-A,
Hitchhiked her way across the USA,
Plucked her eyebrows on the way,
Shaved her legs and then he was a she …”

That’s how Lou Reed made Holly Woodlawn, the Warhol Factory superstar and legendary drag queen, famous in his 1972 song Walk on the Wild Side. Here’s Woodlawn’s expanded version: “I was 15 years old and failing at high school in Miami Beach because I was too busy partying. I was supposed to go to summer school to catch up and really didn’t want to, so I joined some of these Cuban queens to go to New York. I hocked some jewellery and we made it all the way to Georgia, where the money ran out and we had to hitchhike the rest of the way.

“Atlanta, Georgia, of all places - you could expect to be tarred and feathered and murdered in those days! But we survived and I remember the first time I saw New York: the Emerald City. I thought the sidewalks were made of diamonds because of the specks of mica in the asphalt. It was 1962. Marilyn had just died. I lived on the streets like everyone does when they run away. I met some girlfriends who took me in and we found a place in Queens. I was really lucky. I met this guy who fell in love with me and asked me to be his girlfriend. I started taking hormones for a sex-change and lived as his wife, working in the days as a clothing model at Saks Fifth Avenue. Oh, the things I did! And for six or seven years they never knew I was a boy. Not a clue!”

…

‘Oh, the things I did!’

#9 - Over in Oregon, where the usual suspects would like to repeal the pro-GLBT legislation passed this spring, Byron Beck writing in Willamette Week passes on this advice …

Be Nice to Your (Republican) Neighbors. When chatting up your holier-than-thou neighbors, don’t preach about how your rights are about to be yanked out from under you. That didn’t work on Measure 36 in ’04, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to work four years later. Just smile and let them prattle on about how nice it is to have neighbors who care as much about their lawns as they do. Pretend not to be offended when they say, “The gays have great green thumbs.” But for godsakes, take notes, make lists, and by all means videotape any behavior that can be construed as even the tiniest bit homophobic—there are bloggers out there just waiting for your link to YouTube.

…

Best Friends, Worst Enemies
It’s the time for queers to go back in the closet.

#10 - Finally, some upcoming events. On Thursday …

Attempts by Republican Senator and Presidential hopeful John McCain to block new legislation that would extent hate crimes to cover LGBT people will come to a head tomorrow with a crucial vote.

Democratic Senator Harry Reid has filed a cloture motion on the hate crimes bill, a procedural move to overcome Senator McCain’s objection to bringing the amendment to the floor.

…

US hate crimes law faces key vote in Senate

And, on Friday on the Oprah Winfrey Show …

What would you do if your 7-year-old daughter said, “Mom, I should be a
boy.” Meet guests who say they were born in the wrong body. Their stories on
facing the world transgendered.

Born In The Wrong Body

As a member of the LGBT community, let me say that in my opinion, we’ve got our collective heads up our collective asses.

I’m a bit surprised, but not shocked looking at this poll — gay marriage is apparently the number one priority of LGBT voters voting on the TheVisibleVote*08 Blog.

If there ever were an indicator that the LGBT civil rights movement is an “it’s all about me” movement, this poll from Logo’s TheVisibleVote*08 Blog is it.

The issues that aren’t on the answer list speak loudly even about the folk who wrote the poll — Are there any answers regarding LGBT youth, such as the high suicide rate, bullying in our public schools, or the epidemic of LGBT youth homelessness?  No.  Any mention of the RealID Act?  No.  LGBT immigration issues?  No.

And, the priorities of marriage equality over LGBT employment, housing, healthcare, and public accomodation is  … well, I don’t get it.

We forget our our poor, we forget our next generation, we forget the basic needs of our peers who are oppressed because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, but we remember our personal desires and elevate them to the highest of community goals.

Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained.
–Helen Keller

Okay, I’m stepping off the soapbox.

We’d hate to see you “backlashed.” And, by the way, you really should show a bit more gratitude that we’re even takin’ an interest in such a “small group” of … well, whatever you are … like yourselves.

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit there, but that’s almost what it seems to me the South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board is saying today. Such condescending paternalism, if I can call it that, just rubs me the wrong way …

More protected classes aren’t needed

ISSUE: Communities consider transgender protections.

Activists in South Florida want to make sure the transgender community has the same rights and protections as everyone else.

The fact is, they already do.

You can’t legally discriminate in housing and employment by race, sex, color, religion, national origin, handicap, familial status, sexual orientation or marital status. That pretty much covers it all.

Which makes the effort to push for transgender protection in some South Florida communities an unnecessary move that would quite possibly do more harm than good.

No law is going to make people more open-minded. Yet certain laws could spur a backlash.

You only have to look at the anti-gay vitriol that has been going around in South Florida since Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle went on his ill-conceived crusade to understand there is underlying bigotry. Adding a protected legal class for what is surely a very small percentage of the population would undoubtedly unleash some ugly anti-transgender bigotry.

And what would such protection really accomplish? A crime against a transgendered person, rightfully, is the same as a crime against anyone else. Attitudes aren’t going to be changed by adding protections. Attitudes are changed by education.

Yet several cities in Broward and Palm Beach have recently approved non-discrimination clauses covering city employees, or all residents. Other cities are considering adding transgender protection.

The key is for city and county agencies to vigilantly enforce the protections already in place. Advocates need to make sure incidents involving discrimination against transgender people are investigated. Any more specific protections, particularly for small groups of people, just aren’t warranted.

BOTTOM LINE: Enforce protections already on the books.

Shoes Remix: The Tribute Videos

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made a poignant commentary about waiting for equality in his I Have A Dream:

…It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals have waited a long time an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) — for federal LGBT civil rights legislation. Transpeople have waited a long time too. Let’s be clear though — the LGBT wait has been decades, and not the centuries Black America waited. That’s a good thing, to be sure. There is a fresh urgency of the moment with regards to LGBT civil rights, and there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality in the air for the LGBT community.

And yet, my transgender peers and I haven’t forgotten that with regards to gay, lesbian, and bisexual, and transgender civil rights, it wasn’t until a few years ago that national LGBT civil rights and other LGBT non-profits banded together and said “We won’t support an ENDA without transgender inclusion.” It was monumental.

Soon after the LGBT civil rights organizations and non-profits banded together in 2004 on the ENDA decision for trans inclusion, Chris Crain, then Executive Editor of Window Media, wrote an editorial entitled ENDA gets trans-jacked.

…it is mind-boggling that HRC has caved into trans activists and other groups — including the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and PFLAG — and is now insisting ENDA should be passed only if it also includes protections for transgendered people.

IF HRC AND these other groups have their way, workplace protection for gays and bisexuals will be held hostage until a majority in Congress (and the president) agrees to protection for transgendered employees.

This “trans-jacking” of ENDA is wrong politically, legally and even morally. And it’s the latest sign that the groups at the supposed helm of the movement for gay civil rights are out of touch with their constituents and sadly adrift when we need them the most.

…It would be wrong and immoral for us to expect others to be treated unfairly until we are treated equally. And it is just as wrong and just as immoral for transgendered people and their P.C. allies in gay rights groups to expect the same.

Mr. Crain didn’t say it directly, but he certainly implied it — there are those against employment non-discrimination for LGBT folk that will specifically highlight trans inclusion to make a case against ENDA as a whole.

And, that’s happening now; anti-transgender ENDA talking points are now currently making the rounds in the religious right press. Matt Barber of the Concerned Women for America wrote about trans inclusion in the most hideous of terms just last week. The Illinois Family Institute add transgender inclusion to their talking points when they too wrote about ENDA last week:

Practically, how would ENDA be applied?
- A male teacher comes into work dressed as a woman because it is his ‘gender preference’ that day. He must be allowed to teach, talk with the children about why he’s dressing this way, and even use the women’s restroom…

And this week, just so far this week, the California Catholic Daily and Focus On The Family’s CitizenLink have highlighted ENDA’s trans inclusion in ENDA as a reason to reject