Gay rights groups angered by weaker antidiscrimination bill

[rodeodance]

Source: San Francisco Gate





http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/02/MN6QSHRA6.DTL
Gay rights groups angered by weaker antidiscrimination bill

Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

(10-02) 04:00 PDT Washington - --

Leading gay rights organizations, with the pointed exception of the Human Rights Campaign, withdrew their support Monday from a landmark gay civil rights bill after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., pulled transgender people from the legislation that would protect gays and lesbians from workplace discrimination.
.........

Pelosi and Frank, however, fear the inclusion of gender identity will kill the overall bill - again denying gays and lesbians protection against job discrimination.

Pelosi, D-San Francisco, issued conflicting statements Monday in reaction to the turmoil. The first declared her personal support for including transgender people in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act but asserted she would stick by her decision to drop them from the bill to give it a greater chance of passage.

About three hours later, the speaker issued a new statement saying, “After discussions with congressional leaders and organizations supporting passage” of the bill, committee and floor votes on the bill had been postponed to “allow proponents of the legislation to continue their discussions with members in the interest of passing the broadest possible bill.”...........


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/02/MN6QSHRA6.DTL

[rodeodance]

1. ..Pelosi and Frank are scheduled to be honored this week at two major gay activist

......Pelosi and Frank are scheduled to be honored this week at two major gay activist dinners in Washington - Frank at a Victory Fund dinner scheduled Wednesday and Pelosi at the Human Rights Campaign national dinner Saturday. Some gay groups were organizing protests over Pelosi’s appearance.

HRC, the largest gay rights lobbying force on Capitol Hill, has refused to respond to requests for comment since Frank announced the decision last Thursday.

HRC president Joe Solmonese released a statement calling the news “devastating” but did not say whether the group would join others in boycotting the legislation.

House leaders “very firmly believe” the legislation will pass if gender identity is scrapped, Solmonese wrote in the statement. “After trying everything at our disposal to change this outcome, we are just beginning to come to terms with what that means.”

[IndianaGreen]

3. The Senate passed ENDA with a veto proof majority

and it included protections for the transgender.

What's Pelosi's problem?

[LeftHander]

14. house does not have veto proof majority

I think a veto override requires votes in both house and senate....

[IndianaGreen]

2. United opposition to sexual-orientation-only nondiscrimination legislation

United opposition to sexual-orientation-only nondiscrimination legislation

October 1, 2007

Dear Madam Speaker and Representatives:

The undersigned represent the vast and celebrated diversity of the LGBT community in this country. Some of us are national leaders of organizations with tens of thousands of members and constituents, some of us run the only local organization in our state. But we are united in a common cause: We ask you to keep working with us on an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that protects everyone in our community, and to oppose any substitute legislation that leaves some of us behind.

We ask and hope that in this moment of truth, you will stand for the courage real leadership sometimes demands. You each command enormous respect from all of us and we do appreciate the difficulty of balancing a variety of competing demands. But the correct course in this case and on this legislation is strikingly clear. We oppose legislation that leaves part of our community without protections and basic security that the rest of us are provided.

You told us you supported a fully inclusive ENDA and would bring it up for a vote this year. We expect that you will honor that commitment and we look forward to working together to pass a bill that we can all be proud to support.

Sincerely,

National Organizations
National Association of LGBT Community Centers
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
National Coalition for LGBT Health
National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc.
National Stonewall Democrats
National Transgender Advocacy Coalition
National Youth Advocacy Coalition
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
American Institute of Bisexuality
BiNet USA
Bi Mental Health Professionals Association
Bisexual Resource Center
Bi Writers Association
COLAGE (Children of Lesbians And Gays Everywhere)
DignityUSA
Equality Federation
Equality Project Investor Advocates
Faith In America
Family Pride Coalition
Freedom to Marry
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders
GLSEN – the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
The Gender Public Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC)
International Foundation for Gender Education
Immigration Equality
International Federation of Black Prides
Keshet
Lambda Legal
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch
Matthew Shepard Foundation
Metropolitan Community Churches
Mautner Project: the National Lesbian Health Organization
New Ways Ministry
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
Out4Immigration
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
Pride At Work, AFL-CIO
Reconciling Ministries Network (United Methodists)
Transgender American Veterans Association
Transgender Law and Policy Institute
Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund
TransYouth Family Advocates
Unid@s, the National Latin@ LGBT Human Rights Organization

State Organizations (grouped by state, alphabetically)
Equality Alabama
Equality Arizona
Equality California
Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center
Transgender Law Center (California)
AMBI (California)
Equal Rights Colorado
Love Makes A Family (Connecticut)
Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C.
Equality Florida
MEGA Family Project (Georgia)
Idaho Equality Committee of Your Family Friends and Neighbors
Equality Illinois
Indiana Equality
Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance
One Iowa
Kentucky Fairness Alliance
Equality Maine
Equality Maryland
Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
Triangle Foundation (Michigan)
Michigan Equality
OutFront Minnesota
Equality Mississippi
PROMO (Missouri)
Montana Human Rights Network
Forward Montana
Citizens For Equal Protection (Nebraska)
Garden State Equality (New Jersey)
New Jersey Lesbian & Gay Coalition
Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey
New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition
Concord Outright (New Hampshire)
Seacoast Outright (New Hampshire)
PFLAG-New Hampshire
Equality New Mexico
Empire State Pride Agenda (New York)
New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
Equality North Carolina
Equality Ohio
EqualityToledo Community Action
Kaleidoscope Youth Center (Columbus, OH)
TransOhio
Basic Rights Oregon
Equality Advocates Pennsylvania
PA Diversity Network
Northeastern PA Rainbow Alliance
Marriage Equality Rhode Island
South Carolina Equality Coalition
Alliance For Full Acceptance – South Carolina
SC Gay & Lesbian Pride Movement
Trans Carolina (South and North Carolina)
Equality South Dakota
Tennessee Equality Project
Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition
Equality Texas
Equality Utah
R.U.1.2? Community Center (Vermont)
Equality Virginia
Equal Rights Washington
Gay City Health Project
Fair Wisconsin
Center Advocates (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Wyoming Equality

http://www.thetaskforce.org/activist_center/ENDA_oct1_letter

[UncleSepp]

4. I always wondered what the underside of a bus looked like

Thanks, Barney. Thanks, Nancy. That's just great. Nancy, I'm really glad to have your personal support, even if you can't support me professionally. If I get fired or evicted, I assume I can come sleep on your couch?

[IndianaGreen]

5. This is like saying that 1965 Civil Rights Act only applies to light skinned Blacks

not to dark skinned!

Democrats want out money and time, but they don't want us to share fully in the rights and privileges of citizenship.

[UncleSepp]

9. Or giving legal protection only to pretty women

This is all a game to them. It's about winning elections so that they can win more elections. An incomplete (and therefore unjust) bill that passes, they think, will get more donations and more votes than a just bill that fails. There are no real ideals governing such decisions.

/bitter

[Lerkfish]

6. either we all have rights, or we don't. Its not a compromise thing or a halfway thing

I disagree vehemently with this move.

We are all people, we are all citizens, and unless we accord EVERYONE the same rights as everyone else, we are all diminished by the reduction in rights of any group.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Since the Senate passed ENDA with a veto proof majority, looks like House Dems are afraid

to pass the bill, so they decided to scuttle it by dropping the transgender from it, knowing full well that progressives and the LGBT community would not stand for it being Balkanized.

[David Zephyr]

8. Sadly, I am cynical enough to believe what your wrote is true.

Honestly, I can't see any other reason for their having done what they did. They poisoned it so they wouldn't have to deal with it.

[UncleSepp]

11. Wow. Sneaky and underhanded... but it makes sense

They don't want to be seen by potential bigoted supporters as the radicals stirring the pot, so they can't let it succeed. It could very well be.

[IndianaGreen]

12. I am cynical enough to think the reason they won't defund the war

is because they need it as an issue in 2008.

[David Zephyr]

17. Meanwhile our troops and Iraqis continue to die...

It's the ugly reality that our ballyhooed "two party" system cripples us with.

We will never get where we need to be in this country without a parliamentary government where coalitions must be formed to govern which leverages the power of the populace over special, moneyed interests.

And to top off the two-party farce with the icing: the electoral college.

So expecting our Democratic Party to end a war that 70% of the public wants ended...well, it is wishing into an empty hand.

Howard Zinn, I believe it was, wrote that the Democratic Party has essentially served the purpose of being the "safety valve" against public unrest when the corporate class goes too far. The public can switch back to the "kinder" party which is also a corporate enabler, too.

And while I am at it, this is why the best we can expect from the party (unless Al Gore jumps in) is Hillary and Bill to ride back into the White House. And as sad as that may be, it's still "better" than what we have now.

[IndianaGreen]

10. NOW Commemorates Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20

The transgender community lives in fear of death. Trans people have been brutally murdered, such as transgender teen Gwen Araujo. Here is a NOW press release from 2004:

NOW Commemorates Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20

November 19, 2004

by Kourtney Stamps, Communications Intern, with contributions from Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz, Senior Field Organizer

On Saturday, Nov. 20, NOW will join groups around the world in commemorating the Sixth Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day set aside to memorialize our friends and allies in the transgender community who have been killed because of hatred or prejudice.

Special events, including marches, speaking engagements and candlelight vigils will be held around the world to honor the memories of these brave individuals whose lives were cut short by heinous acts of violence. These events are also organized to raise awareness and inspire discourse about a topic that often goes unnoticed by civil rights groups- the unique plight of transgender individuals.

Defining "Transgender"

Many people, feminists included, do not fully understand what it means to be transgender. "Transgender" is an umbrella term for people who feel the gender they were assigned at birth does not correspond with their gender identity.

Within the transgender category, there are several subcategories. Transsexuals are people who change their gender roles and sometimes their bodies in order to live as members of another sex. This process may include surgery, electrolysis or synthesized sex hormones. Crossdressers wear the clothing of another sex on occasion, but do not desire to change their bodies. Other groups of people who feel that they do not fit into a rigid gender system may identify as Genderqueers, Androgynes, Gender Blenders or Gender Benders. These people may feel that they are both male and female or that their gender identity falls outside the system all together.

Bring transgender is not directly correlated with a person's sexual orientation. Transgender individuals may identify as straight, gay, asexual or bisexual. Some transgender people strongly identify with the lesbian, gay or bisexual community, while others identify more with the straight community. Each transgender person makes that decision for him or herself.

The History Behind the Day

Transgender Day of Remembrance is held in November in honor of Rita Hester, a trans-woman who was murdered in her apartment just outside Boston, Mass., on the night of Nov. 28, 1998. Hester died of multiple stab wounds, and her murder--like most anti-transgender murder cases--remains unsolved. Her murder spawned "Remembering Our Dead," a web project dedicated to immortalizing the names of those persons killed because of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. A candlelight vigil held in San Francisco in 1999 is recognized as the first Day of Remembrance event. Since then, events have been organized in numerous cities in the U.S. as well as in various countries around the world.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. It is meant to raise public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, an action that the mainstream media rarely performs. It also gives non-transgender people a chance to step forward and show their alliance with the transgender community. Most importantly, it serves as a memorial service for individuals whose lives might otherwise be forgotten.

Statistics regarding the number of transgender individuals killed every year are nearly impossible to compile because they are based only on what has been reported. It is impossible to know how many more murders go unreported. These cases rarely receive attention from the mainstream media. When they do, reporters almost never acknowledge that the victim was living as a member of another gender, instead using the pronouns compatible with the person's sex assignment at birth. Despite these problems, the "Remembering Our Dead" web project has been able to compile rough statistics. The site reports that between 1970 and October 2004, 234 transgender people were killed in the U.S. In 2003 alone, 32 transgender murders were reported worldwide.

Inclusive Language Needed

People who do not identify as the gender they have been assigned at birth face the threat of violence, actual physical attacks, verbal assaults and, in the worst cases, murder. Unfortunately, the law does not adequately protect transgender people against discrimination because legislative language is not specific enough to address their unique identity. It is this language that must change in order to provide transgender individuals and their families with legal recourse if they are targeted by perpetrators of hate crimes and other acts of anti-transgender prejudice.

Most anti-discrimination laws are written to prohibit discrimination based on a person's sex or sexual orientation. Since transgender persons are not targeted for either their sex or their sexual orientation, they are not protected under such legislation. The language needs to be rewritten to prohibit similar discrimination based on a person's gender identity and expression.

For the past several years, NOW has worked with other activist groups to make "gender identity and expression" part of the legislative language. The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2003, also known as the Hate Crimes Bill, was one such focus for our efforts. NOW officers worked closely with Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, to encourage Congress to add the appropriate language to the Hate Crimes Bill. This legislation passed the Senate, but without the changes NOW and other groups wanted. Making anti-discrimination policies trans-inclusive was also one of the conference resolutions passed at the National NOW Conference in 2002 and has been an important aspect of NOW's guidelines ever since.

We Must Take Action

As NOW strengthens its alliance with the transgender community, we encourage all feminists and progressives to take a stand on this important issue. "We must do everything in our power to prevent the discrimination and violence transgender people experience," said NOW Action Vice President Olga Vives. "As we remember those who have died because of hate and prejudice, we will help bring attention to this grim injustice."

To learn more about the Transgender Day of Remembrance, visit the official web site. To find out if an event is planned in your area, click here.

For additional information about Transgender Issues, please refer to the following organizations' web sites:
The National Center for Transgender Equality
The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition
The Transgender Law and Policy Institute

http://www.now.org/issues/lgbi/041119remembrance.html

[Ian David]

13. I have an idea of what to do

1) If it passes in the House and Senate, exclude the Republickers from the committee to reconcile the two bills-- just like the Repukes did to the Dems

2) Add the transgender language in the committee

3) Accuse anyone who "flip-flops" when the bill comes out of committee of "being for it before they were against it."

[LeftHander]

15. It is Repukes - Divide and conquer tactic...

Dems played right into it.

again.

[Zenlitened]

16. Part of me wants to think "small steps" here, as in...

... take the G&L win now and keep fighting for the TG component.

But I really do fear that follow-on legislation to add TG folks to ENDA would never even see the light of day. Not this year, not for years to come. Our society finds it all too easy to ignore the needs of these brave souls.

:grouphug: and hope for our TG brothers and sisters.