DART Committee Meeting Tonight To Discuss Trans Inclusive Nondiscrimination Policy

For you peeps in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, time for y'all to be agents of your own liberation and help Ms. T-DART out at the same time.

Kelli Busey and the gang have advised me that there will be another DART committee meeting taking place tonight starting at 7 PM CDT to decide whether a proposal to amend DART's nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity will be forwarded to the full Dallas Area Rapid Transit board.

This is another chapter in an ongoing story that started with Ms. T-DART, a 20 year employee of Dallas Area Rapid Transit having her gender marker change contested and reversed in court by DART lawyers. That incident led to a proposal to amend DART's nondiscrimination policies to include trans employees.

The proposal was not forwarded to the DART board because at last month's committee meeting Committeemember Pamela Dunlop-Gates switched her YES vote to a NO one.

Ms. Dunlop-Gates cited wanting DART attorneys to clarify the “gender identity” and “genetic information” definitions as her reason for changing her vote.

Unfortunately her vote switch stopped the committee from passing the amendment of the nondiscrimination policy to the full DART Board.

I'm presuming that the meeting will be held at the same site if you wish to attend, the DART Headquarters Akard Station Board Room, at 1401 Pacific Ave in Dallas, TX.

But just to be on the safe side, here's the DART administrative office number to double check the location. 214-749-3278.

Once again transpeeps, be nice, not nasty when you call to express yourselves about how important it is that DART's trans employees be covered in the transit authority's nondiscrimination policy.

As my grandmother always said, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Now is not the time to be acting like nekulturny teabaggers.

These are the people y'all need to be calling and expressing yourselves to on the DART board who voted against passage along with Ms. Dunlop-Gates. As a warm up exercise, you may wish to call the people who supported us and say thank you to them.

DART council members who voted against passing the amendment to the DART Board:
Mr. Velasco
Mr. Strauss
Mr. Noah
Mr. Enoch
Ms. Ellerbe
Ms. Dunlop-Gates

Please contact the following Dallas city council members and ask them to pass on to the above listed Dart council members your wish that the DART nondiscrimination policy be amended to include gender identity.

David A. Neumann
Email
Phone: 214-670-0776
Fax: 214-670-5117

Delia Jasso
Email
Phone: 214-670-4052
Fax: 214-670-5117

Linda Koop
Email
Phone: 214-670-7817
Fax: 214-670-5117

If you have any questions, these are your local GLBT advocates with the answers:

Rafael McDonnell
Resource Center Dallas
Strategic Communications and Programs Manager
Email: rmcdonnell@rcdallas.org
Web Page
Phone: 214-528-0144
Fax: 214-522-4604

Patti Fink
DGLA: Dallas Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Web page
Phone: 214-528-4233
Fax: 214-521-6424

Kelli Busey
Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies(DTAA)
DTAA Web site
Phone: 972-693-1988