Moni's Thoughts About The Trans Inclusive ENDA Passing The Senate

The renaissance of the trans human rights movement in the late 80s early 90's led to our first lobbying foray into Washington DC in 1994.  One of the things we asked for at that time was to have trans people covered in ENDA by adding gender identity language in the bill which the GL community and Gay, Inc. either ignored or was openly hostile to.   

In 1996 a non-inclusive sexual orientation only version of ENDA reached the final vote stage in a GOP controlled Senate and failed 50-49

It took a lot of work and lobbying by myself and a cross section of transpeople since 1994 to get us included in ENDA.  Many of those people who took up that cause are no longer here on this planet or are retired from the movement.  There were some bumps and bruises along the way as we continued the make the argument that ENDA would pass with transpeople in it and 'incremental progress' is unacceptable. 

Yesterday I cried a little when I saw the trans community's nearly two decades of lobbying work vindicated when S.815, the trans inclusive ENDA passed on a 64-32 vote with the support of 10 Republican senators, 2 independents and 52 Democratic senators.

Sen Bob Casey (D-PA) didn't vote because he is away with his wife in Boston who is having surgery to repair a heart valve according to a Washington Post story..

Who were those GOP Ten?    Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH.), Susan Collins (R-ME), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), Dean Heller (R-NV), Mark Kirk (R-IL), John McCain (R-AZ.), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA).

Sens. Hatch and McCain were in the Senate during the 1996 ENDA vote and voted NO at that time.  

The 32 ENDA NO votes were all GOP senators, so keep that in mind when they run for reelection in 2014, 2016 or 2018.

We still have much work to do.  It can't become law until it passes the Teapublican controlled House and receives President Obama's signature. 

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is too 'scurred' of the Tea Party to let that bill hit the House floor for a vote it could probably pass because he desperately wants to keep that speaker's gavel.

But before we roll up our sleeeves to do that, we take a moment to savor this legislative win before rolling up our sleeves for the tough battle ahead. 

Trans Inclusive ENDA Faces Key Senate Votes Today

According to my sources on Capitol Hill and the Senate Democrats page, the moves will be made today for final passage of S. 815, the trans inclusive Employment and Non Discrimination Act (ENDA)  

According to the Senate Democrats page, at 11:45 AM EST, there will be two roll call votes in relation to the following:

Toomey amendment #2013 (broadens the number of groups covered under the religious exemption) (60-vote threshold) and (the committee-reported substitute amendment will be agreed to by unanimous consent)

Motion to invoke cloture on S.815, ENDA, as amended 
(TransGriot update: Passed on a 64-34 YEA vote) 

If cloture is invoked, there will be a third roll call vote at 1:45 PM  EST on passage of S.815, ENDA, as amended.

(ENDA passed the final vote 64-32!)

Will history be made today?   You may wish to tune into C-SPAN 2 to find out.

ENDA Passes Key Senate Cloture Vote

By a 61-30 margin, the US Senate passed a procedural cloture vote on the trans inclusive Employment and Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) that shuts off the chances of a Republican filibuster and allows debate on the legislation to begin on the Senate floor.

It also increases the changes that ENDA will pass when it comes up for its final vote sometime on Wednesday.

Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) was one of the first people to speak on behalf of this legislation. 




As soon as I get the list of who voted YEA and NAY, I'll add that to this post.   I already know my Texas Senate idiots both voted NAY.

US Senate Vote On Trans Inclusive ENDA Happening Later Tonight

For the first time since November 2007, a vote is scheduled to be taken on The Employment and Non Discrimination Act  (ENDA) later this evening.  

The passage of ENDA by Congress and its subsequent signing into law by President Obama would make it illegal to discriminate against someone in hiring or employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity

This trans inclusive version of the bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)  in the Senate and has the public support of all 53 Democratic senators, both independent Senators and four Republicans.  Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) are ENDA co-sponsors, while Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) voted for it in committee.  Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) has indicated he is 'inclined to support the bill' and has a gay son and it true, it would bring the bill to the 60 vote threashold needed to cut off GOP-Tea Party attempts to filibuster it.

The trans community has long and bitter memories of being cut out of ENDA in 2007 by then Rep. Barney Frank in controversial circumstances.  The trans free bill passed the House 235-184 but subsequently died in the Senate    In 1996 another trans free version of ENDA was voted on in the Senate and failed 50-49.

This cloture vote will pave the way for that to happen, with the final vote scheduled to happen sometime on Wednesday.  

We'll have to see what transpires (pun intended) in tonight's vote, but hope we get to witness history.  

Mia Macy: Why We Need ENDA

I've enjoyed talking to Mia Macy (of Macy vs Holder EEOC case fame) from time to time about various subjects including our shared desire to have trans human rights become a reality in our lifetimes.  It was nice to see her in this video produced by the Center For American Progress that lays of the case why we need ENDA to become the law of our land.

ENDA Passes Out Of Senate Committee 15-7

The Employment and non Discrimination Act navigated a major hurdle yesterday by being successfully passed out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on a 15-7 vote.

In case you're keeping score for the 2014, 2016 and 2018 election cycles, all of the Democratic senators on the committee and three Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski (AK) , Mark Kirk (IL) and Orrin Hatch (UT) voted YEA. 

Voting NAY (big surprise) were Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander (TN), Mike Enzi (WY), Richard Burr (NC), Johnny Isakson (GA), Rand Paul (KY), Pat Roberts (KS) and Tim Scott (SC)

The ENDA bill moves now to the Senate floor, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is expected to push for its passage in the fall.  

ENDA Set For July 10 Senate Committee Vote

The long delayed Employment and Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) will finally get a Senate committee vote.

The bill if passed would prevent discrimination by civilian non religious employers of 15 or more people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in hiring and employment.

I'd personally like to see religious employers added to this bill as well because as far as I'm concerned, you don't have a special right to discriminate. 

It was reintroduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers back in April and has been scheduled for a July 10 vote before the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.

President Obama supports ENDA, wants to sign it and is urging action on the bill as a coalition of legislators and LG groups press him to sign an executive order that won't have the coverage that passed Congressional legislation will.   An executive order is also vulnerable to being overturned which is why the POTUS wants to go the legislative route.   
 

Here We Go Again With The ENDA Executive Order

It's back for the 2K13, the predominately white gay grousing over President Obama not moving on their demands to sign an ENDA executive order.

The ENDA executive order they have been pushing for since 2010 has been a recurring theme in GLBT politics.  It's also bogus.   Far from eliminating discrimination for the entire LGBT community 'with the stroke of a pen', it only protects TBLG people employed by federal contractors.

It only benefits the gays who are employed by federal contractors and I'm extremely skeptical about the benefits to the rest of the community not covered by the executive order.. 

The Employment and Nondiscrimination Act is the legislative solution for the problem of LGBT employment discrimination.  It would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in both public and private employment and benefit the ENTIRE TBLG community.

An executive order won't.  

Granted, even Stevie Wonder can see that ENDA isn't passing out of a Republican controlled House.  But one of the reasons it's a Republican controlled House is because some of you GL peeps sat on your asses on November 2, 2010 instead of taking them to the polls during that midterm.

At the same time, because you were mad at President Obama for not dropping what he was doing to clean up the mess Junior left him and immediately cater to what you wanted him to do, you loudly and stupidly called for the GL community to sit out that election to 'punish the Democrats'.

And who ended up getting punished?  Damned sure wasn't the Democratic Party, it was all the GLBT peeps who aren't in your tax bracket who got punished.   It was every person in the US who depends on having the Dems in power to fight for them inside I-495 to keep their human rights from being trampled on by the neo-fascist Republicans.

But now that we have this lemon Congress, how do we make lemonade out of the situation?   And no, the ENDA executive order ain't it because it isn't broad enough to cover the sectors of the BTLG community that desperately need the anti-discrimination coverage.

Time to focus people on the long game and remember your Dallas Principles. 

Circle November 4 on your 2014 calendar, bust your butts to ensure the Dems hold or expand their Senate majority and take control of the House back.   We can raise our appletini glasses together to celebrate the return of the speaker's gavel to Nancy Pelosi's hands from the clutches of the GOP Cryin' Man and then get busy executing the full court press in 2015 to pass an inclusive ENDA..

Why The Trans Community Loathes HRC

Back in 2007 I wrote a post entitled 'Why The Transgender Community Hates HRC' that chronicles the history of the animosity between HRC and the transgender community that I've had a ringside seat for.

It's been one of the most widely read and popular posts that I've ever written on TransGriot since I started the blog back in 2006. 

I realized we are now past the five year anniversary of the time when trans community anger over Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), on September 28, 2007 cutting us out of an inclusive ENDA (Employment and Non Discrimination Act) and HRC's deafening silence about it blew up in mushroom cloud fashion.  

It happened in the wake of Joe Solmonese's Big ENDA Lie and HRC walking away from the ATL and the Southern Comfort Conference with $20,000 of the trans community fraudulently obtained money in their coffers.  Solmonese stated during his 2007 SCC speech HRC wouldn't support any ENDA bill unless it was absolutely inclusive, then afterwards claimed he 'misspoke'.

You can also see that anger seep into the posts I wrote about the issue and the controversy that blew up in the wake of it if you peruse my TransGriot post archives starting in late September 2007 and continuing through early 2008.

At the time I ended the 'Hates HRC' post the subsequent drama over the ENDA betrayal was starting.  Now that it's five years since that watershed event, I thought it was past time for me to move forward from September 2007 and continue the story to where we are in the second decade of the 21st century.  My goal at the conclusion of this post is to give a snapshot look at where the trans community is now concerning their feelings for HRC and the overall TBLG rights movement.

But I need to start this sequel to the original post by going back to the November 2006 midterms and the overwhelming November 7 Democratic victory in which they picked up 31 seats to regain control of the US House.  It not only resulted in a 233-202 Democratic House majority but the Democrats regaining control of the Senate with the help of two independents who joined their caucus for a 51-49 edge after they picked up 6 senate seats.  More importantly, it resulted in Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), whose congressional district covers San Francisco, becoming the first female Speaker of the House.  

Optimism was high in the LGB and trans community during that historic moment on January 4, 2007 when Nancy Pelosi was handed the speakers gavel by John Boehner for the start of the 110th Congress and when HR 2015, that session's version of ENDA was introduced with gender identity protections for the first time on April 24, 2007 by Rep. Frank (D-MA), Rep Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chris Shays (R-CT) and Deborah Pryce (R-OH). 

The trans community's stratospheric level optimism was fueled by the knowledge that HRC became in 2004 the last civil rights organization to endorse a fully inclusive ENDA.  The HRC Board unanimously voted as policy at the time that they would not support any version of ENDA that didn’t include gender identity as a protected class.

When the TransGriot and my NTAC (National Transgender Advocacy Coalition) cohorts showed up on Capitol Hill to lobby for HR 2015 from May 15-17, we started hearing the first ominous signs that something shady was about to happen inside I-495 concerning trans inclusion in ENDA.  First we were hearing that Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) S.717 version of the bill didn't include us.   Mine and Dawn Wilson's continued forays into Congressional Black Caucus offices in the House and Senate (remember Barack Obama was the junior senator from Illinois at the time) began to confirm the ugly picture that was developing, and I wrote this July 2007 TransGriot print column sounding the alarm to the trans community that we weren't included in ENDA 

And what was the National Center for Trans Equality (NCTE) and its founding Executive Director Mara Keisling's reaction to it?   Calling those of us who sounded the alarm 'crazy' at a Seattle trans conference and claiming that trans inclusion in ENDA was a 'slam dunk'   Well, that slam dunk as Keisling characterized it clanked off the rim and the trans inclusion basketball dribbled out of bounds on the civil rights basketball court on September 27.

Bear in mind that this is the same Mara Keisling (of the same NCTE) which a few years earlier had magically appeared out of nowhere, fully funded, to provide a Gay, Inc.-approved alternative to the willing-to-critique-Gay, Inc. and make trans rights a reality NTAC. 

Barely three months before the ENDA betrayal, she had played apologist for Gay, Inc., in a serious discussion of the egregious disparity between the numbers of gainfully-employed trans men and trans women within even those portions of Gay, Inc. that will hire any trans people at all. 

Defending the employment practices of Gay, Inc, which were then (as now) resulting in, for all practical purposes, no trans women being employed by Gay, Inc.organizations while plenty of trans men were getting paid to do trans advocacy work, Keisling asserted that such discrimination is "mostly not overt or conscious."

Those who are best able to get away with discrimination know how to avoid doing it overtly. 

Rant alert::

And putting HRC aside for a second, what does it say about the purported 'national trans organization' when its founding ED refuses to stand up and call out the disparity and acts as an apologist for those who consciously and continually piss on trans women when we seek employment, by telling us that the piss is just unconscious rain?

Rant over, back to the rest of the story.  

Based on a questionable whip count conference call that was conducted while much of the Congressional Black Caucus and several congressmembers including Sen. Ted Kennedy and Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) were occupied at the Walter E. Williams Convention Center for the 2007 edition of the CBCF-Annual Legislative Conference that ran from September 26-29, it was claimed there were not enough votes to pass a trans inclusive ENDA. 

No credible activist believes that George W. Bush would have signed ENDA into law had either version of the bill passed Congress and hit his Oval Office desk.   Since the gay-only ones failed in 1994, 1995 and 1996, why not run the trans inclusive ENDA one and see what happens?   

Instead Frank used that whip count excuse to split the inclusive HR 2015 into two separate bills that had the effect of throwing the trans community under the ENDA civil rights bus.  HR 3685, the gay-only bill the Democratic majority began legislatively moving forward at his behest, triggered the nuclear explosion of anger from the trans community which, in turn, was backed up by our allies. The only group in favor of Frank's action?   You guessed it- HRC. 

The betrayal triggered an unprecedented reaction in the trans community. Donna Rose, the first trans person on the HRC Board of Directors resigned from it on October 8, 2007.   She was replaced by Meghan Stabler in 2008.  In addition to the formation of a progressive coalition of over 300 LGBT organizations entitled United ENDA calling on the Democratic congressional majority to pass the inclusive HR 2015,  the trans community resumed an old strategy of picketing HRC leaders and dinners around the nation, starting with their October 2007 one in Washington DC.   The HRC dinner pickets continued well into 2008.

The lone organization that wasn't part of United ENDA?   Can you say HRC?  I knew you could.. 

HRC tried to mend fences during this period of white hot anti-HRC sentiment with the trans community by flying Joe Solmonese to San Francisco for a tense two hour January 5, 2008 meeting with 30-40 Bay Area trans leaders over ENDA and apologize for 'misspeaking' at SCC.  But those Bay Area trans leaders, like just about every transperson in the country at the time were still angry at HRC and extremely pissed about being legislatively left behind. .  

At that contentious meeting, Theresa Sparks, the president of the San Francisco Police Commission returned the 2004 Equality Award she received from the Human Rights Campaign.

Sparks stated she could no longer stand to even look at the etched glass award when it was on her credenza. 'It no longer symbolized equality to me," she told the Bay Area Reporter's Cynthia Laird as she exited the meeting at the time.  "It's a matter of their integrity and not following through and my own integrity."

The dawn of 2008 also meant that it was a presidential election year.  HRC endorsed then Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) who was one of the three front runners for the nomination.   The trans community, still majorly pissed at HRC, was split at the time about who to support in the upcoming presidential election.   Many trans people backed Sen. Clinton, but because of the early HRC endorsement of her and his support of an inclusive ENDA elements of the community (myself included) decided to support then Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) in the Democratic presidential primary. 

The trans community also did something else politically unprecedented with the help of Helen Boyd and the Stonewall Democrats in that 2008 election cycle.  They publicly put their t-bills behind a presidential candidate and set up an ActBlue page that raised over $10,000 for the Obama campaign.  
 
The trans community moves once again validated their savvy national political instincts as Sen. Obama not only went on to become the first African-American to win the Democratic presidential nomination, he and his running mate Sen. Joe Biden went on to claim the presidency later that year over Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin in an 365-173 electoral landslide.   

While we've had some issues with him on a few subjects like DADT repeal not covering the trans community and ENDA, for the most part President Obama has validated the wisdom of the trans community supporting him in 2008 and his re-election in 2012 by becoming one of the most trans friendly presidents ever in US history. 

For a large inside the Beltway based organization, HRC can be politically tone deaf at times.  HRC's tendency to back Republicans in political campaigns over qualified gay and lesbian candidates or GLBT friendly allies has caused embarrassing problems for them.  In 1998 during the 'Angry Black Vote' midterm election they backed controversial New York GOP incumbent senator Al D'Amato over Democratic nominee Chuck Schumer despite protests from a broad spectrum of local NY gay organizations and Richard Socarides, the Clinton administration White House liaison to the gay community.

HRC compounded their D'Amato endorsement fiasco when then HRC executive director Elizabeth Birch tried to justify it via The New York Times by arrogantly asserting New Yorkers “didn’t know D’Amato’s record.”  It was the opposite that was true.  HRC overlooked D'Amato's history of gay-bashing that was part of that record while New York's gay community didn't.  They voted in 4 to 1 numbers to send the incumbent senator packing as Schumer won the seat. 

Just two years later HRC pissed off the African-American LGBT community by backing Rep. Mary Bono over telegenic openly gay African-American Palm Springs, CA councilmember Ron Oden despite the fact that Bono had a '25' rating on HRC's congressional scorecards during the 105th Congress.  Oden lost that race, but became in 2003 the first African-American mayor of Palm Springs, CA.  

HRC stubbed its toe in Palm Springs again last year.  They pissed off gay and lesbian peeps in the area when they declined to endorse either candidate in the redrawn California 36th Congressional District race between Democratic candidate Dr. Raul Ruiz and their longtime favorite GOP Rep. Mary Bono Mack despite Ruiz's repeated support of marriage equality and Mack's refusing to take a stand on it. 

Latinos make up a quarter of the new 36th Congressional District's voters and 47% of its population.  That fact alone should have pushed them in the direction of endorsing Ruiz along with his solidifying support in polling data in the months before the election.  A 2006 e-mail that surfaced in which Bono Mack agreed with a conservative talk show radio host that the heavily Latino part of the district was a 'Third World toilet' along with her voting for Rep. Paul Ryan's Social Security killing budget also contributed mightily to Ruiz going on to beat Bono Mack 52.9%-47.1% on election night and HRC being on the wrong side of an election result.  


In the wake of the 2004 presidential election and 11 states passing same gender marriage bans after being warned by trans community leaders like NTAC chair Vanessa Edwards Foster not to push for marriage equality in advance of those elections, in December 2004 HRC considered selling out seniors and uncoupled people in the community.  They considered striking a deal with the George W. Bush administration to support Social Security privatization in return for allowing domestic partners to receive Social Security benefits. 

Even when they tried to do something right for the trans community, it got messed up by their diversity blind spot.  HRC trumpeted the fact they helped set up the historic first ever June 26, 2008 all-trans panel for a House subcommittee hearing discussing trans unemployment issues.

Unfortunately it was a trans panel that had no African-American representation on it. Since the African-American trans community suffers with a 26% unemployment rate double the overall trans unemployment rate they were justifiably pissed off about the erasure and the lost opportunity to tell congressional reps their stories.   


There was the head spinning 2011 HRC decision to honor Goldman Sachs with a 2011 Workplace Equality Innovation Award followed up in February 2012 with an HRC Workplace Equality Award. 

Never mind that Goldman Sachs is the same investment banking firm that has outraged Americans inside and outside the LGBT community for being one of the securities firms at the epicenter of the October 2008 economic meltdown that wrecked the economies of the United States and several other nations.
  
The pattern of backing Republicans over Democrats was shifting slowly as the GOP got more intolerant on LGBT issues, but old habits die hard. 

In 2010 HRC was slow in taking Best Buy and Target to task over a $250,000 donation made to anti-gay Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer who lost to former Democratic Senator Mark Dayton.. 

They didn't join the DADT repeal effort until it appeared it was well on its way to becoming a reality thanks to Dan Choi giving the issue a recognizable face along with transwoman Autumn Sandeen, Choi publicly calling out HRC in the process and cadres of grassroots activists and organizations such as GetEqual doing the grunt work to push the Obama administration into getting behind the repeal effort.


The 2011 Road To Equality Bus Tour is another glaring example of the political tone deafness, cluelessness and arrogance they operate with at times.  The folks in Louisville and Lexington, KY. have longstanding animus with HRC over being called a 'civil rights backwater' before the cities passed the trans inclusive Fairness laws in 1999.

They were shocked and angered to discover by press release they were on the bus tour's list of 17 cities in 11 states and D.C. to visit on September 23-25.  HRC not only didn't bother to ask the Kentucky LGBT community if they wanted to be a stop on the tour, long time activists still haven't forgiven or forgotten the insulting comment hurled in their direction.   They reacted accordingly to not roll out the welcome mat for it. 

The Kentucky activists threatened to picket the bus if they went ahead with their planned stops in Louisville and Lexington.  A meeting HRC arranged in Louisville led to their finding out firsthand how viscerally negative the reaction was to HRC's bus making a stop there.  They were also shocked to discover the broad diversity of Louisville's LGBT community leaders included trans people in powerful and influential positions and trans and same gender loving people of color.  

If they had bothered to ask the Kentucky activist community before they set up the bus tour schedule, HRC would have discovered the Kentuckians were dealing with a contentious gubernatorial election between incumbent Democratic governor Steve Beshear and longtime anti-LGBT rights foe and Republican Senate President David L. Williams.

While Gov. Beshear at the time had a healthy 52%-30% lead in the opinion polls at the time the tour was announced in late June, the last thing Kentucky activists wanted was HRC's yellow and blue bus rolling into the two largest LGBT friendly cities in the state less than five weeks before the November 8 election.  

The Kentucky TBLG leaders didn't want that visual galvanizing the Tea Party haters to bumrush the polls and potentially cause electoral problems for a GLBT community friendly Democratic governor and friendly legislators in the Kentucky House and Senate they would need to pass a statewide pro-BTLG Fairness bill. 

So now we come to the latest incident in a long sorry history of HRC disrespecting trans people with the March 27 SCOTUS rally in Washington DC.

An HRC staffer later identified as Karin Quimby demanded the trans pride flag be taken down.  She is also alleged to have stated 'marriage equality isn't a transgender issue'.

HRC resorted to an old public relations tactic to try to quell the growing online media firestorm that occurs when they get caught disrespecting transpeople in terms of circling the wagons, denying it happened and demonizing the messenger.

“It is not true to suggest that any person or organization was told their flag was less important than another – this did not occur and no HRC staff member would ever tolerate such behavior. To be clear, it is the position of the Human Rights Campaign that marriage is an issue that affects everyone in the LGBT community.   Michael Cole-Schwartz HRC Communications Director

But after National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director Jerame Davis blew up that spin coming from Cole-Schwartz by verifying the incident did occur along with another incident during that same rally in which a queer undocumented Latino activist was silenced, the simmering anger the trans community has had since September 2007 for the Human Rights Campaign exploded.   It blew up on the Net, in LGBT media and in social media circles until HRC Vice President of Communications and Marketing Fred Sainz apologized on April 1. 

An apology that came on April Fool's Day.  

While Sainz's apology may have been heartfelt, it certainly has the appearance and stench based on the date it was done of being insincere.  Karin Quimby surfaced at a San Antonio Gender Alliance (SAGA) meeting April 5 to do a mea culpa amidst increasingly loud calls from people in the trans community for her resignation or termination.

So in conclusion, things not only haven't changed since 2007 in terms of the tense, contentious relationship between HRC and the trans community, in many people's opinions it's gotten worse despite the work of many people at the local levels of HRC, trans community activists and Diego Sanchez's (who sat on their Business Council with Stabler for a year until hired by Frank) and Meghan Stabler's attempts at the board level to change that transphobic paradigm.


The self-proclaimed largest LGBT rights organization at this moment still has the same number of out and proud trans employees working at its Rhode Island Ave headquarters as it did in 2007 (zero) and that needed to change a long time ago. The HRC penchant (when you deign to do so) to hire transpeople who have no trans grassroots organizing experience or background, are newly out or aren't familiar with the history of the trans rights movement is troubling to the trans community and plays into the perception they aren't serious about advancing trans human rights.  

In the wake of the 2007 ENDA debacle HRC should have immediately started hiring (and cultivating in its ranks) a large, ethnically diverse group of trans masculine and trans feminine employees in policy making areas that cut their activist teeth in trans human rights grassroots organizing to address their glaring shortcomings in that area.  

The lack of a critical mass of trans people in the policy formation and lobbying areas combined with the failure to root out and eliminate the historic anti-trans attitudes embedded in the organizational DNA hamstrings your ability to actually advance trans rights issues on The Hill and in state legislatures. 

Or is that part of the HRC 'all marriage all the time' advocacy plan?

HRC excels at the illusion of inclusion.  They'll show up with  a representative for a Trans Day of Remembrance, sponsor a trans-related conference here or there, or even tinker with their Corporate Equality Index to have trans specific issues reflected in it and trumpet it in a press release.  But when it's time to put their money where their civil rights mouths are and actually use their Equal Sign bully pulpit, fiscal resources, political clout and influence to help push legislation that will result in human rights for trans people, they are MIA.

Not only did HRC fail to assist in helping push for GENDA's (the statewide trans rights bill) passage in New York as forcefully as they did when marriage equality was pending in the State Assembly and passed in 2011, they repeated the pattern last year in Maryland.  

This press release highlighting the support mustered and the millions spent to get marriage equality passed in Maryland stands in stark contrast to what they wouldn't do to support an effort to pass a statewide trans rights bill that was pending in the Maryland state legislature at the same time.

It lends credence to the widely held view in the trans community that HRC pays lip service to trans human rights, doesn't really care about us or our issues.  Even if there is change genuinely happening at Rhode Island Avenue, it's occurring on trans issues at a superficial level.  

Don't even get me started about what non-white trans people think about HRC, that's another post.  And the sad part is it doesn't have to be this way.

It's a disservice to the dedicated people who work for HRC, want to see it succeed and want it to have a reputation in the trans and GLB community they can be proud of.   I too, would love to see HRC live up to what it posts on its blog as working for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights.  I would be thrilled to see it get past its ugly history of being more of a trans oppressor organization than a trans ally.  

But sadly, it keeps making the same stupid mistakes repeatedly with trans people and it's why the trans community loathes HRC.       

Draft Language Of 2012 Democratic Party Platform ENDA Plank

If you TBLG community voters are still pondering with less than three months to go which party really wants your rainbow votes on November 6, perhaps this latest news should get your attention.

The draft language for the 2012 Platform plank on ENDA.

We know that putting America back to work is job one, and we are committed to ensuring Americans do not face employment discrimination. We support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act because people should not be fired based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to ensuring all Americans are treated fairly. This administration hosted the first-ever White House Conference on Bullying Prevention and we must continue our work to prevent vicious bullying of young people and support LGBT youth. The President’s record, from ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in full
cooperation with our military leadership, to passing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, to ensuring same-sex couples can visit each other in the hospital, reflects Democrats’ belief that all Americans deserve the same chance to pursue happiness, earn a living, be safe in their communities, serve their country, and take care of the ones they love.

One of the people participating on the 2012 Democratic Party's platform committee is TPOCC's executive director Kylar Broadus.   It looks like trans Democrats voices and the allies who support an inclusive ENDA were heard in this process.    .

Kylar's US Senate ENDA Hearing Testimony

TransGriot Note: TPOCC founder Kylar Broadus made history today as the first transperson ever to testify in a US Senate hearing.  Fittingly it was concerning one of the trans community's Holy Grail pieces of federal legislation in ENDA, the Employment and Non Discrimination Act.

Here's Kylar's testimony to Sen. Harkin's (D-IA) committee and the video from the hearing.



***
Kylar W. Broadus’ Testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee

106 Dirksen Senate Office Building
June 12, 2012
10 a.m.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Kylar William Broadus and I’m the Executive Director of the Trans People of Color Coalition, a two-year-old national organization formed to focus on the concerns of transgender people of color in America. I reside in Columbia, Missouri and am a native mid-Missourian. I teach at a historically Black college, Lincoln University, and practice law. Today, I’m here to talk to you today about S. 811, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) and the need for inclusion of employment protections for transgender Americans. I am thankful to you for the opportunity to be here to speak in favor of this legislation.

I am a transgender American, a female to male transsexual that transitioned approximately twenty years ago. For those not familiar with the term “transgender,” it is used to define people whose internal identification as female or male does not match their assigned sex at birth, which includes many that undertake the medical process of changing their physical gender. The terms “trans” and “transgender” are used interchangeably. For me, the physical transition was about letting the outer world know my internal sense of self, of who really was inside this body. People always related to me as male from an early age and this continued, of course, into transition. My transition was a matter of living the truth and sharing that truth for the first time in my life.

Prior to actual medical intervention, as I indicated, I was mostly viewed as male. My gender assigned at birth was female, so my driver’s license and other documents carried the gender marker of “female” even though my appearance was masculine. In some cases, I couldn’t use female restrooms or locker rooms. When I used female restrooms security or police were called to escort me from the restrooms even after stripping to "prove" that I was female. That was humiliating and dehumanizing. After years of not being able to use the public restroom, I began to just use the men’s room, where I never had any problems. I had the same problem with the women’s locker room at the gym.

One of my favorite memories is my girlfriend first going in to tell everyone that I wasn’t a “man.” Then I would walk in and all the women would run out of the locker room screaming “it’s” a “man!” I would just change before going to the gym and remove my sweats in the gym area to avoid any problems.

I’m mainly here today to talk about my experience with workplace discrimination. First, I’ll share my personal story and then talk about the plight of thousands of transgender Americans that are just getting their stories told.

While studying business in college, I assumed, like most students, that I would not encounter any special difficulties. I was raised in a working class family with a hard work ethic. I had my first job at the age of five working for my father at his evening job. He would take me and my sister to work with him and this was how we earned our spending money. I recall very vividly cleaning the water fountains in the offices. It was during this time that I learned to take pride in my work. My father showed me how to make the water fountains clean and shiny. I then graduated to the trash cans. From that point on, I have always worked a job and since college, two jobs at a time in some form or fashion. My employers have always praised my work.

Prior to my physical transition, I began working at a major financial institution. I wore the traditional female attire at the time, which was a skirt and pantyhose. It was required and expected in the late 1980s and early 1990s. As I began to find myself, my attire gradually shifted from feminine to more masculine styles. Then I actually moved to a division of the company where the dress code was less stringent and began to wear men’s suits and ties most of the time. My hair got shorter and more masculine. My demeanor had always been masculine. Many clients already confused me for male even though my name was female. My coworkers didn’t seem to mind. It was management that seemed to have issues with it. I was called in to discuss my hair cut, and I was told that I was not allowed to go by my initials, “K.B.,” which many males did but females didn’t.

After I announced my gender transition, it only took six months before I was “constructively discharged” from my employer. While my supervisors could tolerate a somewhat masculine-appearing black woman, they were not prepared to deal with my transition to being a black man. With growing despair, I watched my professional connections, support, and goodwill evaporate, along with my prospects of remaining employed. I was harassed until I was forced to leave. I received harassing telephone calls hourly from my supervisor some days. I received assignments after hours that were due by 9 a.m. the next morning. The stress was overwhelming. I ended up taking a stress leave for several weeks. I thought upon my return perhaps things would settle down. I was back less than a week from stress leave and knew that it wasn’t going to settle down. I was forbidden from talking to certain people and my activities were heavily monitored.  I was forced out and unemployed for about a year before finally obtaining full-time employment.

Before fully accepting that new reality, however, I tried everything possible to save the career I had worked so many years to build. Once I lost my job, I thought that there MUST be laws that protect individuals when they are discriminated against. After filing a lawsuit in federal court, though, I learned quickly that transgender people weren’t covered under any discrimination laws. Like the vast majority of plaintiffs during my era, I lost. My lawsuit was summarily dismissed.

After my COBRA ran out, I had no health insurance and wasn’t able to earn a living wage. I did what I could to juggle things including using my 401K. Even once I obtained employment I wasn’t able to catch back up on everything that I had gotten behind on. I was working in positions that paid substantially less than I made. I went from financial services to part-time academia and a law practice in a region not very welcoming for a black transgender man in mid-Missouri. It has been well over fifteen years since I lost
employment and I still haven’t recovered financially. My student loans were the most impacted and more than quadrupled since I left law school. My father is deceased but I care for my infirm mother and my underemployment makes it extremely difficult to do. Emotionally, I still suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome from the discrimination I experienced.

Many transgender Americans suffer without protection and are subject to discriminatory practices. This is why it is extremely imperative that ENDA be passed. There are only 16 states and the District of Columbia that provide us protection from being discriminated against on the job just because of who we are. In the recent report “Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey,” there were 6,450 transgender study participants from across the United States. The results were staggering
across the board but particularly in the area of employment.

The report showed the following:

*Transgender respondents experienced unemployment at twice the rate of the general population with rates for transgender people of color up to four times the national unemployment rate.
*Ninety percent (90%) of those surveyed reported experiencing harassment or discrimination on the job or took actions like hiding who they are to avoid it.
* Forty-seven percent (47%) had experienced an adverse job outcome, such as being fired, not hired or denied a promotion because of being transgender or gender non-conforming.
* Over one-quarter (26%) had lost a job due to being transgender or gender nonconforming and 50% were harassed.
* Large majorities attempted to avoid discrimination by hiding their gender or gender transition (71%) or delaying their gender transition (57%).
* The vast majority (78%) of those who transitioned from one gender to the other reported that they felt more comfortable at work and their job performance improved, despite high levels of mistreatment.
* Overall, 16% said they had been compelled to work in the underground economy for income (such as doing sex work or selling drugs).
* Respondents who were unemployed or had lost a job due to bias also experienced ruinous consequences such as four times the rate of homelessness, 70% more current drinking or misuse of drugs to cope with mistreatment, 85% more incarceration, more than double the rate working in the underground economy,
and more than double the HIV infection rate.

These results are staggering and make the case that there needs to be clear protection for transgender Americans who deserve the same chance at earning a living and providing for themselves and the people they love. It is imperative that Congress pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act so that transgender people like me are able to live our lives and provide for our families without fear of discrimination.

I truly appreciate the opportunity to testify before you here today.
Thank you.

Senate To Hold ENDA Hearings Soon

While we know  that ENDA is not getting through the Tea Klux Klan controlled House this year, at least they can do the groundwork and build the legislative record so that when the opportunity presents itself things will proceed quickly.

Wonderful news coming out of Hollywood for Ugly People (AKA our nation's capitol) is that the Democratically controlled Senate will be holding hearings soon on the Employment and Non-Discrimination Act

According to a Washington Blade story Sen Tom Harkin (D-IA), the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee will call those hearings on June 12..

“This upcoming HELP Committee hearing will provide an excellent opportunity to build on the Committee’s previous work and help advance our shared goal of equal rights for all Americans. I am hopeful that working together, we will reach a point where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons enjoy the same rights and protections, and full equality, as all our fellow Americans.” said Sen. Harkin.

Here's hoping that unlike in 2009, they will at least have trans witnesses, and especially some trans witnesses of color giving testimony to this committee.

There The 1% White Gay Peepul Go Again

I've been keeping up with the ENDA executive order kerfluffle being stirred up by some quarters of Gay, Inc. It reminded me of something that Kat Rose said on her FB page last year.

Why is it that when a politician changes his mind to the detriment of trans rights its 'political reality,' but when a politician changes his mind to the detriment of same-sex marriage, he becomes the embodiment of betrayal - Benedict Arnold multiplied by Julius and Ethel Rosenberg with a Quisling chaser?. 

I would also add to that statement by Kat, anytime a politician doesn't immediately jump to the will of what white gay peeps demand at that moment in time. 

And I have to wonder did anyone in Gay, Inc leadership ranks or the Gayosphere take political science, think strategically about issues that affect this community or have any fracking common sense?  

What's going on in rainbow political world is that elements of the white GL community started going apoplectic because President Obama hasn't signed an executive order that is alleged by the GL 1% to be the elixir for stopping anti-GLBT discrimination. 

The ENDA executive order elements of the Gayosphere are loudly complaining about would only protect a small slice of the GL population.  It would if signed only prohibit discrimination for those rainbow community people employed by federal contractors, not the entire community..  

As they like to say when any issues surface that affects them short of full legislative equality, it's crumbs.   

It was also interesting that within days after the screaming started in the Gayosphere, the unanimous trans friendly EEOC ruling in the Mia Macy case came down.

But back to discussing the executive order drama.  

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which is a trans community political Holy Grail, is more comprehensive than the proposed executive order the Gay 1% is pimping.  ENDA would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in both public and private employment..

So why are they tripping, especially since the trans community has repeatedly urged them since 2004 to focus on passing an inclusive ENDA, local and state level GLBT employment protection and human rights laws like New York's GENDA instead of this 'all gay marriage all the time' push?  

I submit to you that the reason the Gay 1% boys and girls went on that 2010 full court DADT repeal press was desperation for a policy win in the wake of another devastating marriage equality referendum loss in Maine that dropped the marriage referendum record to 0-31. 

And don't think we trans peeps forgot about Rep. Barney Frank cutting trans people out of ENDA in 2007 or the fact that people like Americablog's John Aravosis (who cheerleaded that decision) is one of the gay bloggers chewing on the POTUS' behind about that executive order. 

Um John, I trust a constitutional scholar and former law professor over you any day.  In addition I don't buy for a moment you have 'evolved already' on the issue of trans inclusion in ENDA.


There's a Houston connection to this GLBT political theater because the questionnaire that the POTUS signed to get the Houston GLBT Political caucus endorsement over Hillary back in 2008 mysteriously found its way into the gay media via MetroWeekly.   The Caucus denied they leaked the questionnaire, but my suspicions are it came from some Hillary supporters that are still pissed that then Senator Obama won that Caucus endorsement by a razor thin margin.

GetEqual is making noises about protesting Obama campaign headquarters over the executive order, which if they do go there is not going to sit well with African-American TBLG people and exacerbate our already testy post Prop 8 relationship with our white GLBT counterparts. 

But sure as making money betting Dan Savage is going to say something insulting to another group, the White Gay Peepul are going to go there anyway. 

You longtime TransGriot readers know I have called out GetEqual and Gay, Inc orgs at times for their penchant of knee-jerk protesting of President Obama anytime in their vanillacentric viewpoint they perceive he's on the 'wrong' side of GL issues.  But GetEqual won't lift a finger or expend the same levels of energy to protest their real Republican gay oppressors to the Black rainbow community's disgust .

So GetEqual.  I eagerly await the posts describing your upcoming protests of Romney campaign headquarters around the nation and the upcoming GOP convention in Tampa.

Umm hmm,  That's what I thought.

Never mind the fact President Obama has been the most gay friendly one that have ever occupied the Oval Office and the best ever on trans issues.    Mitt version 2012 damned sure won't be signing any GLBT friendly legislation if we are unfortunate enough to have him win on November 6, much less nor will any progressive GLBT friendly legislation be coming out of a House or Senate controlled by bat guano crazy conservative politicians.


The smart political play would be to ensure that the POTUS gets reelected to a second term, bust your rainbow asses to ensure the Democrats hold the Senate and if possible increase senate representation (think Senator Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin) , and get the House back in Democratic (and Nancy Pelosi's hands) while gearing up for a full court press to pass an inclusive ENDA in 2013.


But what we're getting right now is a replay of what happened in 2010 in terms of elements of the white gay community demanding the POTUS sign an executive order in the middle of a tight political campaign year on an issue that demands and needs a legislative solution to distract from another anticipated marriage equality loss, this time in North Carolina.

Conservafool Senator Says Employers Have Right To Fire Peeps For Being Trans Or Gay

The Shut Up Fool Award worthy  material keeps coming from the just concluded CPAC.

This time it comes from Tea Klux Klan Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who responded with this comment Thursday when asked a question by ThinkProgress about whether he supported ENDA 

KEYES: ENDA is something that rumbles every now and then in Congress. What’s your take, do you think it should be legal to fire someone just because they’re gay or transgender, or do you think that’s not in the purview of the Constitution?
LEE: Look, I think employers ought not make their hiring decisions based on categories like that, and I don’t think most of them do.
KEYES: But whether or not it should be a crime.
LEE: Whether it should be a federal crime, specific to federal law? No. I think the federal government has expanded its role into regulation of matters that historically that were in the purview of the states. [...]
KEYES: Is there any difference between firing someone for being gay rather than firing someone because of their race?
LEE: Yes, yes. The 14th Amendment — in fact the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments — were adopted specifically around the race issue. So, yeah, there is a difference.

I find it hilarious that the GOProud conservafool sellouts were barred from the CPAC conference, but white supremacists were let in, embraced with open arms and even allowed a panel discussion. 

But back to Sen. Lee and his loud and wrong opinion on ENDA.   You just made the case as to why the Employment and Non Discrimination Act needs to be passed and should have been prioritized over DADT repeal. 

Even better for trans people, you made the case that we can take to some hardheads in the GL community as to why we need to be included in it and will not support a gay only version of ENDA.

President Obama also has a dissenting opinion as well.

The work that we’ve done with respect to the LGBT community I think is just profoundly American and is at the heart of who we are.” Obama concluded in remarks at a high dollar Democratic fundraiser sponsored by Tim Gill on February 9.  The way to make progress is to foster an America “where everybody has a fair shot, everybody is doing their fair share, we’re playing by a fair set of rules, everybody is engaging in fair play.”

And if it escaped the attention of some of you peeps, transpeople are Americans, too.