When Are GL Advocacy Orgs Going To Confront Their GOP Oppressors?

One of the things that bothers many African descended TBLG/SGL people is the high level of vitriol leveled at President Obama by predominately white GL people over the stalled GLBT political agenda.

While some of that criticism of the president is justified, there are concerns expressed internally by many of us chocolate flavored GLBT people that some of that criticism contains elements of bigotry, racism and sour grapes over the fact that Hillary Clinton, their preferred HRC supported candidate in the 2008 Democratic primary was beaten by President Obama.

So it leads us chocolate GLBT/SGL peeps when we see the disconnect between what his administration has actually accomplished so far for the community and the vitriol leveled at him to wonder why these white dominated GL orgs like GetEqual aren't leveling the same amount of direct action and heated rhetoric at their GOP oppressors?

I see them conducting sit-ins at Speaker Pelosi's offices in San Francisco and Washington, DC, chaining themselves to the White House gates, or interrupting the president's speeches at fundraisers.

But I and the chocolate TBLG/SGL community wonder out loud when we will see those same predominately white GL peeps blasting their GOP oppressors in gayosphere blogs and doing sit-ins in Sen. Mitch McConnell and John Boehner's offices? When will y'all chain yourselves to the doors of GOP headquarters? When are you going to bumrush their fundraisers or picket their conservaevents?

The point is, the Republicans are your oppressors, not the Democrats. It's the GOP who tried the pass the Federal Marriage Amendment, passed DOMA, and has been openly hostile and proudly opposing the march to GLBT equality for decades.

So why aren't you using the civil disobedience tactics and your voices to condemn and draw attention to the people who are causing the GLBT community the most harm?

Or is the GL reluctance to picket or criticize Republicans on their abysmal GLBT rights record rooted in wanting to be 'just like them'?

Why The TBLG Community Can't Sit Out The 2010 Midterms

I'm noting the volcanic level anger within elements of the GLBT community at the Democrats over the pace of the community's political agenda. While I'm angry at the Dems for different reasons and some of y'all within the GLBT community as well, Mrs. Roberts also didn't raise no fool either.

She raised a daughter who happens to see the big picture implications of the elections, and not just the "Save the Democratic Congressional majority" one that's all too familiar to us.

Remember when you peeps filled out those census forms earlier this year? Well, for those of you who aren't aware of it, that population data is what's used not only to dole out federal funds, but politically as well.

The initial population figures are being released to the states and the various municipalities in December 2010. That data will determine how many congressional districts a state loses or gains, and that will be in effect for the rest of the decade.

The states projected to gain seats:

1. Texas - (+4) (Current delegation: 32)
2. Florida - (+1) (Current delegation: 25)
3. Georgia - (+1) (Current delegation: 13)
4. Washington - (+1) (Current delegation: 9)
5. Arizona - (+1) (Current delegation: 8)
6. South Carolina - (+1) (Current delegation: 6)
7. Nevada - (+1) (Current delegation: 3)
8. Utah - (+1) (Current delegation: 3)

These states are projected to lose seats:

1. Illinois - (-1) (current delegation 19)
2. Iowa - (-1) (current delegation 5)
3. Louisiana - (-1) (current delegation 7)
4. Massachusetts - (-1) (current delegation 10)
5. Michigan - (-1) (current delegation 15)
6. Minnesota - (-1) (current delegation 8)
7. New Jersey - (-1) (current delegation 13)
8. New York - (-1) (current delegation 29)
9. Pennsylvania - (-1) (current delegation 19)
10. Ohio- (-2) (current delegation 18)

Sometime in March 2011 the Census Bureau will release the final population data to the states, which will filter down to the cities. The population data will be used to redraw your congressional districts, your state house and state senate districts and your city council districts.

We're anticipating in Houston the data will officially push us over the 2 million mark in population, which triggers a clause in our code of ordinances that expands our city council by two seats.

Okay, so why is all of this important from a BTLG point of view?

Unless you live in Iowa, in which the redistricting is handled by a non partisan panel, whichever party in your locality controls your state legislature (or city council, etcetera) will control the redistricting process. The way they draw those boundaries can either help, hinder or neuter the prospects for additional GLBT community political representation gains.

Let's use Massachusetts as an example. It's projected to lose a House seat. If the Republicans by some miracle got control of the legislature and the redistricting process, and bear in mind the results of whatever map they come up with lasts for a decade, you don't think they wouldn't take the opportunity to draw Barney's seat out of existence and force him to run against another Democrat?

When the 2003 Delaymandering happened in Texas, liberal bastion Austin was split between 4 separate congressional districts. The six white Democratic congressmembers at the time were suddenly facing districts that were redrawn to be more conservative. Blue Dog Rep. Ralph Hall switched parties as a result. When the Dems regained control of Congress in 2006 that map probably kept six Texas seats out of Democratic hands.

They also redrew the Texas legislature map to produce a 120-30 Republican supermajority, but thank God it's 77--73 GOP for now. The loss of the Dem majority paved the way for the anti gay marriage amendment that fouls our state constitution now.

In Houston we'll be debating where those two new council seats will go, and you can bet the Houston Gay Lesbian Political Caucus will play a role in that process.

But there are other issues your ballot will decide besides the long tern implications of redistricting. We have trans candidates running potentially historic races for office in Oklahoma, Maryland and California who could use your help and votes.

Brittany Novotny is running against homobigot Oklahoma state rep Sally Kern. Dr. Dana Beyer is in a contested primary for a House of Delegates seat in Maryland. In California Theresa Sparks is running for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, while just across the Bay Victoria Kolakowski is running for a Superior Court Judge bench in Alameda County. If you peeps want to speed up the day that we see a trans congressmember in our lifetimes, these elections are major building blocks toward making that a reality

Congressional candidates are generally members of large city councils, state legislators and judges. We have to start consistently winning those races to be considered for the next phase of the political game. Annise Parker's route to the Houston mayor's chair started by winning an at large city council seat in 1997.

So yes, there's a lot at stake in the November 2 elections, and it's not just the Democratic congressional majority. Our political fortunes over the next decade are at stake as well.


Crossposted from the Bilerico Project

White Gay Community-I Don't Ever Want To Hear That 'Blacks Are To Blame For Prop 8 Loss' Meme EVER Again

One of the myths that will not die about the 2008 California Prop 8 loss that I occasionally see in gayosphere discourse is the 'Blacks Are To Blame For Prop 8 Loss' based on the misinterpretation of jacked up exit poll data in several Los Angeles County precincts.

That meme, combined with gay shock, awe and later anger over the loss, coupled with Dan Savage's and Wayne Besen's big (and wrong) mouths, an LA Times November 7 column printed the Sunday after the election by Jasmyne Cannick that pointed out the flaws in the No on 8 campaign in the African-American community, Los Angeles County narrowly passing Prop 8, highly publicized bigoted comments and racism from white gays that broke out in the wake of that loss combined with their constant attacks on President Obama, and you have a recipe for the animus that is lingering just below the surface of relations between the Black and White gay communities.

This meme has not died despite analysis of poll data from several sources within days of the election and common fracking sense.

That common sense and a little critical thinking should have told them a group comprising 9% of California's population of 35 million, spread across 15 counties couldn't be THE factor for the Prop 8 loss.

In addition, that meme was suspect in light of the fact that Alameda County, one of the counties that 'so called homophobic' ethnic group was concentrated in along with Latino@'s, voted against Prop 8.

Well, another nail in that long debunked meme's coffin comes from a Dave Fleischer headed team of analysts who sifted through the Prop 8 data. Their findings were just published in an article in today's Los Angeles Times.

So what group tipped the balance in terms of the Prop 8 election?

I quote from the Fleischer penned LA Times article:

The shift, it turns out, was greatest among parents with children under 18 living at home — many of them white Democrats.

So, once again, many vanilla flavored peeps got hoodwinked and bamboozled into voting against someone's civil rights.

Now that you know that the real deal is, it's time to rectify the problem and put together a well thought out strategy before you try another statewide referendum in Cal-EEE-fonya or elsewhere.

And the next time I see, read or hear of anyone in the gayosphere uttering or writing that tired meme, I'm going to eviscerate them.

Theresa Sparks For Six Campaign Kickoff Event Today

Hmm, seems like this election cycle has seen more activity than ever before from trans candidates running for elective office.

Since you know I believe it's past time we started getting our own peeps elected to public office, I'm proud to make you aware of another trans person you'll be scouring the November 2 election news for the results of her political race.

The folks in the Bay Area already know who she is, but say hello rest of the nation and loyal TransGriot readers to Theresa Sparks.

If the name sounds familiar to you, she was the former President of the San Francisco Police Commission board in addition to being very active in the local community there.

She's running to represent District 6 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and is jumping off her campaign for that position with a kickoff event starting at 10 AM-12 Noon PDT at the Passion Café.

The address is 28 6th Street in San Francisco, CA.

Theresa commented on her FB page about her campaign:

'This campaign is about making history and more about helping to move San Francisco forward. This campaign is about jobs, the economy and helping to rebuild the City without sacrificing the values that make San Francisco great.'

You can keep up with her campaign with the Sparks for 6 FB page or her website.

Good luck Theresa and may you add the title of Supervisor to your list of accomplishments on November 2.

Our 2010 Trans Candidates Websites

Since we have several trans candidates running for office this election cycle, thought I'd make it easy for you TransGriot readers to peruse their websites and hopefully donate to their campaigns.

It is the next phase of our civil rights struggle in getting people like us in the trenches helping make the laws that affect us and helping kill the bad ones.

Our candidates can always use the money, and it doesn't have to be a large amount, although they'd definitely appreciate it. $5's, $10's and $20's add up quickly as well.

Sorry, non-US trans peeps, y'all can only give us moral support in these endeavors.

Victoria Kolakowski
Running for Alameda County CA Superior Court Judge

Brittany Novotny
Running for Oklahoma State House District 84

Dr. Dana Beyer
Running for the Maryland House of Delegates District 18

Theresa Sparks
Running for San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 6


Dr. Beyer still has a September 14 primary fight to deal with on the Democratic side with five other candidates. So for you peeps living in that district, she will need some help to get to the general election.

And for 'errbody' else, please make certain you are registered to vote for the November 2 election and on Election Day, please do so.

For you Republicans who are wondering why I'm not putting Donna Milo on this post? Since she isn't claiming us as transpeople, why should I?

If You Want A Trans Congressmember, Gotta Support The Transpeeps Running At The Local And State Levels

It has been almost twelve years since Georgina Beyer became the first open transperson elected to a national legislative body when she was elected to the New Zealand Parliament in November 1999.

In the United States the highest elective office a transperson has yet to successfully achieve is Kim Coca Iwamoto's election in 2006 to the Hawaii State Board of Education.

Others have attempted to get elected to state legislatures or large city councils but have not been successful in doing so.

We now have an opportunity presented to us in this election cycle in which we have three well qualified candidates posed to break through an electoral glass ceiling.

It'll be to paraphrase astronaut Neil Armstrong, one small historic step for those individuals, but one giant leap for the transgender community's striving for attainment of the next phase of political power and legitimacy.

Brittany Novotny in Oklahoma, Dr. Dana Beyer in Maryland and California's Victoria Kolakowski are currently running campaigns to secure elective offices that no open trans persons have achieved before.

While Novotny and Beyer are seeking state legislative seats, Kolakowski is seeking one that is just as important in a county judgeship.

In order to achieve the dream of congressional representation, we will not only have to continue to participate in party politics at the precinct level, we will have to start donating to campaigns as well.

And contrary to public perceptions, it doesn't take megabucks to do so to amass a political war chest that will allow you to run a quality campaign.

Remember the 2008 presidential campaign when the trans community set up an ActBlue page that raised over $10K for the Obama campaign basically on $5, $10 and $20 donations?

I believe and have no doubts that ActBlue page is one of the reasons factoring into why we've had some fantastic gains for trans people come out of this White House.

So why don't we apply the same principle to helping trans candidates get into judicial, state legislative seats, and large city council ones?

The reason is because state political party orgs look for congressional candidates who are large city council members, state legislators, and judges.

Many of those candidates tend to be elected county wide or city wide. That establishes for the parties and the people who fund heir campaigns their electoral viability while giving them experience in crafting legislation and providing constituent services at a local level.

In order for us to speed up the day when one of our own stands on the House floor making a speech about our issues and many others on C-SPAN, we'll have to dig into our pockets and purses to help provide the financial support necessary to give them the opportunity to serve us in the first place.

And it goes without saying what else you'll need to do to make that happen as well. Register to vote and participate in every election.

Trans Woman Running For Judge In California

One of the things I have long been adamant about is that qualified trans people need to begin running for public office.

In this political cycle we already have two people running for their state legislatures in Oklahoma and Maryland.

Victoria Kolakowski is seeking to make elective history as well. However she wishes to do so as the first transgender trial court judge.

She's running for Alameda County Superior Court judge, and while Kolakowski is cognizant she'll be making history if she's triumphant this November, she wants Alameda County voters to focus on her 21 years of judicial experience.

She has served as a private practice attorney, a corporate attorney and a current administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission.

"It's not like I'm going to be elected and be 'the transgender judge," she said in a SF Gate interview. "If I'm not going to be able to represent the entire community or have the skills for the job, I don't want people to vote for me."

In California's June 16 primary Kolakowski came close to winning outright. She earned 67,000 votes, 45 percent of the total. Since she didn't get the 50% she needed to win, she is a fall runoff with John Creighton, who picked up 22% of the vote.

If you want to learn more about her or donate to her campaign, you can check out her website.

Best of luck, Victoria. I hope you get the opportunity to serve the residents of Alameda County and make history at the same time.

Trans Community, Help Brittany Win!

If you haven't heard the story by now, attorney Brittany Novotny has filed to run against incumbent homobigot Oklahoma state legislator Sally Kern.

The same Sally Kern that famously stated in 2008 that homosexuality was more dangerous than terrorism.

The same faith-based bigot Sally Kern that on the Fourth of July last year, issued her “Oklahoma Citizen’s Proclamation for Morality” blaming the country’s financial problems on same-sex marriage, divorce, pornography, sex trafficking, child abuse and “many other forms of debauchery.”

So yeah, Sally's gotta go.

Brittany so far has raised $20,000 with much of that being small donations within the state of Oklahoma. But our sis could always use more.

As this Oklahoma House race continues to get attention from the national media and across the blogosphere, the bigots will start sending money to Kern. We need to step it up and give Brittany some help.

If you live in the Oklahoma City metro area, consider donating some time to her campaign if you're not in the financial position to donate some cash.

But then again, $5, $10 and $25 contributions can go a long way toward amassing the $100,000 war chest she wants to build up to take on the incumbent Kern.

Good luck Brittany! You TransGtiot readers know I will keep you updated on this potentially historic race.

Brittany Officially Files To Run!

I've talked about Oklahoma City attorney Brittany Novotny more than a few times on this blog and the potential history she could make if she's successful in her run for the Oklahoma Legislature.

This morning Brittany officially filed to run for the Oklahoma District 84 state house seat currently held by GOP homobigot Sally Kern.

Kern filed for the seat on Monday.

Novotny said to Julie Bisbee of The Oklahoman, “Kern has proven to be out of touch with mainstream Oklahomans, ineffective at solving problems, and bad for business.”

She's aware of what she's facing in this upcoming campaign as well.

“I understand there are going to be some folks who try to make this election about the fact that my medical history includes a gender transition, but I’m running for office because I believe I’m the best candidate to fight for jobs, education, and transportation. I understand that state government runs best when it focuses on helping small businesses create jobs and guarantees all of our children can get a great public education.”

If she's successful, she would become the first trans person elected to a state legislature in US history.

To contribute to Brittany's campaign, click on this link to her official campaign website.

Give a $5 or a $10 to help Brittany win!

Best of luck, Brittany! Here's hoping you make history this November and take out an odious hater at the same time.

'Worst President Ever' On GLBT Rights? I Don't Think So

"We must stand against crimes that are meant not only to break bones, but to break spirits — not only to inflict harm, but to instill fear. "No one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love. No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are or because they live with a disability." President Obama during the Byrd-Shepherd Hate Crimes signing ceremony.

The griping has been loud and long even before Sen. Barack Obama took the oath of office in January 2009 from predominately white GLBT people that he would be 'the worst president ever' on GLBT rights.

And Black GLBT people haven't and won't forget y'all were selling those woof tickets before Obama even sat down for his first day in the Oval Office.

White GL pundits, gayosphere bloggers and people in the community two years later are still screaming that bull feces even as the evidence mounts to the contrary.

But then again, Black politicians have always been held to impossibly high standards by white people they hypocritically don't hold white politicians to.

That 'worst president on GLBT rights' assertion not only is irritating to African descended GLBT people, it's proving to be ludicrous as far as my section of the LGBT rainbow is concerned. From our vantage point, Obama has been the been president ever when it comes to highlighting the 'T' part of LGBT.

Whether it's passing and signing a hate crimes law that covers gender identity and sexual orientation, one of the legislative Holy Grails for trans people, drafting guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, or appointing qualified people such as Amanda Simpson for federal positions, President Obama has stepped up for the trans community.

But since y'all been too busy screaming about an 0-34 same gender marriage push and DADT, y'all may have missed the lifting of the decades old HIV travel ban that has kept the United States from hosing international HIV/AIDS conferences, much less kept people with a non American HIV infected partner from being able to emigrate here to live with the person they love.

***

Here's the list, compiled by openly gay DNC treasurer Andrew Tobias.

1. Reversed an inexcusable US position by signing the UN Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

2. Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees

3. Endorsed the Baldwin-Lieberman bill, The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, to provide full partnership benefits to federal employees

4. Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act

5. Lifted the HIV Entry Ban effective January 2010

6. Released the first Presidential PRIDE proclamation since 2000

7. Hosted the first LGBT Pride Month Celebration in White House history

8. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King

9. Appointed the first transgender DNC member (Diego Sanchez) in history

10. Issued diplomatic passports, and provided other benefits, to the partners of same-sex foreign service employees

11. Committed to ensuring that HUD’s core housing programs are open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity

12. Conceived a National Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders — the nation’s first ever — funded by a three-year HHS grant to SAGE

13. Testified in favor of ENDA, the first time any official of any administration has testified in the Senate on ENDA

14. Signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded existing United States federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — the first positive federal LGBT legislation in the nation’s history

15. Supported lower taxes for same-sex couples who receive health benefits from employers

16. Hired and appointed a record number of qualified LGBT Americans, including more than 10 Senate-confirmed appointments

17. Sworn in Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa David Huebner

18. Changed the culture of government everywhere from – among others – HUD and HHS to the Export-Import Bank, the State Department, and the Department of Education

19. Appointed Sonia Sotomayor, instead of a conservative who would have tilted the Court even further to the right and virtually doomed our rights for a generation.

To wit (quoting McCain): “I’ve said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I’ve said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I’ve said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible]”

***

The more liberal progressive (and younger) Supreme Court judges we get on the Court now, the better position we'll be in when cases critical to the advacement of GLBT rights percolate up to the SCOTUS.

Do you want a 5-4 conservative majority deciding those cases? Thought not.
Continue, Andrew.

***

20. Named open transgender appointees (the first President ever to do so)

21. Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation’s largest employer)

22. Emphasized LGBT inclusion in everything from the President’s historic NAACP address

(“The pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a different gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their God. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.”) . . . to the first paragraph of his Family Day proclamation (“Whether children are raised by two parents, a single parent, grandparents, a same-sex couple, or a guardian, families encourage us to do our best and enable us to accomplish great things”) and his Mothers Day proclamation (“Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by two parents, a single mother, two mothers, a step-mom, a grandmother, or a guardian. Mother’s Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate these extraordinary caretakers”) . . . to creating the chance for an adorable 10-year-old at the White House Easter Egg roll to tell ABC World News how cool it is to have two mommies . . . to including the chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce along with the Secretary of the Treasury and the President of Goldman Sachs in the small audience for the President’s economic address at the New York Stock Exchange . . . to welcoming four gay couples to its first State Dinner

23. Recommitted, in a televised address, to passing ENDA . . . repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell . . . repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act

24. Spoken out against discrimination at the National Prayer Breakfast

(“We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are — whether it’s here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.”)

25. Dispatched the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to call on the Senate to repeal Don’t Ask / Don’t Tell, in the meantime dialing back on discharges.

26. Launched a website to gather public comment on first-ever federal LGBT housing discrimination study.

27. Appointed long-time equality champion Chai Feldblum one of the four Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

28. Eliminated the discriminatory Census Bureau policy that kept our relationships from being counted, encouraging couples who consider themselves married to file that way, even if their state of residence does not yet permit legal marriage

29. Produced U.S. Census Bureau PSAs featuring gay, lesbian, and transgender spokespersons

30. Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.

***

Crumbs, you say? Can you Obama detractors pull up a comparable list of positive for the TBLG community GW Bush misadministration accomplishments early in the first term of a presidential administration?

I'm betting you predominately white, Hillary-loving GLBT Obama haters can't.

And hello, bear in mind Obama still has to get past the 2010 and 2012 election cycles in addition to cleaning up the toxic waste the Bush administration left behind.

You may want full civil rights and equality now, but my peeps have been fighting that battle for over 200 years. We've had spectacular successes and dark periods of fighting tooth and nail just to avoid any slippage when conservative governments and Supreme Court majorities get ensconced with the task of rolling them back.

From where I sit an an African descended trans person, I'm always in favor of any expansion of civil rights because it benefits me as well.

To you white gay peeps, you don't care what party is is power because as beneficiaries of vanilla flavored privilege, Republican policies are aimed to benefit your ethnic group even as your civil rights are stagnated or rolled back.

As a person of color I'm painfully aware that Republican governments are detrimental not only to my civil rights, but my wallet and community as well.

So no, voting for Republicans, a disorganized third party or sitting at home on Election Day is NOT an option.

A question for you peeps to ponder. If you were in his shoes facing the same political landscape and a looming 2012 reelection campaign, would you be inclined to risk your entire presidency for a group of people that for the most part, weren't in your corner or reluctant supporters to begin with, and have a history of throwing allies and people of color under the bus?

I'm more than tired along with many African-American GLBT people of hearing that played out 'Obama isn't doing enough for GLBT rights' line. What you mean is that he isn't moving fast enough for you lukewarm supporters satisfaction to advance the cause of GLBT rights.

I also want to see as a proud African-American the first African-American president get two full terms in office, if for no other reason than to flip the Supreme Court script to liberal-progressive control. Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas aren't getting any younger, and neither is Ruth Nader Ginsburg.

So chill with the lie that he's the 'worst president ever' on GLBT rights.

Where's the ENDA Rewrite Language?

One of the major reasons I don't participate in NCTE Lobby Days besides the fact I'm not welcome at them, is because of the HRC presence and the 'minders' that follow you as you go to various offices.

I'd also be asking questions in their lobby trainings based on my past GenderPAC lobby day experiences that would make then very uncomfortable.

The presence of those 'minders' makes it difficult for congressional staffers to tell you what's really taking place on Capitol Hill. That's why I have sources on the Hill that I ain't revealing.

One of the lessons I took away from the GenderPAC lobby days in 1998-99 is that it's not smart politics to lobby for a bill that you DON'T have a clue what the language is or know with 100% certainty that the language doesn't do harm to you.

One of the things that has me and other trans people who want effective, comprehensive legislation passed concerned is exactly why is the trans provision language being rewritten? The 2007 ENDA trans provisions language was fine.

Why is it taking so long? Why the secrecy? It also makes me queasy that a long time 'frenemy', Rep. Barney Frank, who fought our inclusion in ENDA for a decade is writing the language.

If that doesn't bother you, it should.

The congress critters know we'll go ballistic and make that 2007 explosion of trans community anger over Washington shenanigans look like a church picnic if we're either cut from ENDA again, written out of it, or the language of ENDA 2010 is NOT the inclusive language of the 2007 version, but some Frankensteinian bastardization of it.

If it isn't, then why hide that fact?

The fact it's too quiet on the Hill where ENDA is concerned only leads to building anxiety that something really shady is going on inside the Beltway. The last time I had this uncomfortable feeling was in 2007 when we got yanked out of the bill.

The same bill the head of a certain trans lobbying org said that our inclusion in it was a 'slam dunk'.

It was a slam dunk alright. A slam dunk that clanged off the congressional rim and bounced off the civil rights basketball court out of bounds.

You can peruse the blog archives to learn what I thought about it then. Unfortunately it seems like nothing's changed since 2007.

So where's the ENDA rewrite language?

NTAC ACTION ALERT: Urge Senators to Pass ENDA Out of Committee Now!

National Trans Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)
Contact: Vanessa Edwards Foster
ntacmedia@aol.com

ACTION ALERT: Urge Senators to Pass ENDA Out of Committee Now!

As time is ticking away on this session of Congress, we still have no ENDA (Employment Non Discrimination Act) bill active in process in the House of Representatives. The window of opportunity to bring a bill up for vote is extremely tight now, with only three and a half months before the congressional summer break. After that break, it’ll be peak re-election campaign season for most on Capitol Hill.

Translated, it means nothing will be done on ENDA if it has not passed both houses of Congress before the end of July. We lose ENDA’s window of opportunity completely.

With Rep. Barney Frank continuing to tamper with the original bill language, it’s anyone’s guess what the ENDA bill’s end result will be. It’s obvious that the House will not be leaders on this.

Moreover, the silence and lack of clear direction from our community’s political leadership in Washington is not a good sign.

We must begin contacting the Senate and requesting them to lead on this effort, and need to do so immediately. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is author and lead sponsor of ENDA (Senate bill S. 1584), and we have adequate language on the Senate bill as it currently stands [you can view the bill at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.1584:] We have 44 sponsors in all, including twelve of the 23 senators on the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee it’s assigned to.

Special focus on specific senators on committee who could be potential supporters: Kay Hagan (D-NC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and maybe a straying Orrin Hatch (R-UT) or Judd Gregg (R-NH).

Task One: We need everyone to contact the senators who sit on the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee to bring this bill onto the calendar for mark-up and committee vote. Additionally make it known that you want this bill to proceed in its current form with no changes. Express that you are against having the language watered-down on any of the provisions in it. When you write to them, if you were formerly a resident of their state then let them know you are a former constituent and add that you are even considering moving back there in the near future (they don’t need to know whether or not that will eventually occur).

If the particular senate office contact asks by phone if you are a constituent, reply to them that as this is a committee vote, not every state has representation on each committee and that you want this bill brought to the floor in order to ensure your elected senator has the opportunity to weigh in on this bill. (That’s all they need to know for now.)

Task Two: If you’re a constituent of any senators not on this committee (see list of committee senators below), contact them and ask for their support on S.1584. Additionally ask if they would write a “Dear Colleague” letter or personally contact their colleagues on the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee to express their support and encourage them to move this bill without amendment to the Senate Floor.

Task Three: Once you’ve completed this, contact all your friends to do likewise, and remind them how vital this bill is for the LGB and especially T community!

List of Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee Senators:

US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions - http://help.senate.gov/

Democrats by Rank
Tom Harkin (IA) // DC office: (202) 224-3254 // dan_goldberg@harkin.senate.gov // Iowa: 515-284-4574
Christopher Dodd (CT) // DC office: (202) 224-2823 // Fax: (202) 224-1083 // CT office: 860-258-6940
Barbara A. Mikulski (MD) // DC office: (202) 224-4654 // Baltimore office: (410) 962-4510
Jeff Bingaman (NM) // DC office: (202) 224-5521 // NM phone: 505-346-6601
Patty Murray (WA) // DC office: (202) 224-2621 // Fax: (202) 224-0238 // Seattle office: (206) 553-5545
Jack Reed (RI) // DC office: (202) 224-4642 // RI office: (401) 943-3100
Bernard Sanders (I) (VT) // DC office: (202) 224-5141 // Fax: (202) 228-0776
Sherrod Brown (OH) // DC office: (202) 224-2315 // Fax: (202) 228-6321
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (PA) // DC office: (202) 224-6324 // Fax: (202) 228-0604 // christina_baumgardner@casey.senate.gov
Kay Hagan (NC) // DC office: (202) 224-6342 // Fax: (202) 228-2563 // devan_barber@hagan.senate.gov
Jeff Merkley (OR) // DC office: (202) 224-3753 // Fax: (202) 228-3997 // waasil_kareem@merkley.senate.gov
Al Franken (MN) // DC office: (202) 224-5641
Michael Bennett (CO) // DC office: (202) 224-5852 // Fax: (202) 224-5036 // sam_jammal@bennet.senate.gov

Republicans by Rank
Michael B. Enzi (WY) DC office: (888) 250-1879 // Fax: (202) 228-035 // jennifer_barnes@enzi.senate.gov // http://enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.OfficeLocations
Judd Gregg (NH) // DC office: (202) 224-3324 // allison_dembeck@gregg.senate.gov
Lamar Alexander (TN) // DC office: (202) 224-4944 // Fax: (202) 228-3398
Richard Burr (NC) // DC office: (202) 224-3154 // Fax: (202) 228-2981
Johnny Isakson (GA) // DC office: (202) 224-3643 // Fax: (202) 228-0724
John McCain (AZ) // DC office: (202) 224-2235 // Fax: (202) 228-2862
Orrin G. Hatch (UT) // DC office: (202) 224-5251 // Fax: (202) 224-6331 // bryan_hickman@hatch.senate.gov
Lisa Murkowski (AK) // DC office: (202) 224-6665 // Fax: (202) 224-5301 // karen_mccarthy@murkowski.senate.gov
Tom Coburn, M.D. (OK) // DC office: (202) 224-5754 // Fax: (202) 224-6008
Pat Roberts (KS) // DC office: (202) 224-4774 // Fax: (202) 224-3514

In your communication, please be:

Respectful (even if the office is unsupportive). We want to duplicate the Teabaggers' coverage and efficacy in contacting Congress. We DO NOT want to duplicate their rhetorical rancor or personal invective as that will place us all in a bad light. At the end of the communication, thank them for their time.

Insistent that this legislation is sorely needed. Explain how this economy has made a tough situation even more dire and how we can’t wait for Rep. Barney Frank as we’re losing our chance to address this in this session. (You can additionally remind them of Sen. Kennedy’s words shortly before his death on his support of ENDA).

Stress the Personal. We’re not going to force you to a script – put this in your own words! If all of us parrot the same words, they’ll dismiss it as a carbon copy campaign. If you have an incident of discrimination in the workplace (and most all Trans people do), detail that. If you have friends or relatives who’ve been discriminated against in the workplace place, recount their stories too. Personal stories make impact and work!

We can’t speak on behalf of other groups, but if needed, you may mention you were encouraged to contact them by the National Trans Advocacy Coalition (NTAC).

After the Senate Committee vote, NTAC will issue a follow-up Action Alert on ENDA.

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Founded in 1999, NTAC – the National Trans Advocacy Coalition – is a grassroots civil rights group and the longest-tenured organization advocating for federal legislation on behalf of the America’s Trans Community.

Gay Mayoral Candidate In Gainesville, FL Facing Recount

Gainesville, FL residents went to the polls yesterday for a runoff election that would determine their city's next mayor.

The candidates were openly gay city commissioner Craig Lowe, who led the initial round of voting by garnering 40.13 percent of the ballots cast.

His opponent Don Marsh is a businessman and hater who ran on the campaign promise of overturning the newly passed TBLG non-discrimination law. Marsh got 29.13 percent of the ballots cast on March 16 to get into the runoff.

The haters are especially ticked off at Lowe not only because of his sexual orientation, but because he supported the 2008 trans inclusive anti discrimination ordinance. Lowe was one of the leaders in the effort to defeat an amendment designed to kill the law.

The mayoral runoff has been marred by the usual hatemongering from the 'christian' conservafools. It has led to some ugly displays of homophobia such as the pink flyer mocking Lowe that found itself planted on car windshields in the runup to election day..

All the back an forth of the campaign came down to whether the progressive side or the regressive side could turn out their voters.

For the moment, it looks like Craig Lowe did and you can call him mayor*.

With all 34 precincts in, Craig Lowe had 6,098 votes or 50.14% with Don Marsh getting 6,063 votes or 49.86%. Since it's less than a 1% margin a recount is forthcoming.

Once it's completed, we'll know for certain who the next mayor of Gainesville, FL will be. Let's hope it's the candidate who will unite all the city's citizens and not the one offer no more than just hate and shady divisiveness.

NY State Assembly Passes GENDA For Third Time!

Will the passage of GENDA for the third straight time finally be the charm in the wake of Gov. David Paterson's recent executive order to ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression for state employees?

Or will GENDA die another painful and very public death in the NY state senate with a governor standing by who is willing and patiently waiting to sign it into law?

Wednesday the NY State Assembly passed GENDA on a 100-43 vote. Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) stated in a press release:

"No New Yorker should face the day-to-day harassment experienced by so many transgender people who have lost their jobs or apartments because of their gender expression. "For transgender individuals, GENDA provides equal protection under the law and provides legal recourse for those who have been denied access or harassed for their gender identity. The Assembly has long supported protections for all groups of people and, this critical bill is another indication of that commitment."

Currently 13 states and Washington, D.C., have laws to protect transgender people from employment, financial, public accommodation, and housing discrimination.

In New York state several cities and counties, including Rochester and New York City, have standing GENDA laws.

Okay NY Senate, now it is up to you. Will you step up to the plate, do the right thing and stand up for the rights of your fellow New Yorkers, or will you continue to surrender to cowardice?

And citizens of NY state who value fairness, will you step it up and loudly tell your senators it's time to do the right thing and pass GENDA?

The 2010 Election Cycle Wedge Issue-Transpeople

Every election cycle the GOP comes up with some wedge issue that they will pimp to fire up their sheeple and hope will carry them to electoral victory in November.

Whether it's their old reliable 'Southern Strategy' tactics of hating on Black people, the Three G's (Guns, God and hatin' on Gays) to hating on immigrants, they've had a mixed bag of results in terms of 'scurring' those vanilla flavored 'Real Americans' to the polls to vote for them.

Now for the 2K10, seems as though hatin' on gays is out for this cycle. They have come up with an even scarier threat than 'Islamic 'terriss'' guaranteed to make those GOP leaning voters run to the polls quaking in fear.

What's the scary wedge issue that will cause those Faux News watching peeps to cast those straight ticket GOP ballots?

Transpeople in their bathrooms.

From a transphobic flyer being used against a gay mayoral candidate in Gainesville, FL to conservanegro state Rep. Paul Scott's Michigan secretary of state campaign promising to deny transpeople the right to change gender codes on their licenses, the conservative movement seems hell bent on making transpeople the wedge issue of this election cycle.

”Cross-dressing rights: that’s what we’re talking about at this meeting…. This would put men who wear dresses in county bathrooms without public notice! … This is freaky. This is bizarre. This is fruity!”

Eugene A. Delgaudio (R), Loundon County, VA Supervisor,

'It's a social values issue. If you are born a male, you should be known as a male. Same as with a female, she should be known as a female." ...it was about "preventing people who are males genetically from dressing as a woman and going into female bathrooms."

Paul Scott, (R) Michigan state rep.

'And I know there will be those who will wonder why I am even writing about this considering there may be more important topics to discuss but here's a newsflash for you: The transgender thing doesn't play well with millions of conservative Evangelicals.'

David Brody, writing about Amanda Simpson's federal appointment.

But the GOP and conservatives aren't the only group trafficking in anti-trans fear of the bathroom. Even our so-called 'friends' do it.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), who pioneered its use in the 90's with his infamous 'penis in showers' transphobic argument against our inclusion in ENDA, rolled it out of storage as an excuse for why there hasn't been movement passing ENDA despite massive Democratic majorities in the US House and Senate.

"There continues to be concerns on the part of many members about the transgender issue, particularly about the question of places where people are without their clothes — showers, bathrooms, locker rooms, etc.” “We still have this issue about what happens when people who present themselves as one sex but have the physical characteristics of the other sex, what rules govern what happens in locker rooms, showers, etc."

With 'friends' like that, who needs right-wing enemies?

These false ads used in various trans rights referendums have already been playing. Don't be surprised if you see a variation of this meme in a GOP campaign near you.



Brace for impact trans community. From now until November 2 we'll have a long, ugly political season of transphobia from all sides.