LGBT Town Hall On Houston ERO

Councilman Michael Kubosh's campaign slogan during the 2013 election cycle was 'Fighting For You', and he used it along with being the vocal leader of the coalition that took down the hated red-light camera ordinance to vault to a Houston City Council at large seat. 

With the release of the Houston Equal Rights Amendment by Mayor Annise Parker, the push by the Houston LGBT community to get it passed and then pivot to defend it against a possible repeal referendum spearheaded by our right wing haters, one of the things we weren't sure of as a community was whether Councilmember Kubosh would fight for our segment of the community and vote for its passage.  

So there were eyebrows raised by many including myself in the Houston LGBT ranks when Kubosh decided to hold his first town hall as an elected council member in the gayborhood.about the HERO. 

I joined the assembled crowd Saturday afternoon at Haven's Center of thirty people for the event moderated by Jenifer Rene Pool to ask questions about where he stood on this issue.

Over the next two hours, Councilman Kubosh not only told his personal stories about his father and his encounters with Jim Crow growing up in SE Texas, he listened as myself and many of the people and community LGBT leaders in attendance told their personal stories about the discrimination they had faced and urged him to vote to pass the HERO.  

Those of us in attendance made the points about why it was necessary to protect our human rights.  We made the facts based case why it would be a win-win to pass the HERO and expand human rights for us and all the citizens of Houston.  We debunked the lies of the opponents.   We pointed out how passage of the HERO would spur economic development but say to Texas, the nation, and the world that we value ALL Houstonians.   

When I got the chance to speak, I discussed the Izza Lopez and Tyjanae Moore cases as examples of the anti-trans discrimination in town.  Formed councilmember Jolanda Jones talked about the experience of the  former trans intern on her staff and the bathroom drama she experienced at City Hall.   I also pointed out that if Houston still wanted to make its dream of hosting an Olympic Games a reality, with the IOC moving to prevent future Sochi situations and require all candidate cities to have human rights legislation in place, might be a great idea to pass the HERO now.


We also pointed out that Houston was embarrassingly behind on this issue of expanding our non-discrimination ordinance to cover gender identity and expression and sexual orientation, and many of the cities that we compete with have it.     

It was an interesting two hours, and with what is sure to be a contentious public hearing on Wednesday at City Hall, the political fun is just getting started as the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance moves to a vote next month.

LGBT Community Town Hall Tomorrow On Houston ERO

As I mentioned earlier in the week the language for the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance was released by Mayor Parker.   Now the fun of getting it passed and defending it against the almost certain effort to repeal it via ballot referendum has started. 

City Councilmember Michael Kubosh is holding an LGBT Community Town Hall tomorrow at 3 PM at Haven's Place, 1827 W. Alabama.  

Would be nice if we have a big turnout for this because Council Kubosh leans conservative and he's been getting major push from the haters and Dave Welch's Pastor's Council to vote NO.   

Since Kubosh has an at-large seat, he does have to at least listen to what we TBLG Houstonians have to say about the ERO, and tomorrow will be an opportunity for the Houston LGBT community to present our side of the story.

And as your homework assignment in preparation for this meeting, here's the draft ERO language.

So if you can make it to that location tomorrow, please do so.  Should be an interesting afternoon.     

I Find The Proposed Houston HRO's Lack Of Citywide Employment Protections Disturbing

I'm hearing disturbing chatter coming from my human rights sources here in Houston concerning the proposed Houston Human Rights Ordinance that is supposed to be unveiled later this month.

I'm hearing that the proposed ordinance will cover city employment and public accommodations but not cover private employment citywide and I'm about to go into Maya Wilkes mode over that. 

If it is true and the reporting I'm seeing from Lone Star Q seems to back that up, that is unacceptable to me as a transperson of color who represents the group that gets the disproportionate share of anti-TBLG discrimination aimed at them in Houston and that is facing 26% unemployment.  .

The Izza Lopez case emphatically demonstrated along with the harassment and 2010 arrest of Tyjanae Moore for using the women's restroom in the downtown Houston Public Library branch why a comprehensive human rights ordinance is needed and necessary.

And as I stated in the September 2013 post, I will not accept trans human rights crumbs in Houston and will fight with ever fiber of my being to ensure that any human rights ordinance passed in my hometown has  citywide job protections and public accommodations language .       

When I spoke in favor of a comprehensive human rights ordinance for my hometown in January, enshrining the unjust Houston status quo into law because you are 'scurred' of a referendum that is coming from the right wing haters anyway no matter what kind of human rights ordinance you pass is not the vision I had in mind for our human rights ordinance along with TBLG Houstonians.  

And it would human rights malpractice for me as a Houston based human rights advocate to NOT to call this injustice out. 

It takes nine votes to pass anything on Houston City Council, and we're one vote shy of passing an ordinance with citywide job protections with four undecided councilmembers.  Three of them that are alleged to be noncommittal share my ethnic heritage, so Houston Black SGL, trans and bi community, time to get busy expressing ourselves.    


This is the question that was asked by the Houston GLBT Caucus of Mayor Parker when you came asking for the caucus endorsement last year: 

Would you be willing to introduce a non-discrimination ordinance, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, housing, and public accommodation, that provides reasonable exemptions for small businesses, religious organizations, and federally exempt residential property owners?

This is how you answered it at that time.

Mayor Annise Parker:  YES

And Houston City Council members, when the Caucus asked:

If elected, would you publicly advocate for and vote in favor of a non-discrimination ordinance, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, housing, and public accommodation, that provides reasonable exemptions for small businesses, religious organizations, and federally exempt residential property owners?

The Houston City Council members and candidates for council answered:

Jerry Davis: YES
Ellen Cohen: YES
Dwight Boykins: YES
Ed Gonzalez: YES
Robert Gallegos: YES
Mike Laster: YES
Larry Green: YES
Steve Costello: YES
David Robinson: YES
C.O. Bradford: YES
Jack Christie: YES

So mine and other inquiring Houston LGBT minds wanna know, what's changed your minds since you were asking for our votes last year? 

If you councilmembers wish to see the language of the proposed HRO before committing one way or another I can understand that.  But if you have already have seen that language and it's as bad as I'm hearing, then it's time for some profiles in political courage.

Note to Maverick Welsh, Houston LGBT Caucus president:  I'm not liking the incrementalist chatter coming out of your mouth either. 

Welsh added that the Caucus will still support the proposed ordinance if it doesn’t include citywide employment protections. “I don’t think the perfect has to be the enemy of the good,” he said.in a Lone Star Q interview.

'The perfect' as you called it Maverick is 'Necessary for our survival' when seen from the viewpoint of trans, bi and  SGL people of color disproportionately affected by anti-GLBT discrimination in this city.  

We want a Houston HRO that FIXES the problems we face, not locks the wretched status quo of discrimination in place so you Mr Welsh and your like minded peeps can sip appletinis at the next Houston HRC gala and declare a win     

We still have time to ask for what people in the Houston TBLG community expect in a long overdue Houston Human Rights Ordinance:  that it fix the problem and it has enforcement teeth.

Thanks to the Houston Stonewall Young Democrats for the form so you can click on this link and do precisely that.   Here's the contact information for Houston City Council members so you can also respectfully express yourselves and ask for that comprehensive Houston Human Rights ordinance we elected them to enact.

So we're asking politely (for now) Houston City Council to fix it.   We only get one shot at this, so let's do it right the first time, pass the Houston Human Rights Ordinance the entire community can get behind, then work to defend it from Dave Welch and his haters.   

Discrimination Has No Place In Houston Petition

As you are well aware of TransGriot readers, I'm a proud native Houstonian who has been more than fed up about the lack of a comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance in my beloved hometown.  

In the wake of San Antonio passing theirs on a lopsided 8-3 vote, I have been vocal about wanting the same nice human rights thing on my end of I-10.

Ever since Mayor Parker announced during her January inaugural address that it was time to push for that ordinance, I have not only spoken to City Council (twice and counting) about it, I wanted to make sure that when that push started, the trans community and  the Houston trans community of color had a seat at the table, we ensured transpeople were covered in it and it was a comprehensive ordinance unlike the 1984 one that was sexual orientation only and went down to crushing electoral repeal in 1985. 

And as a proud Houstonian, I'm tired of H-town being the largest Top 5 city in the United States and the largest city in Texas without one.   And I will not accept trans civil rights crumbs just to say we have one, either.

It's past time that Houston added gender identity and sexual orientation to the non-discrimination ordinance and ensures every Houstonian has equal access to employment, housing, and public accommodations inside the 628 square miles of Texas we call home.

Texans Together is collecting signatures (and yes, I've already signed it)  for a petition that would be one of the steps toward making this non discrimination ordinance a reality in my hometown. 

You can click on this link to add your name to this petition.

Kentucky HB 171 Hearing Testimony

It was one of the things I was working on before I left Kentucky, and I was pleased to hear that the statewide Fairness Bill, HB 171 finally got a committee hearing in the Kentucky House.

It was introduced back on February 5 and assigned to the House Judiciary Committee the next day. 

If passed, HB 171 would protect people in the commonwealth from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, and public accommodations. 

It would also make Kentucky one of the first Southern states to do so. 

Six Kentucky cities, Louisville, Lexington, Covington, Vicco, Morehead and the state capitol of Frankfort,  representing a quarter of the state's population of 4,380,415 are covered by Fairness laws.   But those laws only protect BTLG Kentuckians if you live in one of those six cities, which is why we've had the ongoing push for a statewide Fairness law. 

HB 171 is sponsored by my former state rep when I lived in Da Ville, Mary Lou Marzian (D).  It has as co-sponsors (all Democrats) Reps. Arnold Simpson, Kelly Flood, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Joni Jenkins, Jim Wayne and Susan Westrom    Speaker of the House Greg Stumbo is considering becoming a co sponsor as well and House Judiciary Committee chairman John Tilley (D-Hopkinsville) indicated in an interveiew that he supports HB 171.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/05/3122897/after-15-years-lawmakers-hold.html#storylink=cpy

.  .
The General Assembly is not yet ready to vote on a civil rights bill covering gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, Tilley said. The bill might be called again at a future date, he said.in an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader .

"There still is concern among members on both sides of the aisle. This hearing was an attempt to dispel some of that concern," Tilley said.

Chris Hartman, the director of the based in Da Ville Fairness Campaign, said in a Herald-Leader interview that Wednesday's hearing on the statewide fairness bill was progress because past versions of HB 171 were never even discussed in a committee.

"At the very least, there was conversation, and that ultimately engenders support," Hartman said   "Without conversation, the bill would ... languish for the next 15 years."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/05/3122897/after-15-years-lawmakers-hold.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/05/3122897/after-15-years-lawmakers-hold.html#storylink=cpy

In the Senate it's SB 140 and is sponsored by Sen.  Morgan McGarvey (D) with co-sponsors (once again all Democrats) Sens Gerald Neal, Denise Harper Angel, Perry Clark, Reginald Thomas and Minority Whip Jerry Rhoads.   It was introduced on February 12 and assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Valentines Day.   

After 15 years of liberal-progressive Kentuckians pushing for it to happen, the hearing that Chairman Tilley talked about finally took place on March 5.  But with a divided legislature  (Republicans 23-12-1 independent in the Kentucky Senate, Democrats 54-46 in the Kentucky House) and the political shockwaves from the recent federal judicial decision invalidating Kentucky's same sex marriage amendment still reverberating throughout the Commonwealth, this may be all we get before the session ends in April

Then again, I never thought I see a Fairness law passed in Frankfort either. 

You can check out the video testimony from the HB 171 hearing.






. 

Portuguese Anti-Racism Video

It was interesting to see this video..  During the time I worked in the airline industry (and I still miss it) I heard an urban airline legend about an incident similar to what is being depicted in this video that allegedly occured on a flight enroute to South Africa during the tail end of the apartheid era.

This is a Portuguese video made to mark the 50th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.   While this video is old, the message sadly is relevant to our second decade of the 21st century

AB 1266 Repeal Referendum Effort Clears Initial Hurdle

After hearing the news coming out of California moments ago, I'm going to repeat what I said in a post last month.  Hope you Cali peeps have a game plan in place if the PFAS haters succeed in getting this on the November 4 ballot.

My concern about that possibility is elevated because of the news that the haters effort to get a referendum on the ballot to repeal AB 1266 cleared the first hurdle.  

The random sampling indicated that AB 1266's opponents failed to gather the 504,760 valid signatures of registered voters they needed to put their measure on the ballot, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen (D) said.   However Los Angeles County was the last one in the spot-check verification process, and its 77.9% verification rate bumped up the statewide verification rate to 77.93% and 482,582 signatures. 

While that was below the 81.5% one needed to shut down implementation of the law or immediately put the repeal referendum on the California ballot, it was enough to move it to the second phase.  Secretary of State Bowen's office will now check every one of the 619,241 signatures received on those petitions, and that process needs to be completed by February 24.

So that now another month and a half of waiting to see if this referendum happens or it doesn't.

In the interim, Childen of Light, better be using your time wisely.

Moni's Speech To Houston City Council

TransGriot Note: This is the text of the three minute speech I delivered to the Houston City Council this afternoon during the public comment phase of today's City Council meeting.

                                             Speech To Houston City Council
                                                            January 7, 2014


Happy New Year and good afternoon to you Mayor Parker, distinguished members of City Council, and my fellow Houstonians.

I am Monica Roberts, a proud native Houstonian who grew up and resides in District D. I’m standing at this podium today because I’m one of the people that Mayor Parker talked about in her inauguration speech last week and was inspired by it to do so.   

As a transgender resident of this city, I’m keenly aware of the fact I'm not covered in this city’s current NDO and don't have the human rights coverage other Houstonians take for granted.  I stand here before you today to humbly ask on behalf of myself and other trans Houstonians that when you take up the issue of crafting a comprehensive non-discrimination ordinance that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to protections most Houstonians take for granted, to not forget us.

The late Nelson Mandela once stated, “To deny any person their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.”

Far too often many of our fellow Houstonians are all too willing and eager to do precisely that.  It took a court order to stop the Houston Police Department from using the 1904 anti-crossdressing ordinance then on the books in 1975 to harass Anne Mayes and other members of the local LGBT community with it until Phyllis Frye led the nearly four year solo charge to get it repealed in August 1980. 

Izza Lopez was forced to sue River Oaks Imaging in 2005 after it discovered during a background check she was transgender. River Oaks Imaging used that reason to rescinded a job offer they had extended to her

Lopez said about what happened," My first emotion when they rescinded the job offer was shock:; I was in disbelief. I had thought that if I passed, I would be able to slip under the radar of society's judgement and disapproval.   But I was wrong." 

Speaking of society's judgment and disapproval, Tyjanae Moore, was minding her own business at the Houston Public Library back in November 2010 but was arrested for using the bathroom appropriate to her gender presentation.  An overzealous female security guard believed gender policing was part of her duties, declared Moore to be in her not so infinite wisdom a ‘man’ and subsequently involved the HPD officer on site in this situation. 

And these are just the highly publicized incidents we are aware of.   There are probably countless others inside the 628 square miles we call home that go unreported because of the lack of human rights protections and the transpersons involved feel powerless to do anything in response to the injustice aimed at them.

Well today, I'm going to reclaim and own that power on their behalf..

While we have a proud Houston flavored trans history in terms of ICTLEP, (The International Conference of Transgender Law and Employment Policy) happening here from 1992-1997, the Josephine Tittsworth organized Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit, people like the late Kathryn McGuire, Judge Frye, Vanessa Edwards Foster, Lou Weaver, Cristan Williams, Jenifer Rene Pool, Dee Dee Watters, myself and others rising to the challenge of leadership inside and outside our city limits, trans Houstonians and especially trans Houstonians of color feel more like third class citizens of it.

According to the 2011 "Injustice At Every Turn'  National Transgender Non Discrimination Survey commissioned by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which is having its conference here January 29-February 2, transpeople have an unemployment rate twice the national average of 7%.  It’s even more appalling for transgender people of color at 3x the national average.

We face housing discrimination, harassment on various levels from grade school to collegiate campuses to health care and we’re fed up with it.

This shouldn’t be happening in the fourth largest city in the country, and the largest in the great state of Texas.   But sadly Houston is now the largest city in the US and the state that doesn’t have an NDO that protects its LGBT citizens from discrimination .

A world class city like ours protects the human rights of all its citizens. It’s past time distinguished council members, to let freedom ring in Houston for the LGBT citizens who live here.  You’ll discover that as you expand rights to include us at the Houston family table, you’ll expand them for yourselves and the Houstonians you represent.

I’ll close with the words of Barbara Jordan, a great daughter of our city and paraphrase them so they are applicable to my transgender brothers and sisters.

“What transgender Houstonians want is very simple.  We want a Houston that is as good as its promise.”

I and my trans brothers and sisters hope and pray that when you finally have the opportunity to exercise your legislative power to write that comprehensive non discrimination ordinance, you will expeditiously do so.

If Closeted TBLG People Are Harming BTLG People's Human Rights, Out 'Em

In the wake of the outing of three more closeted Pink Republicans, the debate has been stirred up in LGBT World once again as to whether it is ethical or moral to do so and whether it harms or helps our rainbow human rights movement.

Here's my take on outing.  If the person in question holds a position of policy making, judicial or legislative power, and is consistently using it to negatively impact the TBLG community while being GLBT themselves, yeah, you need to be outed and called on it.

I have no sympathy for you in this case because self hating closeted people are problematic.  Self hating closeted people with policy making, legislative or judicial power who consistently use it to negatively impact the human rights of a marginalized group are dangerous to not only themselves, but the marginalized group they are a part of.
 
Clarence Thomas proves that point for African-Americans every SCOTUS session when he consistently rules with the other four white male conservative justices on cases that negatively impact the human rights of our people   The only thing more galling about (in)Justice Scalia's 'racial entitlement ' comments and Chief Justice Roberts cluelessly stating that the VRA that he's worked for decades to destroy was 'no longer needed' was Thomas' sellout behind voting to eviscerate Section 4 of the VRA.

But for an example of a person from the GLBT community who was in a decision making capability who repeatedly acted in ways to harm the community, you need look no further than Ken Mehlman.

He was Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs from 2001-2005, ran the 2004 GW Bush reelection campaign and was chairman of the Republican Party from 2005-2007 until he came out three years later.  

Despite being gay himself (and he repeatedly denied it while holding those power positions), he pushed the effort to exploit anti-gay animus to cement the alliance of anti-gay conservatives for Republican political gain at the expense of the human rights of LGBT people.

Mehlman was quite aware that Karl Rove was working with other Republicans to put anti-gay referenda and anti-gay marriage amendments on the 2004 and 2006 ballots to cynically increase turnout for those election cycles, but said and did nothing about it.  Worse, he stacked much paper while remaining mute.  

So he came out.  Big fracking deal because the damage has already been done and he's long since cashed his checks for his reprehensible work.  We are going to be spending the next decade or so unraveling the damage to our human rights this self hater caused.  It is time, energy and money that could have been spent focusing on other issues of important to our community.    

So when it comes to people like this who only care about themselves, their personal power, prestige and bank accounts while screwing the rest of us, then yeah, out 'em.
  

Gay, Inc Needs A Trans Rooney Rule

With the close of the NFL season, five head coaches were fired for their teams 2013 performance or lack thereof.    Five teams, including my Houston Texans initiated searches for their new head coaches, with the Texans doing so before the season concluded. 

One of the very first interviews given for the vacant head coaching position of my fave NFL squad was to Lovie Smith, the former head coach of the Chicago Bears.  He has since been interviewed and hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The reason the interview for Smith happened, and you will see that repeated for other non-white NFL coaching and GM candidates was to fulfill the requirements of the now decade old 'Rooney Rule'. 

The rule is named for Pittsburgh Steelers owner and chairman of the NFL's diversity committee Dan Rooney, due to the Steelers' long positive history of giving African Americans opportunities to serve in team leadership and coaching roles.  The Rooney's themselves before hiring Mike Tomlin as their head coach in 2007 interviewed current Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera for the job. 

Since 2003 the National Football League's Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for open head coaching and senior football operation jobs.  It started because of the sorry history that up until the hiring of Tom Flores by the Oakland Raiders in 1979, there had been in the entire history of the NFL only one non-white head coach, and that was African-American Fritz Pollard in 1920.


Tom Flores made history not only as the first Latino starting quarterback (for the 1960 AFL Raiders), but the first Latino NFL head coach.  He's also the first non-white head coach to make it to and win two Super Bowls (1980, 1983) and win one as an assistant (1976).   Why he's not in the NFL Hall of Fame is a travesty, but that's another post.

The institution of the Rooney Rule raised the percentage of African-Americans coaches by 2006 to 22% from 6% in the year prior to its implementation.  It was subsequently expanded in 2009 to all ethnic minority coaching and GM candidates and there are proposes to expand it to offensive and defensive coordinator jobs. 

The Rooney Rule is not a quota as its vanillacentric privileged detractors like to call it.  It simply says you must interview minority candidates for these positions.  Who you hire is still up to you as the owner.  But it is obvious that the Rooney Rule worked to promote diversity in the coaching and GM ranks until the 2012 season and it was tweaked again. 

This heavy dose of NFL history about the Rooney Rule has a point.  

What got me thinking about this in terms of TBLG community circles is a conversation ENDABlog 2.0 blogger Katrina Rose and I were having about the Rooney Rule and its implementation in the current NFL hiring cycle.

Katrina made a comment that Gay, Inc orgs need to have one and she has a point.   When it comes to their hiring record concerning the people they choose to lead their organizations, only white gay men need apply.  

When the leadership rannks of your Gay, Inc organizations resemble Republican party conventions, if you're transgender why even apply, especially if you're a trans woman of color? 

The only Gay, Inc organization that has bucked that trend so far is the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.   In its over three decades the Task Force has had multiple female executive directors in Jean O'Leary, Urvashi Vaid, Kerry Lobel just to name a few and since 2008 has been led by current Task Force executive director Rea Carey.


Even with the Task Force's remarkably consistent record when it comes to feminine leadership, they unfortunately have the same pattern as other Gay, Inc orgs in terms of the overall lack of hiring of trans people despite the September hiring of Kylar Broadus to helm their Transgender Civil Rights Project.   

The same project that was led for over a decade (2001-2013) by cis woman Lisa Mottet until moving on to NCTE..

Allyson Robinson is the only person who has ever headed a Gay, Inc org that doesn't have trans human rights as a primary focus, and OutServe-SLDN unfortunately imploded a few months later into her term.


Like Kylar and others prove, it's not like trams people, and especially trans people of color don't have the education, talent or innovative ideas that would serve this community and movement well at an organizational level.  

And yeah, would be nice to get a regular paycheck for fighting for the human rights of this community.   It would also make a small symbolic dent in the trans unemployment numbers, send the message you practice what you preach to Fortune 500 companies and to governmental bodies that you are trying to convince to pass non-discrimination legislation.

It would also send the message that as allies you do value the contributions of trans people to the movement.

But it is probably the all-marriage all the time agenda of these predominately gay white male run orgs that is a reason why a civil rights oriented non-white candidate to this point hasn't been allowed near the leadership ranks of these groups.

You can also add other possible reasons as to why the lack of trans leaders in these Gay, Inc orgs is the dearth of trans hiring at mid-management and senior management levels of these organizations like it routinely does for white gay and lesbian people, or inclusion on their boards of directors so they can get the experience to someday be considered to run the entire organization .  

And let's be real about this, racism and transphobia probably plays a role in this lack of Gay, Inc leadership diversity as well.

For that paradigm to change, we are going to have to see more trans people make it into the good old gay boy and girl networks so they are familiar to the people who can hire or make recommendations to hire.

And it may take Rooney Rule type efforts, or these Gay, Inc organizations realizing that diverse leadership leads to better policy development to do so.     
 

65th Anniversary Of UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
--UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights preamble, December 10, 1948

In the wake of the horrific human rights violations committed during World War II, the newly organized UN General Assembly, led by a committee chaired by former US First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt spent 18 months drafting this landmark UN document which was adopted on December 10, 1948. 

The original drafters of the document in addition to Commission chair Eleanor Roosevelt (US) were Dr. Charles Malik (Lebanon), Alexandre Bogomolov (USSR), Dr. Peng-chun Chang (China), René Cassin (France), Charles Dukes (United Kingdom), William Hodgson (Australia), Hernan Santa Cruz (Chile), and John P. Humphrey (Canada).

The task was even more remarkable considering this was occurring during the outbreak of the East-West  Cold War tensions between the US and USSR that would dominate international world affairs for the next four and a half decades.

December 10 was the 65th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.   It is one of the most translated documents in human history and serves as an aspirational goal for all those who strive for full human rights coverage. 

In fact, Nelson Mandela used the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a model for the 1996 South African Constitution.  During the year the document celebrated its 50th anniversary, Mandela addressed the UN General Assembly on September 21, 1998 and challenged them to work harder to enforce the words of the declaration for years to come. 

He said at the time, “The new constitution obliges us to strive to improve the quality of life of the people. In this sense, our national consensus recognizes that there is nothing else that can justify the existence of government but to redress the centuries of unspeakable privations, by striving to eliminate poverty, illiteracy, homelessness and disease. It obliges us, too, to promote the development of independent civil society structures.”document


I've pointed out since 2007 that the trans rights struggle is an international human rights struggle grounded in not only our various national constitutions, but the International Bill of Gender Rights drafted 20 years ago at the 1993 ICTLEP Conference in Houston, the Yogyakarta Principles, and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  

When I say that we have the moral high ground in our trans human rights struggle, these are the documents I point to along with the US Constitution when I talk about trans human rights in a national and international context. 

It's also heartening to note on the anniversary date of the adoption of the UN Declaration of Human Rights that the UN is increasingly getting the message that trans rights are an international human rights issue.  

Back in 2011 the same UN Human Rights Council that penned the Declaration passed a resolution sponsored by South Africa, Brazil and 38 other nations that not only affirmed the universality of human rights, but noted concern about acts of violence and discrimination aimed at people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

On September 26 there was a first ever ministerial meeting on LGBT rights convened at the UN Headquarters in New York to discuss advancements for protecting the human rights of LGBT persons and to secure commitments from UN member states toward making the protection of TBLG citizens in those member states and elsewhere in the world a reality.

Pope Francis-Liberal?

I'm not a Catholic, but as a Christian in the Baptist tradition and a student of history I acknowledge the large role and influence the Roman Catholic Church and its leader can have on world affairs, politics and social justice issues.

I was born during the reign of Pope John XXIII who died on June 3, a day short of me turning 13 months old.  Pope Paul VI was the one whose reign covered much of my childhood and teen years.  He succeeded the late John XXIII a few weeks later and died when I was a junior in high school.   I watched the all too brief 33 day reign of Pope John Paul I in which the conspiracy theories are abundant about his death.  He was followed by the man who held the papacy longer than anyone in my lifetime in Pope John Paul II.   He was followed by one I grew to loathe for pimping that anti-trans doctrine in Pope Benedict XVI and I cheered when he resigned.   

So now we have Pope Francis running thangs in the Roman Catholic Church.   He has been its history making leader since March 13 as the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, The Americas, South America, Latin America, and the first Jesuit priest to ascend to the papacy.

I remember having the conversation with Rev. Carmarion Anderson during the BTMI Advocacy Conference which was going on when Francis became pope.  I stayed at her house for two days of it before heading to the hotel.  One of our conversations when I was chilling at her place was about the new leader.   

While I expressed my wait and see attitude about Pope Francis, she was encouraged by what he had to say concerning refocusing the Roman Catholic Church on being concerned about the poor and inequality than their war on contraception and LGBT people. 

In the months since that conversation with Carmarion I've noted that Pope Francis ditched much of the trapping of the extravagant papal lifestyle of his predecessor.  I've gleefully noted the increased unhinged complaints and attacks from conservafool pundits aimed at this pontiff. (which is always a good sign), especially after he called out trickle-down economics, global capitalism for its greed, called for better interfaith relations with Muslims, and being concerned about income inequality.

"Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality," Pope Francis wrote. "Such an economy kills."

While I like what I see so far concerning Pope Francis, the jury is still out on just how liberal he is. 

I've always believed and my personal faith is in the thoughtful Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. mode  I like religious leaders who are social justice oriented and who speak truth to power.  I tend to have respect for religious leaders in that mold who stand up for working class people, society's downtrodden people and who aren't 'scurred' to speak moral truths that piss off friend or foe.

Whether Pope Francis is that type of pontiff and continues to be one during his papal reign remains to be seen.
    . 

Rest In Power, Madiba!

"Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do."
--Nelson Mandela"

Talk about irony.   As the movie based on his autobiography Long Walk To Freedom starring Idris Elba as him is set to premiere on multiplex screens around the world, we get the sad news moments ago that Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela, the first democratically elected Black president of South Africa, (at 8:50 PM South African time) has passed away today at age 95 after a long illness at his home in Johannesburg.

He has been under round the clock care since being released from the hospital after fighting off a lung infection, but the iconic human rights warrior's own Long Walk Home happened today.

Nelson Mandela has been around in my life as long as I have been on the planet.  At the time I was born in 1962, South Africa's African population chafed under the intolerable oppression of apartheid that he, the ANC and a coalition of anti-apartheid activists there and around the world fought mightily to end.   I was a mere three months old in August 1962 when he was arrested and later sentenced to five years in prison for inciting workers strikes and leaving the country without permission.

After the Rivonia Trial, which started October 9, 1963 in which he and his ANC comrades were charged with four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 12, 1964.   He was subsequently sent to Robben Island to serve 18 years of the 27 total years he served in prison until due to international pressure he was released from Victor Verster Prison by South African President FW de Klerk in February 11, 1990.

As our right-wingers called him a 'terrorist' and flung the C-word at him, (Communist) he was busy along with a multiracial coalition there negotiating the agreements that would end apartheid.  He was also building the consensus that would result four years later on April 27, 1994 in him being elected president of South Africa.   

During his presidency that lasted until 1999, he put South Africa on a path of unifying the country and building a multiracial democracy until he stepped down from that position.   .

There are his critics on the left who call him out about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that they charge allowed too many of the crimes committed by people during the apartheid era and their perpetrators to get away with them without punishment.

As President Obama said in his remarks concerning the passing of Nelson Mandela:
     

Today he's gone home and we've lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth. He no longer belongs to us; he belongs to the ages. Through his fierce dignity and unbending will to sacrifice his own freedom for the freedom of others, Madiba transformed South Africa and moved all of us. His journey from a prisoner to a president embodied the promise that human beings and countries can change for the better.

His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him set an example that all humanity should aspire to, whether in the lives of nations or in our own personal lives. And the fact that he did it all with grace and good humor and an ability to acknowledge his own imperfections, only makes the man that much more remarkable. As he once said, "I'm not a saint unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying."

South African president Jacob Zuma said in his remarks to his nation:

"Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father. Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world.

That it did and it's obvious from all the people around the world now commenting in the wake of his death he was loved.  As someone who fights for the human rights of transpeople, I draw upon his words for inspiration at times and try to live up to his example.      

Two of my favorite quotes from him are, "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the rights of others."

The other Mandela quote that has particular resonance for me as an African-American trans person is, "'To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity'



There is no doubt that we have lost a revered human rights champion. South Africans have lost the revered father of their nation.  Like millions around the world, we African descended Americans loved and admired him just as much as he did African-Americans, our culture and our concurrent human rights struggles here in the USA.  

Rest in power, Madiba.   You've more than earned it.

Naomi Testifies At Philippine Congress Hearing

Y'all know I have much love for my transpinay sister Naomi Fontanos, who is the Executive Director of GANDA Filipinas.

Was thrilled to hear she spoke at a December 5 (Philippine time) Philippine House of Representatives hearing as a resource person.  It was for a Committee on Women and Gender Equality (CWGE) hearing on proposed national anti-discrimination measures.   Multiple bills have been filed in the Philippine Congress to protect the human rights of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters in that nation

I'm exceedingly proud of Naomi, our transpinay and transpinoy sisters and brothers, and our allies there who have worked tirelessly for years to make this day happen.  

Let's hope and pray the arc of the moral universe is bending toward justice and human rights for our trans cousins in the Philippines.   Let's also hope that their testimony legislators heard opened hearts and minds, leads to legislative passage and heralds the beginning of a marvelous 2014 human rights wise for all of us around the world. 

Here's what Naomi had to say about it courtesy of her FB page:

Spoke at Philippine Congress in a hearing on anti-discrimination legislation and was overjoyed that more than one bill to protect the rights of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Filipinos had been filed in the House of Representatives.

I was happy, too, that representatives from the Civil Service Commission (CSC), the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) and other agencies expressed their full support to end all forms of discrimination in the Philippines. This, certainly, did not happen overnight and is the product of the hard work of activists and allies who came before us. I am grateful to them for making this moment possible. I also want to thank activists of the present time who work tirelessly and sometimes anonymously but always lovingly to make sure that those who will come after us will have, hopefully, a better quality of life.

Dios mabalos sa indo gabos! Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat! Thank you all so very much!

***

 Your trans cousins here in the States and around the world hope that the better life you're working towards for you and future generations happens sooner rather than later.

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.  

I Don't Want Tolerance

Tolerance according to the dictionary definition of the word is 'the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.'  

When that word is used in conjunction with discussing the human rights of transgender people, I do believe it's problematic on some levels. 

If your goal as a cis person is to simply tolerate transpeople, then you aren't inclined or motivated to do the work necessary go beyond a Trans 101 level of understanding about our lives and the issues we face.  If you think your religious faith trumps our lives, you will act in transphobic ways that aren't in lockstep with the tenets of your faith.   Tolerance leads to the unjust situation trans people find themselves in remaining a deadly societal status quo for us. 

I don't want tolerance. I want the same first class citizenship that you demand for yourself.  I want recognition from you that I am living my life, not a 'lifestyle'.   I want you to hear me and my transbrothers and transsisters when we say we are the men and women you see when we are out and about in the world and take it at face value when we talk about how we live our authentic lives.

I don't want tolerance.  I want you to have a crystal clear understanding that transpeople are part of the diverse mosaic of human life and our existence isn't subject to a debate by transphobic cis people. I'm tired of cis folks demonizing my people, writing anti-trans hate speech on your websites and broadcasting incendiary rhetoric on your YouTube channels and television and radio stations that gets African-American and Latina #girlslikeus severely beaten or killed   Any attempt to dehumanize us from this day forward will be met with swift, unrelenting and unyielding determination to set the record straight.   

I don't want tolerance. Our trans existence is not a vehicle for vanillacentric privilege wielding TERF's to turn failed disco era transphobic second wave feminist hate speech into new book sales in a desperate attempt to remain relevant in the second decade of the 21st Century. 

I don't want tolerance.  I'm looking for acceptance of the emerging reality that our trans lives are not fodder for transphobic cis people who think the best way to score political points and fundraise for their failing right wing causes is to engage in a morally bankrupt War on Transwomen.  Neither is it an opportunity for alleged Christians to pimp faith-based hatred of transpeople from the pulpit because they are losing the culture war against the gay and lesbian community and think we're an easy target.  

I don't want tolerance.  My human rights as a trans person shouldn't be subject to a vote by cis people who hate me or so-called gay and lesbian allies who have no problem throwing us under the bus to advance their own human rights cause.  You scream bloody murder about your liberty and pursuit of happiness and freedom as enunciated in the Declaration of Independence being impeded, but have no problem engaging in actions that restrict mine and the trans community's opportunities to experience the same freedom and liberty you demand for yourself.

And for that you should be ashamed of yourselves.

I don't want tolerance  I want acknowledgment from society that my humanity and human rights as a trans person living in this country are non-negotiable. 

First Ever UN Ministerial Meeting On LGBT Rights

You've heard me frequently write and say that trans rights are an international human rights issue.  On September 26 a groundbreaking meeting took place at the United Nations in New York that underscores that comment.

Leaders from the UN's core group of countries working to end violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people gathered for the first ever UN ministerial meeting on LGBT rights.


The meeting's purpose was to discuss advancements for protecting the human rights of LGBT persons and to secure commitments from Member States toward making the protection of TBLG citizens in those member state and elsewhere in the world a reality.

Free & Equal -- the unprecedented UN public information campaign for LGBT equality -- captures strong statements by several attendees, who included the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the Argentine, Brazilian, Croatian, Dutch and Norwegian foreign ministers, the French Minister of Development Cooperation, senior officials from the European Union, Japan and New Zealand, and the directors of Human Rights Watch and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.




Those present issued an historic Ministerial Declaration on Ending Violence and Discrimination against Individuals Based on their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity that was endorsed by Secretary of State Kerry, the foreign ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, El Salvador, France, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway, and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union.

In case you TransGriot readers are wondering what the declaration says, you knew I'd find it for you.:

Ministerial Declaration on Ending Violence and Discrimination against Individuals Based on their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity



United Nations, New York, 26 September 2013

1. We, ministers of Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, El Salvador, France, Israel, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and United States, and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – members of the LGBT Core Group at the United Nations – hereby declare our strong and determined commitment to eliminating violence and discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

2. In so doing, we reaffirm our conviction that human rights are the birthright of every human being. Those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) must enjoy the same human rights as everyone else.

3. We welcome the many positive steps taken in recent decades to protect LGBT individuals from human rights violations and abuses. Since 1990, some 40 countries have abolished discriminatory criminal sanctions used to punish individuals for consensual, adult same-sex conduct. In many countries, hate crime laws and other measures have been introduced to combat homophobic violence, and anti-discrimination laws have been strengthened to provide effective legal protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace and other spheres, both public and private.

4. We also recognize that countering discrimination involves challenging popular prejudices, and we welcome efforts by Governments, national human rights institutions and civil society to counter homophobic and transphobic attitudes in society at large, including through concerted public education campaigns.

5. We assert our support for, and pay tribute to, LGBT human rights defenders and others advocating for the human rights of LGBT persons. Their work, often carried out at considerable personal risk, plays a critical role in documenting human rights violations, providing support to victims, and sensitizing Governments and public opinion.

6. We commend the adoption by the United Nations Human Rights Council of resolution 17/19 on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, and we welcome the efforts of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to raise global awareness of human rights challenges facing LGBT individuals, and to mobilize support for measures to counter violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

7. Nevertheless, we remain gravely concerned that LGBT persons in all regions of the world continue to be victims of serious and widespread human rights violations and abuses.

8. A landmark 2011 study by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which drew on almost two decades worth of work by United Nations human rights mechanisms, found a deeply disturbing pattern of violence and discriminatory laws and practices affecting individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

9. It is a tragedy that, in this second decade of the 21^st century, consensual, adult, same-sex relations remain criminalized in far too many countries – exposing millions of people to the risk of arrest and imprisonment and, in some countries, the death penalty. These laws are inconsistent with States’ human rights obligations and commitments, including with respect to privacy and freedom from discrimination. In addition, they may lead to violations of the prohibitions against arbitrary arrest or detention and torture, and in some cases the right to life.

10. In all parts of the world – including in our own – LGBT individuals are subjected to intimidation, physical assault, and sexual violence, and even murder. Discriminatory treatment is also widely reported, inhibiting the enjoyment of a range of human rights – including the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and work, education and enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health.

11. We are fully committed to tackling these violations and abuses – both at the domestic level, including through continued attention to the impact of current policies, and at the global level, including through concerted action at the United Nations.

12. We recognize the importance of continued dialogue between and within countries concerning how best to protect the human rights of LGBT persons, taking into account regional initiatives. In this context, we welcome the outcome of a series of recent regional consultations on the topic of human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity that took place in March and April 2013, and encourage the holding of further such meetings at regional and national levels.

13. Key to protecting the human rights of LGBT individuals is the full and effective implementation of applicable international human rights law. Existing international human rights treaties provide legally binding guarantees of human rights for all – LGBT people included. But for these guarantees to have meaning they must be respected by Governments, with whom legal responsibility for the protection of human rights lies.

14. Cognizant of the urgent need to take action, we therefore call on all United Nations Member States to repeal discriminatory laws, improve responses to hate-motivated violence, and ensure adequate and appropriate legal protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

15. We strongly encourage the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to continue its efforts to increase understanding of the human rights challenges facing LGBT people, advocate for legal and policy measures to meet these challenges, and assist the United Nations human rights mechanisms in this regard.

16. We agree with the United Nations Secretary-General’s assessment that combating violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity constitutes “one of the great, neglected human rights challenges of our time”. We hereby commit ourselves to working together with other States and civil society to make the world safer, freer and fairer for LGBT people everywhere.