Illinois Is Looking More Like Prop 8 2.0

Well, well, well  John Aravosis.   Looks like there's increasing evidence piling up to show that you were loud and wrong as usual.

You were also wrong for peddling that bigoted 'The Blacks cost us marriage equality in Illinois' meme  in the immediate aftermath of the non-call for a House marriage equality vote that has been repeated like a mantra in various spots in the Gayosphere and progressive blog comment threads that Black bloggers are now going to have to spend time debunking. 

I presume the 'I'm sorry' Americablog post will be swiftly forthcoming to the Black community and the legislators you slimed, but I suspect it'll be a snowy June day in Houston before we see it.
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It's also eerily looking more and more like Prop 8 2.0 in terms of the deja vu all too eager white gay propensity to quickly point the finger at my community for this stunning Illinois marriage equality legislative failure and engage in rainbow bigot eruptions. .   

Before the weekend was out I was starting to get confirmation about what I suspected was the real reason the marriage bill failed Saturday morning:

A Gay, Inc organizational frackup. 

It turns out that your vanillacentric staffed umbrella marriage org on the scene there didn't even bother to hire more lobbyists to talk to the Illinois Black legislative caucus, when they knew for months it was one of their lobbying weaknesses.   The problem wasn't addressed until a day and a half before the vote was supposed to happen and former Illinois Chitown Democratic legislators Paul Williams and Coy Pugh were put on the payroll 

Williams and Pugh had they been given ample time may have been able to flip some votes in the Caucus, but they damned sure needed more than a day and half for that task. 

The umbrella org also repeated California's failure of not consistently engaging the Black and Latino communities and mobilizing progressive ministers and priests tn the state to neutralize and drown out the bigots in the African American Clergy Coalition and the Roman Catholic Church.

Thanks to TransGriot reader Chitown Kev for pointing me to an NBC5 article entitled 'Don't Thank (Or Blame) Black Legislators For Killing Gay Marriage' and giving me more ammunition to point out why fanning the hell-fire flames of gay bigotry against Blacks is not only wrong but not helpful to your marriage cause. 

Interestingly enough that NBC5 story breaks down how the so-called 'homophobic' Black Legislative caucus votes would have probably gone down if a marriage vote had been called

Eleven of the 20 Black Caucus members would have voted YES,  four NO and five were undecided.

YES
Ken Dunkin, Chicago
Esther Golar, Chicago
Chris Welch, Hillside
La Shawn Ford, Chicago
Christian Mitchell, Chicago
Rita Mayfield, Waukegan
Al Riley, Olympia Field
Camille Lilly, Chicago
Arthur Turner, Chicago
Marcus Evans, Chicago
Elgie Sims, Jr., Chicago

NO
Monique Davis, Chicago
Mary Flowers, Chicago
Eddie Jackson, East St. Louis
Charles Jefferson, Rockford

UNDECIDED
Thaddeus Jones, Calumet City
Jehan Gordon-Booth, Peoria
Will Davis, East Hazel Crest
Derrick Smith, Chicago
Andre Thapedi, Chicago

As an FYI moment, the six Latino Illinois legislators were considered supporters.

Now compare and contrast that with the 92 white legislators in the Illinois House.  I pointed out the fact in my initial Saturday post the bulk of the people and legislators opposed to marriage equality don't look like me and it was borne out in this report.

45 of the 47 Republicans (who are survey says, all white peeps) were opposed to the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act with only two supporting it..  

The 45 remaining white legislators in the Illinois House are Democrats. Of those white Democrats 26 were considered solid YES votes, but there were 19 white Democratic legislators identified by the Windy City Times who are either committed to vote NO on the bill, or have not publicly supported it. 

Those legislators are Brandon Phelps, John Bradley, Jerry Costello II, Jay Hoffman, Daniel Beiser, Sue Scherer, Stephanie Kifowit, Anthony DeLuca, Katherine Cloonen, Patrick Verschoore, Jack Franks, Michelle Mussman, John D’Amico, Natalie Manley, Emily McAsey, Kathleen Willis, Fred Crespo, Keith Farnham, and Kelly Burke.

So how in the hell does the Black Caucus get the blame or the failure of this bill when all along you had a white Democratic legislator problem?  

Easy, when you want to deflect from your own organizational failures.

"Don’t blame the Black Caucus. The Black Caucus has always been with us and so have the Latinos,” said Rick Garcia, the policy director of the Civil Rights Agenda. “They are just using the black people as an excuse.”

And once again for you white gay peeps still pouring gasoline on the hell fire flames of gay bigotry against African-Americans, 60% of Black Illinois residents supported marriage equality with many of them being high profile ones like Desiree Rogers, the CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, Linda Johnson Rice, the chair of Johnson Publishing Company, the Rev Dr. Otis Moss III, the pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, retired shortstop Ernie Banks, Andrea Zopp, the president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League just to name a few      

So for those of you in the Illinois gay community still squawking about who not to support in the next election cycle, primary challenge or you're petulantly not going to support issues of importance to the African-American community in retaliation for this setback, my suggestion is you don't let the white privilege you're swimming in be the catalyst for writing a political check your azzes will regret cashing.  

Seems y'all need to be focusing your attention moreso on the problem you have with white people supporting marriage equality.  You need to do a better job building support for marriage equality amongst your fellow white people, get busy building that coalition of progressive ministers you'll need to fight the bigoted ones and quit scapegoating Black people for your failure to come up with an argument that resonates with your fellow white folks.

Because frankly, Black people, and especially Black TBLG folks are sick and tired of being blamed for your failure to do precisely that.  

Delaware FINALLY Introduces Anti-Trans Discrimination Bill

After declining to take the opportunity to do so in 2009 when they added sexual orientation to the state's anti-discrimination law, Delaware lawmakers on Wednesday finally got around to introducing legislation banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity and joining the other 16 states plus the District of Columbia that already do so.  

The proposed bill would add gender identity to the existing list of protected nondiscrimination categories, including race, age, marital status, creed, color, sex, handicap, sexual orientation and national origin.

The legislation defines gender identity as “a gender-related identity, appearance, expression or behavior of a person, regardless of the person’s assigned sex at birth” and would prohibit discrimination against a person on the basis of gender identity in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations, and insurance.

Predictably the haters in the Delaware Family Assn. are already deploying 'bathroom bill' shade at it but it has the alleged support of Gov. Jack Markell (D).

His spokesperson Cathy Rossi stated 'The governor believes that discrimination on the basis of gender or gender identity is inherently wrong and supports legislation to prohibit it,”.

ENDABlog 2.0's Katrina Rose on her FB page sums up elements of the trans people's bordering on cynical attitudes toward this news. 

'And yet his (Gov. Jack Markell) belief wasn't strong enough to even suggest that trans people be included in the gay rights bill four years ago, eh?

'I presume that this current bill will receive just as much attention as GENDA has received in New York.'

I'm with Katrina Rose in asking where was Gov Markell's support for adding gender identitiy in 2009?  There is a far more urgent need for covering trans people in anti-discrimination law and it should have been handled four years ago, but better late than never.

The bill also would require educational institutions to provide “reasonable accommodations” to permit access by transgender people to such facilities as single-sex student dormitories, fraternities, sororities, and other housing and allow businesses to require workers to adhere to reasonable appearance, grooming and dress standards consistent with the employee’s gender identity.

We'll see if Delaware becomes the 17th state to outlaw anti-trans discrimination.

This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege-Week Ending May 24

The Texas trans community got a major win when SB 1218 died in the House Judiciary and Civil jurisprudence Committee for this session.  But like the Terminator, the Teapublicans will continue on their mission to oppress people who don't look like them until they are knocked out of power.

The clock is rapidly ticking towards the end of the 83rd Texas legislative session and Equality Texas Field Organizer and Legislative Specialist Daniel Williams all session has been giving us the 411 on what transpired underneath the Pink Dome up in Austin.



In this update Daniel explains how the conference committee works and why that is important to TBLG Texans.  

Anti-Trans SB 1218 Is DEAD!

We TBLG Texans just keep finding ways to kill these anti-trans and anti-LGB bills in the Lone Star State despite the best efforts of our conservafools and Teapublican legislative members to pass them.  

I received the good news about SB 1218 being on life support on Saturday morning, but just to be sure I wanted to wait until the midnight deadline passed until I started doing the happy dance about its demise.  

Last year it was SB 723, and this year it was SB 1218.   While I was concerned after hearing this unjust bill passed out of the Texas Senate, I knew one thing in the Texas trans community's favor was this bill may not have enough time to go through the legislative process in the Texas House.

I was also hoping that the great karma we've lately had concerning international trans marriage wins in Malta and Hong Kong would rub off on us here, too

The unjust bill had to get passed out the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee on which we had several powerful allies.   It's a nine member committee, so they need six members to constitute a quorum to conduct official business.  SB1218 also had the hurdle of if it had passed out of committee it had to do so yesterday and be placed on the House calendar by midnight May 21 or it died for the session.

So ding dong, that anti-trans bill is dead.  We get to exhale, celebrate for a minute, and then prepare for the Teahadists to come after trans Texans ability to marry again in the 2015 session unless they lose control of one or both chambers in the 2014 election cycle, the governor's chair or all of the above.

I suggest y'all get busy registering people to vote in the 2014 election cycle now so we can take the Texas legislature back and pass some progressive legislation in the 84th Texas legislature when it's gaveled into session in January 2015. 

Clock Ticking Toward Major 2013 Texas Lege Deadline

The 83rd session of the Texas legislature ends on May 27 and we are rapidly approaching a major legislative deadline at midnight.   All bills that passed the House or Senate and made it to the opposite chamber committees must be voted out of them and be placed on the House or Senate legislative calendars before midnight or they die for this session. 

So yep, the clock is ticking on the unjust SB 1218 bill.    It's still stuck in the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee and showing In Committee status.  

As a reminder of why I'm calling it an unjust bill, it attempts to strip trans people of their ability to marry by prohibiting anyone from obtaining a marriage license with a document that lacks a photo.  One of the approved documents we can use to get a marriage license in Texas is an affidavit of sex change.

It must be voted out today and placed on the House calendar or else it dies for this session.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.   

Die, SB 1218 Die!

This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege-Week Ending May 17

The 2013 Texas Legislative session is rapidly drawing to a close. But until the session ends on May 27 and the legislators are all headed back home, as the passage of SB 1218 in the Texas Senate demonstrates, we marginalized people can't relax with this Teapublican majority in control and having a governor willing to sign whatever they pass.

We must continue to have an eye turned toward Austin, and here's Equality Texas Legislative Specialist and Field Organizer Daniel Williams to break it down for you what happened during this ugly legislative week for TBLG Texans. 

Puerto Rican Senate Passes Trans Inclusive Rights Bill

TBLG Puerto Ricans got some welcome news to celebrate the IDAHOT with as Senate Bill 238, the proposed trans inclusive anti-discrimination bill passed the Puerto Rico Senate on a 15-11 vote after several contentious hours of debate and determined opposition from the island's religious leaders..

The bill submitted by Senator Ramon Luis Nieves would ban anti-TBLG discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and government services in the US territory based on real or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation. 

The bill’s passage also comes three days after San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz mandated the Puerto Rican capital’s police department to equally apply the island's current domestic violence laws, regardless of the reported victim’s sexual orientation.

The mayor also signed a second executive order that bans discrimination against San Juan's municipal employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

Senate Bill 238 isn't the only bill the island's TBLG community is watching.   House of Representatives Bill 488 seeks to extend existing domestic violence protections to any person regardless of their marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Amnesty International says that lawmakers have a “historic opportunity” to end discrimination against Puerto Rico’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.

“The approval of these two laws would be a big step for justice and equality for an important sector of Puerto Rico’s population, which to date has fallen victim to institutionalized discrimination,” said Pedro Santiago, director of Amnesty International Puerto Rico.

“These two measures would expand the protection of rights for LGBTI people in Puerto Rico. Our legislators should be brave enough to overcome prejudice when making new laws. Human rights are not a matter of choice but of justice, and all people are entitled to enjoy them regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Santiago.

The passage of these bills would also be welcome news for Puerto Rico's trans community, which endured a horrific spike in anti-trans violence and murders on the island several years ago.

Senate Bill 238 moves on to the Puerto Rican House of Representatives for its approval before it hits Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla's desk for his signature

Anti-Trans SB 1218 Passes Texas Senate

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If you're wondering why I can't stand Republifools and why I've been posting Daniel Williams' Texas legislative updates since the 2013 session started, it's because Republicans continue to demonstrate a shamelessly inexhaustible ability and desire to oppress people

Knowing that the clock is ticking toward the end of the regular session of the 83rd Texas Legislature, the Republifools have all of a sudden gotten busy trying to pass their anti-TBLG hate legislation before they hit the May 21 deadline dates for when those bills can't be considered by the other chambers.

The Dallas Voice reports that the Texas Senate passed SB 1218 yesterday that takes dead aim at the Texas trans community.   One of the documents you can currently can use to get a marriage license in the Lone Star State is an affidavit of sex change.

Well, no thanks to Texas state Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) and her co-sponsor Sen Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) our ability to marry an opposite sex partner in this state may have just taken a hit.   She sponsored SB 1218, which prohibits anyone from obtaining a marriage license with a document that lacks a photo. 

And what document that is on the approved list of those you can use to get a marriage license in Texas fits that criteria?    If you said the affidavit of sex change, go to the head of the class.  Back in the 2011 session Sen Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) sponsored SB 723, which only went after the affidavit of sex change and we got the unjust bill killed.

This time the conservafools were sneakier about how they went about their transphobic legislative oppression.   Sen. Campbell claims that her intent was to make people show photo ID before they can get a marriage license, but we heard that same bull feces laden excuse when they passed their voter suppression act in 2011 that got spiked by the DOJ.  

This is another straight up unconstitutional attack on the ability of Texas transpeople to get married to the opposite gender, and yep, Texas has one of those odious anti-same gender marriage amendments contaminating its constitution.

All is not lost Texas trans folks.  The bill has to pass the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee and make it on the House calendar before May 21.   Daniel Williams and Equality Texas are watching what's going on in addition to working to slow it down so it misses that deadline and gets killed for the session. 

I'll be keeping an eye on this unjust bill and letting you know if it's time Texas trans community for us to be agents of our own liberation again.

And you peeps that live in Sen Campbell's and Sen Nelson's districts can thank them for their transphobia by voting them out of office.

C-279 At Second Reading Phase In Canadian Senate

Our Canadian trans cousins (and so are we south of the border) are still anxiously watching Bill C-279, the Trans Rights Bill move through their national legislative body.

It has now moved to the Canadian Senate after being passed March 20 by the House of Commons on a 149-137 vote with the critical support of 16 Conservative Party MP's .

Interestingly enough one of the people who didn't vote on C-279 in the House of Commons was new Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, while Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper voted NO. 

The 105 member Canadian Senate is appointed, and has a current makeup comprised of 63 Conservatives, 36 Liberals, three independents and one Progressive Conservative.

The private members bill sponsored by the NDP's LGBTQ critic Randall Garrison had First Reading in the Senate on March 21 and its first hour of Second Reading debate on April 16. 

Senator Grant Mitchell of Alberta, the senate sponsor of C-279 gave a lengthy and comprehensive speech in favor of it, which would add gender identity to the list of protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act and under the hate crimes section of the Canadian Criminal Code. 

It underwent its second hour of debate May 9 with Sen. Hugh Segal of Ontario doing the honors

Honourable senators, the amendments to the Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code proposed in this bill are timely and necessary. They are about extending the protection in these laws to a minority of Canadians who face particular challenges. That is what human rights is all about. That is what civilization at its best is all about. I support this legislation before us without reservation.

I will cite the testimony of Shelly Glover, Member of Parliament for St. Boniface, an MP for whom I have great respect and a former Winnipeg police officer, in her elegant testimony before a committee in the other place on this be bill. She said:

To give hope and opportunity to transgendered people through a bill like this, to give them hope in knowing they will have clarity every single time they report, every single time they want to go before a commission or a tribunal, that gender identity means they can be a transgendered individual and not have to rely on sex, which to most people means plumbing, or disability, which is not what many of them feel, I think is imperative. I think it's imperative that this move forward. I think it's imperative that we, as Canadians and parliamentarians, embrace the notion that we are inviting other Canadians to feel the sense of belonging that this will bill will give them.

When people say it's symbolic only, I disagree wholeheartedly. I want transgendered individuals to feel they can go to a police service, that they can go to a court, knowing full well that gender identity is in the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act. I agree with the Canadian Bar Association when they say it will also provide clarity and public acknowledgment. I agree with Mr. Fine, who asks that there be a leaning towards more explicit language, which is what this bill will do. And I agree with all of the two-spirited people I spoke with at Safe Night off Winnipeg Streets recently who said this is an important bill.

Many who are sincerely opposed to this bill have raised the spectre of the protections included in it somehow giving licence to a transgendered individual to use public or school lavatories as predatory sites without any sanction. This is an undue and baseless fear.
Let me quote Randall Garrison, MP, the distinguished and courageous sponsor of this legislation, from his speech on February 27 of this year:

There were some concerns about "gender expression" being less well defined in law and that this would somehow open the gates to abusive practices on the basis of the gender identity bill. I will be very frank and talk about the main one of those, which was the concern that somehow people could use this bill to gain illegitimate access to public bathrooms and change rooms in order to commit what would always be criminal acts of assault.

I contacted the jurisdictions in the United States that have had these provisions in place for a very long time. Four of those did reply, those being California, Iowa, Colorado and the state of Washington. All of them reported the same thing: there have been no instances in any of those states of attempts to use the protections for transgendered people for illegal or illegitimate purposes — no incidents, zero, none.

Honourable senators, this bill has multi-partisan support in the other place and I respectfully submit that it warrants bipartisan support in this chamber, because whatever partisan divides we face, whatever pettiness sometimes invades our rhetoric on all sides, however ideologies of the left or right proscribe our creativity and constructive ability to cooperate, I appeal in humility and sincerity to our better natures and our more noble shared aspirations for coming together around this legislation.

I subscribe to the view that a society is not in the end judged by how the wealthiest and most powerful make out, how those with the loudest voices and most efficient lobbies survive and prosper. We are judged most accurately by how those who are most vulnerable make their way and experience genuine equality of opportunity.

Transgendered Canadians and those who are seeking to redress their personal struggle are indeed a minority among us, but that minority status should not diminish their rights to protection from discrimination; it should ensure protection of those rights as fully as we can.
Honourable senators in this chamber will remember when, decades ago, we tolerated in Canada discrimination based on gender, based on age, based on religion, based on colour and race, and based on sexual orientation. All of these have been addressed, at least in terms of our formal laws and Constitution if not yet completely in practice. However, over time function follows form and the values of the Magna Carta of 1215; Mr. Diefenbaker's Bill of Rights of 1960; the Charter of Rights and Freedoms advanced by Mr. Trudeau in 1982 with the help of Premiers Davis and Hatfield and made stronger by activists like our Senator Nancy Ruth and millions of other women; and changes in human rights codes to protect different sexual orientations have all headed in the same direction, and Bill C-279 continues that step forward.

As a Conservative, the fact that this will set us apart from dictatorships like Iran, Saudi Arabia and many others makes me very comfortable and happy. If we work together and proceed to advance this bill, we will all feel even prouder to be Canadians living in the best country in the world where no legitimate rights are set aside or willfully ignored.

Bill C-279 still has a few more steps to navigate on its legislative journey through the Canadian Senate. It will reconvene on May 21 and if Conservative Senate majority leader Marjory LeBreton of Ontario allows the bill to go to a vote and it passes, then it would head to a committee for review and possible changes.  

If changes are made to C-279 at the committee stage, the bill would need to return to Parliament for another approval vote.   If changes aren't made, then the bill would proceed to Third Reading stage, another two hours of debate and then if the majority leader allows it a final vote.

If C-279 passes Third Reading, it would then go to Governor General David Johnston for Royal Assent, which would make it Canadian law.   Senator Mitchell would like that to happen before the end of June and told Xtra that he has spoken to 30 Senators, with 15 assuring him they will support the bill. The majority of the remaining 15 senators he has spoken to he indicates are leaning toward supporting the bill.

We'll see what happens to C-279 in the Senate and if Sen. Mitchell is correct when it reconvenes.

This Week In The Texas Lege 2013-Weeks Ending May 3-11

It's May, and the Lege is still busy (or not busy) passing laws that will affect everyone in the Lone Star State.  That's good news for anti-LGBT issues but bad news for legislation that will positively benefit our community. 

Equality Texas Field Organizer and Legislative Specialist extraordinaire Daniel Williams breaks it all down for you.as the clock ticks down to crunch time in this 2013 Texas Legislative session.

Week Ending May 3




Week Ending May 10

Thank You, NY Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell!

I mentioned GENDA passed the NY state General Assembly for the sixth straight time, and now the fun part begins of getting it through the Republican controlled NY state Senate.

While it was pending in the assembly the GENDA opponents had nothing to throw at it but the 'bathroom meme', and here's Assemblyman  Daniel O'Donnell properly eviscerating it.

Thank you Assemblyman O'Donnell for standing up for the human rights of trans New Yorkers.

GENDA Passes NY Assembly For Sixth Straight Time

Back on April 19 I asked the question if GENDA would finally pass in New York State this year.  

Well, it's off t a great start.  For the sixth straight time GENDA, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act passed the NY state Assembly on a 84-46 vote Tuesday. 

GENDA (A.4226)(S.0195) ensures that all New Yorkers, including those who identify as transgender or present their gender in a way that differs from what is traditionally associated with their birth sex, are protected from discrimination in housing, employment, credit, public accommodations, and other areas of everyday life under the Human Rights Law. The measure also expands the state's hate crime protections to explicitly include crimes against transgender people.

And yes, as you probably guessed opponents of the bill threw the bathroom meme into the debate in their attempts to block it but failed.

Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick said about its passage, "GENDA appropriately extends long overdue civil rights protections to the transgender community. I am confident that fairness and justice will result in passage, and I call on the NYS Senate to embrace the 21st Century and approve this crucial bill.
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Tuesday also saw 700 people descend upon Albany to lobby for passage of GENDA and work on the senators in the Republican controlled New York Senate.  The bill has gone from being passed in the Assembly to dying in the Senate for the last five sessions without ever getting a floor vote.

Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Nathan Schaefer is hopeful this time will be different  and congratulated the Assembly for standing up for the rights of trans New Yorkers.

"LGBT New Yorkers have made significant strides towards equality with legislative victories on hate crimes, bullying, and most recently, marriage equality. And yet, we have work to do. In many places across New York, people can be fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, and experience discrimination just because of their gender identity or expression. The time to extend basic civil rights to transgender New Yorkers is long overdue. We commend the Assembly for recognizing this need and passing GENDA for the 6th time.

Senate Sponsor Daniel Squadron will lead the charge to pass GENDA through the Investigations and Government Operations Committee and the full Senate.  If that happens, it will then go to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk for his signature.

Transgender New Yorkers have been waiting far too long to have their home state cover them in anti-discrimination and hate crime laws, and it's past time it happened .

Will GENDA Finally Pass In New York This Year?

Or will it be the same old same old frustrating pattern of the bill overwhelmingly passing in the Democratic controlled New York State Assembly and dying in the GOP controlled New York State Senate?

So what's GENDA?  The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (A.4226/Gottfried)(S.195/Squadron) is a bill that would outlaw discrimination in New York State based on gender identity or expression. Currently it is legal in most parts of New York to be fired from your job, kicked out of your home, denied credit or public accommodations (like service in a restaurant) simply for being transgender.

GENDA is not a controversial bill in New York state.   It has broad based support.   A Global Strategy Group poll of 600 New York voters found 78 percent supported its passage (margin of error +/- 4 percent). Support was strong across the state - upstate was 74 percent, New York City was 79 percent, downstate suburbs were at 82 percent - and even Republicans and independents supported the bill at 67 percent and 78 percent, respectively.

GENDA would also expands the state’s hate crimes law to explicitly include crimes against transgender people.   When Dwight DeLee, the convicted killer of Lateisha Green was charged with a hate crime in 2009, it wasn't based on the fact Green was a girl like us, it was because DeLee perceived her as gay. 

That needs to change.   What also needs to change is the jacked up situation that gays and lesbians have had civil rights protection in New York state for over a decade because they threw transpeople under the bus in 2002 to get it.

GENDA has passed the New York state assembly five straight times only to die in the state senate.  It also hasn't gotten the support, attention and same level of effort the marriage push got before it passed in 2011.

The Empire State Pride Agenda says that passing GENDA is their top legislative priority.  While I've met people in the organizations who are sincere about that statement, I'd like to see the deeds back up the words.   
 
I'll also be less skeptical about it when I see former president Bill Clinton, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,  Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and the same long list of politicians, organizations and people in the gay and straight communities putting together the same type of political full court press on the NY Senate to pass this bill like they did for marriage. 

Speaking of MIA people, where's Lady Gaga?  Aren't her trans little monsters human rights important too? 

And note to HRC.  If you're looking for ways to show that you're serious about making amends to the trans community over Trans Flag Gate, put your money where your mouth is.  Spend the big Equal Sign bucks and throw your political weight around to pass this bill.  

And no, claiming that you're working 'behind the scenes' to help it pass isn't going to cut it.  We need visible, easily verifiable proof you are acting in the best interests if trans New Yorkers and getting GENDA passed.  


I would love to write a post this year with the headline 'GENDA Passes!' instead of the one I've had to write for the last five years.  But for me to be able to do that, you trans New Yorkers will have to act as agents in your own liberation.  

You may wish to start that process by making plans to head to Albany on April 30 for Equality and Justice Day. 

You'll get your opportunity on that day to head to that beautiful; state capitol building of yours that your taxes pay to maintain to advocate for GENDA's passage.   If you can't, you can always call, visit or e-mail your New York state assemblyperson or senator and tell your story.

The trans human rights train has already left the station and made stops in 16 states, the District of Columbia and over 180 local jurisdictions.  Time to add New York State to that list.   

This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege-Weeks Ending April 5 & 12

Time for all you Texas TransGriot readers and interested political junkies to get the scoop on what's happening in our GOP controlled legislature with the latest scoop from Equality Texas Field Organizer and Legislative Specialist Daniel Williams.

Week ending April 5  (Part 1)



Week Ending April 5 (Part 2)




Week ending April 12

Two Pronged Teahadist Attacks On Texas Collegiate TBLG Centers Terminated

The Texas Teahadists have had their water on for the LGBT centers on the Texas A&M, University of Houston and University of Texas campuses for some time and launched efforts to kill them in this 2013 legislative session. .  

It was a two pronged effort on the Texas A&M campus.  The homobigots on campus there have been trying for years to kill the GLBT center.   They launched another effort to take away its funding by authoring the 'GLBT Funding Opt Out Bill'  that would have given Aggie students the option to opt out of funding for the center if they have 'religious objections' to it.

Less than 24 hours before the April 3 vote they attempted to put lipstick on this pig of this unjust bill by renaming it the 'Religious Funding Exemption Bill' and removing all references to the GLBT center in a feeble attempt to mask the blatant anti-GLBT bigotry and deflect attention from the fact it was an attack upon the center. 

After 3 hours of contentious debate it passed on a 35-28 vote and the unjust bill was sent to Texas A&M student body president John L. Claybrook for his signature.   

Claybrook vetoed the unjust measure on April 5

News this week that some student senators had targeted the center thrust the traditionally conservative university into the national spotlight, and Claybrook said it was time to “stop the bleeding.”

“The damage must stop today,” Claybrook wrote in a letter announcing his intention to veto. “Texas A&M students represent our core value of respect exceptionally and I’m very proud of the family at this university. Now, more than ever, is the time to show great resolve and come together, treating each other like the family that we are.”

The future Teahadist student senators pushing this unjust measure can try to override Claybrook's veto, but it will take a 2/3 vote to do so.  It didn't have a 2/3 majority when it passed so it's likely the veto will stand.  Even if they were successful and it became A&M policy, it would almost certainly be struck down in court and expose the deafeningly silent senior Texas A&M administration officials to legal liability.  

Ken Upton, senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal’s Dallas office, said even if the bill were signed and adopted as university policy, it wouldn’t last long.

“The most likely result is that a court would step in and stop it before it even happened,” Upton said.   He said there was clear legal precedent on the issue as laid out in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth, where students sued their university because they opposed multicultural, environmental and GLBT groups.

“This issue is pretty well settled,” Upton said.

If somehow the measure did work its way through the courts, he said, top university officials could be held liable.

“… The people with decision making authority who allowed it to happen could be held liable full money damages,” Upton said. “But it would probably be struck down so quickly that money damages wouldn’t be an issue.”

Meanwhile, on the University of Houston campus their Student Government Association unanimously approved a resolution opposing the second prong of this attack on Texas collegiate LGBT centers  

Proud of my alma mater and their SGA!    


There was also victory on the Austin front as well.  State Rep Bill Zedler (R Teabagger-Arlington) proposed an unjust amendment to the state budget bill designed to eliminate LGBT resource centers on state university and college campuses. The amendment would also eliminate state funding for women's centers and all gender and sexuality centers at Texas universities.    Under pressure, he withdrew that amendment   

Hasta la vista, unjust bills.

So this two pronged attack on GLBT centers is terminated for now, but you know we Lone Star State progressives must be forever vigilant as long as the GOP has control of our state legislature and the governor's mansion because the homobigots will not stop until their mission is completed.

GOP Homobigot Attacking Texas Collegiate LGBT Centers Again With Unjust Amendment

Back in the 2011 session former State Rep Wayne Christian (R-Center) wasn't living up to his name and tried to pass an amendment in the state education funding bill that attempted to kill the GLBT centers on the Texas A&M, University of Houston, and University of Texas campuses by defunding them and banning them from being housed on campus. 

That amendment was dropped after Democrats threatened to scuttle the bill the hate amendment was attached to. 

Fast forward to this session of the Lege.   While Wayne Christian is (thank God) no longer in Austin, his idea unfortunately remains alive.  State Rep Bill Zedler (R-Arlington) has picked up the GLBT hating torch left by Christian and filed an amendment to SB1, the Texas general appropriations bill that would cut state funding from universities that have 'Gender and Sexuality Centers and Related Student Centers' on the grounds that they 'support, promote, or encourage any behavior that would lead to high risk behavior for AIDS, HIV, Hepatitis B, or any sexually transmitted disease.'

The conservacowards in Zedler's office wouldn't return phone calls to the Dallas Voice for comment    Why am I not surprised?

And in related news in College Station, the future homohaters in the Texas A&M student Senate continued their years long attack on the GLBT Center.  A vote may be taken later this week on a measure that would allow Aggie students to opt out of funding the GLBT Resource Center with their activity fees if they have 'religious objections'.

While Zedler's unjust amendment is aimed at the GLBT centers at UH, A&M and UT, in their zeal to legislatively bash the Texas TBLG community the women's centers on various Texas university campus may also be negatively affected by this unjust amendment along with the LGBT program at the University of Texas at Arlington in Zedler's district.    

So for you peeps living in the Lone Star State and our allies, you may wish to get busy calling your state rep and letting them know you want that amendment to die..
 

This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege-Week Ending March 29

With our GOP controlled legislature in session and capable of much mischief until May, we much be vigilant and keep an eye on what the heck they are doing.  

Thank goodness we have Equality Texas' Daniel Williams doing all that hard work, breaking down what's happening and making it easier for us to stay informed .

And now, here's Daniel!

This Week In The Texas Lege 2013-Week Ending March 22

It's time for the latest edition of Daniel Williams' reports on what our GOP dominated Texas legislature is up to in Austin for the week ending March 22

And now, here's Equality Texas Field Organizer Daniel Williams with the latest Texas Lege news.

This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege-Weeks Ending March 1-8 Edition

Now that I'm back online I'll resume posting the weekly 'This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege' reports courtesy of Daniel Williams of Equality Texas. 

It's important that we keep tabs on what our teabagger infested GOP controlled state legislature is up to until the session ends in May.

Since my computer died before I could post the previous week's edition, I'm going to include it in this week's post.

You're getting the pleasure of a double dose of  Daniel's reporting this week, Lone Star TransGriot readers

And now, here's Daniel with the March 1 and this week ending March 8 report.




Week ending March 8

This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege-Week Ending February 8

Equality Texas' Daniel Williams gives us this week's report of the latest happenings in the 2013 session of our GOP controlled Texas Legislature for the week ending February 8.

Is it May yet?