C-279 Passes Favorably Out Of Committee

The trans rights news is also wonderful coming out of the Great White North as C-279 passed another critical step in becoming Canadian federal law.

After hearings on June 3 and June 10, it passed favorably out of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights.

It moves back to the Canadian Senate floor for another two hours of debate and a final Third Reading vote that its Senate sponsor, Sen. Grant Mitchell is hopeful the bill will pass.. 

If it passes Third Reading,C-279 goes to the Governor General for Royal Assent and becomes Canadian law. 

I am in admiration of you trans folks who live in Canada.   You are living in a nation that is about to pass a law that codifies your human rights as a trans person. That IS something for Canada to be proud of and it's something I wish my nation would replicate on our side of the border

I will keep hoping and praying that C-279 becomes a reality and you have something to really celebrate when Canada Day happens July 1..

Delaware Trans Rights Bill Out Of House Committee

More good news out of Delaware as the First State shows New York how it should be done when it comes to passing a trans rights bill. 

Senate Bill 97 has bipartisan support and passed in the Delaware Senate June 6 on an 11-7 vote. 

It passed out of the House Administration Committee with a favorable bipartisan 4-1 vote Tuesday as the two Republicans on the committee went in opposite trans human rights directions.

The usual 'bathroom bill' spin meistering from Nicole Theis and her haters from the Delaware Family Policy Transphobic Hate Council ain't working because the bill has support from Gov. Jack Markell (D), Atty General Beau Biden (D), and several people testifying favorably for its passage. 

One of those people is Delaware native Sarah McBride who is lobbying with Equality Delaware along with her parents.  Sarah was the trans White House intern I met during OUT on the Hill last year and now she's handling her trans human rights business.   

The bill now goes to the full Delaware House for a vote on June 17 that will be watched by all of us in Trans America.  If it passes on Tuesday the bill heads to Gov. Markell for his signature. .

GENDA Stalled In NY Senate Again-What's Up With That?

And as residents of the state where Sylvia Rivera spent her life up to and including her deathbed working for trans rights, it's past time for y'all to start channeling her fighting spirit and kick azz tough minded determination to pass the civil rights coverage that our community needs."--TransGriot June 27, 2011 What Are Y'all Gonna Do New York Trans Community?

New York trans community, I know you won't rest (and shouldn't) until GENDA becomes law but y'all should be taking it as an insult that a statewide trans rights bill introduced on May 31 in Delaware is halfway to passage and becoming law in that state. 

Meanwhile you peeps that reside in the state where the Stonewall Rebellion was kicked off by Ms Rivera in 1969 are once again facing the fact it has been eleven years since human rights coverage for gay New Yorkers was passed by throwing you under the civil rights bus to get it and thirteen years since the non trans inclusive New York hate crimes law passed in 2000.

The what would have been 62nd birthday of Sylvia Rivera is approaching on July 2.  What would Sylvia be doing in this situation if she was still here in this plane of existence?   Raising hell about it until GENDA passed and had Gov. Cuomo's signature on it. 

How about setting a goal of having that done by her birthday?

New York trans community, y'all need to get pissed off and channel your inner Sylvia Rivera.  You not only need to start demanding ASAP the New York Senate bring GENDA out of committee and to the Senate floor for a vote,  but respectfully demand that the governor you helped elect spend some of his political capital pushing for GENDA's passage so he can sign it into law as he claims he would do if that happens.

Here's the phone number of his Albany office to get you started on the road to being agents of your own trans liberation: 518-474-8390 and making Sylvia smile.

That's a nice opportunity for me to segue into focusing on Gov. Andrew Cuomo.   Here's a Democratic governor who loudly proclaimed as he was signing the marriage equality bill into law after it passed in June 2011 that "New York at its finest has always been a beacon of social justice.”

It seems he has amnesia about the fact that same New York social justice has eluded its transgender  residents.  I also must remind folks of those shame inducing moments in 2000 and 2002 when my transpeople were deliberately excluded from New York's social justice when they were cut out of the hate crimes bill and SONDA. 

It also is quite interesting to note that Gov. Cuomo, who couldn't shut up about marriage equality in 2011 and was tirelessly drumming up support to pass it, is cricket chirping silent about equality when it applies to trans New Yorkers.   

And don't forget Governor Cuomo, it's not just trans New Yorkers who are watching you as a GENDA bill that has passed your state Assembly now six times continues to languish in the New York Senate.  We compare and contrast your inaction on this bill of vital importance to the trans community and our allies to the active and vocal 2011 role you took in passing marriage equality. 

Your inaction and silence on GENDA is being noticed not only by trans New Yorkers, but our allies inside and outside the state.  This Change.org petition is evidence of that.

I also need to remind you we transpeople do vote and are active members of the Democratic Party.  If you follow through on the rumors to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 or 2020, you dismiss at your political peril the ability of the trans community to affect a Democratic nomination process. 

If you think I'm kidding about that, did you get an invite to President Hillary Clinton's inauguration in 2008 or 2012?   We may not have as much money as the gay community does and the anti-trans discrimination we face plays a large role in that GENDA would address, but we did manage to donate over $13K to the 2008 Obama campaign.   What we don't have in cash we make up for with votes and people power for campaigns.

16 states, with Delaware on its way to becoming the 17th to do so have laws on the books to protect the human rights of their trans citizens. 

New York has the chance to join that list and no, signing a continuation of Governor David Paterson’s executive order barring discrimination against transgender employees of NY state is not enough.

The transpeople who don't work for the state need the legal protection that GENDA will provide, and the only thing stopping you from becoming known as a state that values its trans citizens is the New York Senate

You also said at the time you signed the marriage equality bill, "The other states look to New York for the. progressive direction. What we said today is, you look to New York once again. New York made a powerful statement, not just for the people of New York, but for people all across this nation.”

And we need you Gov. Cuomo to make that powerful statement once again not only for trans New Yorkers, but the nation as well.
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Trans Rights Bill Passes Delaware Senate

Well, that was quick.   Senate Bill 97, the trans rights bill introduced late last month by Senate Majority Whip Margaret Rose Henry (D-Wilmington) that would add gender identity and expression to the state’s anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws was passed on an 11-7 Delaware Senate vote on June 6.

Senate Bill 97 would specifically ban anti-transgender discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and works contracting and insurance.  It has the support of Atty Gen. Beau Biden (D) .and Governor Jack Markell (D).

It also has determined opposition from the Delaware Family Policy Transphobic Bigotry Council.

According to the Washington Blade, of the eleven senators voting YES on SB 97, one Republican, state Sen. Catherine Cloutier (R-Heatherbrooke,) joined the ten Democrats voting in favor of the bill's passage. 

Of the seven senate NO votes, two Democrats, state Sens. Bruce Ennis (D-Smyrna,) and Robert Venables, Sr., (D-Laurel) joined the Republicans voting to continue oppressing trans people in the state.

State Sens. Brian Bushweller (D-Dover) and Senate Minority Whip Gregory Lavelle (R-Sharpley) abstained, while Sen. Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown) was absent.

Keep that in mind Delaware transpeeps when November 2014 rolls around.

“This bill lets people know that Delaware will welcome you and that, in keeping with our highest ideals as Americans, we will not tolerate discrimination or violence against a person based on their race, color, religion, sexual orientation or now based on their perceived gender,” Sen. Henry said after the vote.

SB 97 now moves on to the Delaware House Administration Committee which is scheduled to hold a June 12 hearing on the bill.   Advocates arre confident it has the votes in the Delaware house to pass and get Gov Markell's signature.

Guyana Reviewing British Colonial Era Crossdressing Ban

I wrote about this February 2009 case in the South American nation of Guyana in which several of our transsisters there were arrested for violating the British colonial era anti-crossdressing statute that for now is still in effect in that nation.   They were fined and given a faith based lecture from the bench by Guyanese Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson, the judge handling the case. 

The four transwomen involved in the case filed a lawsuit on February 20, 2010 to challenge that 1893 law.

Three years have now passed since that case was filed, and Guyana's chief judge Ian Chang is holding hearings on whether to eliminate that colonial-era prohibition on cross-dressing that Seon Clarke, spokesman for the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination alleges is being selectively used by the police to target the country's trans population.

“The law is plainly at odds with the ethos and provisions of the Guyana constitution, which states that it is committed to eliminating every form of discrimination,” said Clarke.

Guyanese officials who attend an annual United Nations conference on human rights issues have promised to review the British colonial era law.   The Government of Guyana committed at the Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations in Geneva in May 2010 to “hold consultations on this issue over the next two years.”

But as you probably guess, because of faith based opposition Christian, Hindu and Muslim groups no action has been taken so far to keep that promise to review the law the faith based haters wish to keep in place.

The first hearings to review the law were recently held, with the government response coming on June 4. 

“Tuesday’s full-day court hearing is really the culmination of more than 4 years work between SASOD, U-RAP, Guyanese human rights attorneys and the transgender folk who suffered egregious abuses and enduring injury to their human dignity during the February 2009 police crackdowns on cross-dressing,” said SASOD’s Co-Chair, Joel Simpson. “Justice can only be served by the court declaring this insidious law unconstitutional, null and void,” Simpson concluded.

Unjust Arizona Bathroom Bill Dead For This Session

For my trans brothers and sisters who live in or are traveling through or into the state of Arizona for business or pleasure, you'll be happy to know that the act of pooping our pissing in the gender correct bathroom will not make you a criminal in the state. 

The unjust bathroom bill that GOP oppressor Rep. Jon Kavanagh filed that originally called for making it a Class 1 misdemeanor offense punishable by six months in jail and a $2,500 fine to use a public toilet, bathroom, shower, bath, dressing room or changing room associated with a gender other than what is on one's birth certificate has died for this session.

After a wave of international outrage, negative publicity and pushback from Arizona trans residents and the national trans community, Kavanagh modified his original draconian bill to shield businesses from civil or criminal liability if they ban people from restrooms that don’t match their birth gender.

According to Kavanagh there's concern in the GOP caucus about the unjust bill's definitions, so it will have to be shelved until next year.

Here's a suggestion Jon.  How about you drop the idea period and save you, your party and the state of Arizona further embarrassment and get thee to a psychologist to deal with that deep seated hatred you have for trans people?

Isaak Still Standing, Still Getting Dissed On His Way To Graduation Day

Needed to give you TransGriot readers an update as to how transman Isaak Wolfe is faring in his senior year Pennsylvania battle against transphobia with the Red Lion Area School District.

Isaak's graduation ceremony from Red Lion HS was today, and as you know his story hit the news back in April when he wasn't allowed to run for prom king  

Without his knowledge he was entered into the candidates for prom queen under his old name because his transphobic principal was 'uncomfortable' with the idea of him running for prom king.   When his girlfriend Taylor Thomas expressed her displeasure with the transphobic shade that Red Lion HS was aiming at Isaak she was barred from attending the prom with him.

That's when the ACLU legal guns got involved.   The prom situation got resolved, Taylor was allowed to attend with him, but his chance to run for prom king was thwarted (which was probably the intent in the first place).   

Then it was the issue of Red Lion High having separate cap and gown colors for male and females students. Frankly, I don't understand the reasoning for it because at my high school and many in this area male and female students wear the same cap and gown in the school colors.

Isaak of course like Damian Garcia in Albuquerque wanted to wear the gender appropriate black gown other male students at the school wore, but the administration was demanding he wear the female one which was gold.

That issue got resolved as well, but one that didn't was having his male name read as he graduated with the other 380 members of his class.  He wouldn't be able at this time to have it placed on his diploma, but had asked to be announced as he crossed the stage as Isaak.   It's a reasonable request and something that could easily be done. 

Of course, the transphobic Red Lion HS administration took the shady road, refused to do so and spitefully read his old name.

Despite that, on his graduation day Isaak received flowers and a binder from the Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition.containing the news stories about his trans human rights fight and a graduation card signed by over 1,300 people

He was also upbeat and optimistic about his special day despite the trying last few weeks.
 
Wolfe said in an interview it would have been "fantastic" to have his preferred name read at graduation, but "they're going to go down in history as doing the wrong thing, and I think that hits them harder than they even know."

"I think we're going to go on to have bright and amazing futures that no one could ever imagine for us," he said.

And that's the one thing your trans family wants for you and all our graduates the most.  Have the type of future that even we can't see right now because we're busy fighting the haters and planting trans human rights trees for you and the next generation of trans kids. 

Congratulations and best of luck in your future endeavors, Isaak!

Trans People Make Beautiful Brides And Handsome Grooms

June is considered the start of wedding season, and we transfolks have much to celebrate in that regard in 2013 with two huge international trans marriage rights wins in Malta and Hong Kong.

After an up and down emotional seven year legal struggle that eventually saw her case go to the European Court of Human Rights, it took a change of ruling parties in the Maltese government before Joanne Cassar finally won.

Ms. W in Hong Kong's struggle wasn't as protracted, but was just as stressful.  She was down to her last legal strike after losing twice in lower court hearings before she prevailed at the most critical Hong Kong judicial level, the Court of Final Appeals.

As part of the diverse mosaic of humanity, transpeople also fall in love, form relationships and desire to get married to their partners.  What their genitalia configuration is underneath those bridal gowns and tuxes is none of you transphobic cis people's business as long as the two people saying 'I do' are happy.

And if it's a cis person marrying a transperson, that isn't your faith based concern either. If you wish to strengthen the institution of marriage, focus on your own damn marriage and make it the best one it can be instead of sticking your judgmental nose in somebody else's romantic business.

It's also my hope and prayer that some of my POC transwomen who are unecessairly dying due to anti-trans violence will one day get to experience the joy and happiness of not only being bridesmaids in a friend's wedding like I did in 2004, but eventually get married. 

And if I do say so myself, we are some beautiful brides and handsome grooms, too. 

TransGriot Note: The top photo is of South Koren transwoman Harisu during her 2007 marriage to her longtime boyfriend Micky Jung and the second is of Mexican trans couple Diana and Mario. 

C-279 Passes Senate Second Reading!

Transpeople around the world are watching along with our Canadian trans cousins as C-279, the Trans Rights Bill passed another step in its nerve wracking journey through the Canadian Senate to become law in the Great White North.  

After more spirited debate on May 23 in which the Conservative opponents of the bill did their best to flush it out of existence with 'bathroom bill' and trans predator rhetoric, C-279 passed Second Reading in the Canadian Senate on May 29 and was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights the same day.

The committee is scheduled to meet today at 4:00 PM EDT and on the committee's agenda is a hearing on C-279.   The bill if it becomes Canadian law would add gender identity to the list of protected grounds under the Canadian Human Rights Act and under the hate crimes section of the Criminal Code.

The persons who are scheduled to testify in front of the Standing Committee On Human Rights this afternoon are:

• Greta Bauer, Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (University of Western Ontario)
• Ryan Dyck, Director of Research and Policy (EGALE Canada)
• Ian Fine, Secretary General (Canadian Human Rights Commission)
• Randall Garrison, M.P., Sponsor of the Bill in the House of Commons (House of Commons)
• David Langtry, Acting Chief Commissioner (Canadian Human Rights Commission)

If the meeting happens and you wish to watch and listen to what is transpiring in this hearing, you can click on this link 

While this bill is a step closer to becoming Canadian law, it still has to get out of this committee, to the Senate floor for two more hours of debate and 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.

So keep crossing your fingers, rubbing your good luck charms and saying your prayers for our Canadian trans cousins and hoping that by the end of this month, they will have a federal law protecting their human rights in their home and native land.
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Ohio High School Lets Trans Latina Student Graduate Wearing Correct Gown

This was the way Damian Garcia and Isaak Wolfe's cases should have gone.down and it's nice to see common sense prevail.

In a scenario that has become far too familiar in this 2013 graduation season,  17 year old Fostoria, OH high school senior Chris Calderon-Perez has been transitioning for the last two years, but was initially told by principal Tom Grine she would have to dress as a male and wear the black male graduation gown instead of the red female one that matches her current gender presentation.  

However, the dress code policy that Grine was trying to enforce runs counter to the Fostoria school board non-discrimination policy that had just been updated in March to include gay and transgender students as protected classes.   Forcing Calderon-Perez to dress as male for her graduation would have been in violation of that newly minted non-discrimination policy.

"All I want to see is my mom proud of me, to see me walking — because I deserve it," Calderon-Perez said. "My academic achievement has nothing to do with my appearance."

Exactly.  So when Calderon-Perez's graduation happened yesterday, she was wearing the red female gown and following the female dress code.

No fuss, no muss, everybody's happy and you peeps in Fostoria avoided the transphobe instigated drama that happened in Pennsylvania and New Mexico.

Congratulations Chris, and may you have much sucecess in your future endeavors.

Hmm, Did I Pluck A Dallas Principled Nerve?

''Were the Dallas Principles a sincere attempt to change the way the BTLG rights movement goes about its business or did they evolve into public relations woof tickets aimed at dissenting TBLG peeps expressing increasing discontent about the 'all marriage all the time' direction of the LGBT rights movement?'   
TransGriot,  May 28, 2013

Hmm, despite what some of my haters claim and I know for a fact by my hit counts, guess some of you peeps in Gay, Inc orgs (and elsewhere) read what I have to say at TransGriot on a regular basis.

Seems that Dana Beyer quickly put up a HuffPo post that attempts to spin what I wrote about the trans community being legislatively left behind.   All the stuff she quoted in her HuffPo piece while it has been wonderful news for the trans community that I was quite aware of, still has been done predominately via ADMINISTRATIVE or federal court rulings.

ENDABlog 2.0's Katrina Rose also has something to say about the post 

Dana's post is just another round of excuses and spin (remember Dallas Principle Number 1, Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now.  Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable) attempting to divert attention from the fact that trans justice and trans human rights are being delayed and denied in some cases by the actions (or inaction) of our so called allies while non-white transpeople pay in blood for their lack of human rights vision.   

But then again, as a longtime TransGriot reader pointed out in a discussion on my Facebook page, why should we expect organizations to adhere to standards they weren't in that DFW airport hotel room they didn't come up with or publically agree to follow?  

Perhaps because it's the right and morally correct thing to do?  

But then again elements of the GL community and GL organizations have a long ugly history since 1973 of not doing the morally correct thing by transpeople they aren't even close to making up for.  

The points I made in the Dallas Principles post are still valid about the trans community being legislatively left behind as a consequence of the GL 'all marriage all the time' push.  While anti-trans discrimination legislation was just introduced in Delaware, it is still just a bill until it passes both houses of the Delaware legislature and Gov Jack Markell (D) signs it.   

Until then gay people still have anti-discrimination coverage in Delaware, New York State and Beyer's home state of Maryland  with solid public accommodations language that they gained in all three cases by throwing trans people (who desperately needed that sake level of human rights coverage) under the civil rights bus.  With two weeks to go in the New York State legislative session GENDA still has not advanced to a vote in the GOP controlled senate nor have we heard Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) utter one syllable in favor of its passage or indicate he would sign it if it did pass the New York Senate and trans rights legislation died in Maryland..

Transpeople still cannot openly serve in the United States military while GLB people since 2010 can. 

And the question I asked about the Dallas Principles in the closing paragraph of that May 28 post and is in bold print at the start of this one is still open for debate.

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.

Whatever Happened To 'The Dallas Principles'?

On May 15-17, 2009 a meeting was held at the DFW Airport Hyatt Regency hotel by 24 LGBT activists who were frustrated about the fulfillment pace of campaign promises made by the Obama Administration.

What came out of that meeting was a set of widely trumpeted guidelines to achieve LGBT equality that became known as 'The Dallas Principles'.

The authors of the Dallas Principles are Juan Ahonen-Jover, Ken Ahonen-Jover, John Bare, Jarrett Barrios, Dana Beyer, Jeffrey H. Campagna, Mandy Carter, Michael Coe, Jimmy Creech, Allison Duncan, Michael Guest, Joanne Herman, Donald Hitchcock, Lane Hudson, Charles Merrill, Dixon Osburn, Lisa Polyak, Barbra Casbar Siperstein, Pam Spaulding, Andy Szekeres, Lisa Turner, Jon Winkleman, and Paul Yandura.

***
PREAMBLE

President Obama and Congress pledged to lead America in a new direction that included civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. We now sit at a great moment in our history that inspires the nation to return to its highest ideals and greatest promise. We face a historic opportunity to obtain our full civil rights; this is the moment for change. No delay. No excuses.

Nearly forty years ago, a diverse group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people stood up to injustice at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. In doing so, they submitted themselves to bodily harm and criminal prosecution. Their demand was simple -- equal protection under the law.

Still today, full civil rights has eluded the same community that rioted forty years ago. Instead, untold sums of resources have been spent to divide our nation and turn our lives into a political football.
At several junctures in American history, the stars have aligned to deliver the promise of equal protection under the law to those previously denied. At this unique time in history, our nation must once again exercise the great tradition of making its people equal.

Justice has too long been delayed. A clear path toward full civil equality for the LGBT community is overdue and must come now.

Using fear and misunderstanding to justify discrimination is no longer acceptable in this nation. Those content with the way things are will be judged harshly by history. Those who do not actively advance these ideals or offer excuses will be judged just as harshly. Those who attempt to divide our community or to delay and deny action on civil equality, waiting for the right moment to arrive, will be held accountable.

We reject the idea that honoring the founding principles of our country is controversial. We believe in the inherent human dignity of all people. No longer will we submit our children, our family, our friends and ourselves as a political tool for any Party or ideology. A new day has arrived.


The following eight guiding principles underlie our call to action.  

In order to achieve full civil rights now, we avow

1.Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now.  Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable.

2.We will not leave any part of our community behind.

3.Separate is never equal.

4.Religious beliefs are not a basis upon which to affirm or deny civil rights.

5.The establishment and guardianship of full civil rights is a non-partisan issue.

6.Individual involvement and grassroots action are paramount to success and must be encouraged.

7.Success is measured by the civil rights we all achieve, not by words, access or money raised.

8.Those who seek our support are expected to commit to these principles.

CALL TO ACTION

1. We demand that government officials act now to achieve full civil rights without delay.
2. Our organizations and individuals need to develop a collaborative and revolutionary new organizing model that mobilizes millions of supporters through emerging web and phone technologies.
3. All LGBT individuals must accept personal responsibility to do everything within their power for equality and should get involved in the movement by volunteering, giving and being out.
4. We will hold elected officials and our organizations accountable for being transparent and achieving full civil rights by active participation when possible and active opposition when necessary.
5. Our allies need to be proactive in public support for full civil rights.
6. Every government measure that quantifies the US citizenry must permit LGBT individuals to self-identify and be counted in every way citizens are counted.
7. We demand that the media present LGBT lives in fair, accurate and objective ways that neither include nor give credence to unsubstantiated, discriminatory claims and opinions.

***

Ever since those lofty principles were espoused and trumpeted to the TBLG community back in 2009 across the Gayosphere, those of us in the trans community have openly wondered whatever happened to those Dallas Principles?  

While the Facebook page for them is still up, the host website they were initially published on is no longer up because it reportedly went out of business.

Granted, I know two of the authors of the Dallas Principles personally.  Three others I'm acquainted with online.  I presume the intent in that room was to help get conversations started on the rainbow community human rights agenda. get the federal legislative agenda moving and make sure President Obama didn't forget his promises made to a community that helped elect him and the Democratic House and Senate majority. 

But what bothered me at the time was the Dallas Principles were being pushed at a time when President Obama was barely three and a half months into his first term and trying to clean up the mess that got dropped in his presidential lap by the Bush misadministration. 

He had two wars, the fiscal crisis that was threatening to turn into a second Great Depression, and Massive Resistance 2.0 from Republicans hell bent on achieving their goal of making him a one term president.   In the context of this situation you had this group emerging from a Dallas hotel saying you haven't kept your promises to the gay community without giving him a reasonable time in his first term to do so like other interest groups were doing..

There was also the bad blood still percolating between white and Black TBLG peeps over the November 2008 Prop 8 loss in California and the internal anti-Black bigotry that erupted afterwards. 

The problem of the Dallas Principles as far much of the trans community is concerned has been in their implementation and execution. 

We've seen the Principles repeatedly violated when it comes to the gay and lesbian community getting what it legislatively wants in terms of marriage equality, an issue that predominately benefits them.   We've seen them once again revert to their historical tendency of being far too willing to throw the trans community under the civil rights bus to get the ability to marry at the expense of other GLBT rights issues. 

If there's legislation that is good for the community that will primarily benefit the trans community or it isn't marriage related, the GL folks will sit on their behinds, twiddle their thumbs and say, 'that's your issue'.


Think I'm being harsh with that assessment?   Let's see. 

There was the 2010 passage of the DADT repeal bill during the lame duck session of Congress that left transpeople behind and violated Dallas Principles 1, 2, 3 and 7

There was marriage equality being passed in New York in 2011, Maryland last year and Delaware in 2013  that also violated Principles 1, 2, 3 and 7 as the trans communities in those states were left behind again with no civil rights protection.

As I write this GENDA has been passed for six straight legislative session in the NY assembly but is running into its usual GOP-led resistance in the NY Senate. The trans communities in New York state, Maryland and Delaware are asking along with the rest of us in the country where's that all out push in support of the trans community basic human rights that will also expand rights for the GLB sectors of our community? 

DADT repeal still doesn't cover trans people, and all we hear in terms of ongoing efforts to rectify that situation is more khaki-flavored marriage stuff instead of getting transpeople the ability to serve their country, too.


Were the Dallas Principles a sincere attempt to change the way the BTLG rights movement goes about its business or did they evolve into public relations woof tickets aimed at dissenting TBLG peeps expressing increasing discontent about the 'all marriage all the time' direction of the LGBT rights movement?


Four years after their creation, it seems like sadly, the latter statement is true.
 

Puerto Rico House Passes Trans Inclusive Rights Bill

In a historic day for the Puerto Rican TBLG community, the Puerto Rican House of Representatives  approved the trans inclusive Senate Bill 238 on a 29-22 vote after nearly three hours of debate in a session that ended well after midnight. 

“I can serve God without having to discriminate against anyone,” Rep. Lydia Méndez Silva said before she announced her support of the anti-discrimination bill.

The bill authored 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 Puerto Rican House also approved by the same 29-22 margin House Bill 488, which extends existing domestic violence protections to any person regardless of their marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity.  

HB 488 will now move to the Puerto Rican Senate for its approval while Senate Bill 238 heads to the desk of Governor Alejandro García Padilla.

Governor Garcia has indicated he will sign into law the passed SB 238 and HB 488 if it reaches his desk. He is also in favor of a bill that would extend second parent adoption rights to gay and lesbian couples and met with legislators on Thursday morning to garner support for the human rights legislation.

Puerto Rican homeboy and singer Ricky Martin also urged legislators to vote favorably on that pending TBLG rights legislation in an open letter he penned to Puerto Rican House members.

“The rights of gay people are human rights, and human rights are for everyone,” Martin wrote.“The passage of [SB 238] would represent the respect of our brothers and sisters’ rights.” 

American GL community, I hope you were paying attention to what transpired in Puerto Rico.

This is the 'Dallas Principles' in action in terms of not leaving anyone behind and moving forward to make collective human rights progress.  Unfortunately that's a concept that seems to have escaped some selfish people in this community. 

Trans inclusion helps TBLG human rights move forward for all of us, not backwards. 

It's also another concrete example of what I've been saying for years.  If you want liberal progressive change and laws, you have to elect liberal progressive politicans to do the job. 


But megacongratulations to my TBLG brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico.  It would be nice if our politicians in Washington DC would follow the sterling example of what yours just did, say no to the faith based haters and do the same thing on the mainland.

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.

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.
. 
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 .

May 1 Teach-In At Smith College

If you oppose discrimination and would like Smith College to admit trans women as undergraduate students, please come to this event. Bet Power will be speaking, and trans community members and allies are very much needed in this effort to press Smith College for change.

And if you haven't done so yet, here's the petition asking Smith to change its policies and admit qualified transwomen who wish to attend the school.

Smith Q & A (Queers & Alliez) is hosting a Teach-In next Wednesday, May 1 at 6:30-7:30 PM. EDT, outside the Smith Campus Center, in response to the issue of trans women's exclusion from Smith. It is an opportunity for coalition work between the larger queer community and Smith, as well as an opportunity for us to do education work around transmisogyny. It is not a protest, or a violent space -- but rather, a space to continue educating our communities.

Come learn about how and why excluding trans women from Smith is inexcusable, works against the mission of Smith as a women's college, and is not a Title IX issue. Hear students, faculty, and Northampton community members speak about historic exclusion of trans women, and the odds that trans women face trying to gain access to higher education.

The Smith College Campus Center is located at 100 Elm Street, Northampton, MA.

I'll repeat and expand on what I said in the Smith trans hypocrisy post.   This issue isn't going away because trans people now transition as early as ages 5 and 6.  More are transitioning in their teens.  Those 5 and 6 year old trans kids will grow up to become trans teens who one day will be looking to earn a degree on someone's college campus. 

Some of those trans teens will be trans feminine students who could be prospective students wishing to attend your campus.   You already allow transmasculine students on your campus after they transition, so why the problem with having transfeminine students on campus?  

Transfeminine students would not only benefit from matriculating at an all women's college with Smith's academic reputation, but we would bring something to the table in terms of educating you on our issues and having your students get to know the trans women who get to attend the school.

Hope you can attend, because Bet is an amazing speaker and you don't want to miss it.

Trans People Can't Wait, Either

On this 50th anniversary date that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote the 21 page essay that became the defense of and the seminal call for the African-American civil rights movement, trans African-Americans have much to ponder in terms of where we are human rights wise in the second decade of the 21st century.

Cheryl Courtney-Evans and I have both written posts on different dates in the spirit of that 'Letter From A Birmingham Jail', but the message is still the same.  Trans people cannot wait for freedom, human rights, and just laws to be enacted to protect them.   It is time to act.

And unfortunately, just as Dr. King called out the white moderate as a bigger impediment to the freedom of African-Americans than segregationists and the snarling Klansman, we trans African-Americans have had to contend with white gays and lesbians as our impediments to trans human rights liberation. 

Sometimes gays and lesbians have been more active and gleeful agents of oppression to trans people than the Religious Right and the trans exterminationalist radical feminists combined

Just as Dr. King did not hesitate to call out friends, foes and frenemies in his day, neither should we transpeople shirk from calling out the people who impede our progress toward trans human rights coverage either.

We hear far too often the arrogant, paternalist phrase when it comes to trans human rights coverage uttered by 'all marriage all the time' pushing gay folks for trans people to 'wait our turn', or claim that trans people are not part of 'their movement'.   

A movement that was built on gayjacking the stories of our suffering.   A movement that started with a riot on a sultry 1969 New York early summer night that Sylvia Rivera and POC TBLG people jumped off because they were tired of the police messing with them.  A movement in whose civil rights shade trees are watered with the blood of trans people.

It's also one in which the words 'we'll come back for you' is a GL community dog whistle code for 'we got our rights, screw you t------s'. 

So no, trans people can't wait either.   We can't wait when it's Black and Latina trans women under thirty who are disproportionately taking the brunt of the anti-trans murders.

We can't wait when we're suffering with a 26% unemployment rate in the African-American trans and our Latin@ trans brothers and sisters are dealing with a 20% one. 

We can't wait when trans exterminationalist radical feminists are gleefully stirring their cauldron of hatred and calling for our extermination as the feminist community claiming to support all women sits in mute silence.

We can't  wait when right wing legislators steeped in ignorance are passing unjust laws aimed at our community's ability to pee in peace and others fight just trans human rights laws by repeatedly citing a debunked 'bathroom predator' lie.

We can't wait when our trans kids are being bullied, harassed and denied their human rights because they dared to step up and live their lives as out and proud trans people.

President John F. Kennedy said in a  televised June 11,1963 civil rights speech that "When you give rights to others, you expand them for yourself."  

It's past time to give trans people the rights they deserve so that you cis people can expand human rights coverage for yourselves.  Civil rights is not a zero sum game as conservafoools would like you to believe, it is a mutually beneficial action that not only benefits to community you're granting rights to, but society as a whole.     

As Vice President Joe Biden stated last year, trans human rights is the civil rights movement of our times.  You can understand why he said that when nations such as Argentina and Canada are passing laws to protect their trans citizens from discrimination along with 15 states and over 180 jurisdictions across this wonderful nation of ours.  We're starting to see court cases break our way not only in the US but courts around the world.   We're getting increased visibility and positive media coverage as we close ranks in the trans community to become a stronger, more cohesive part of the greater society.  .

The arc of the moral universe is bending toward justice for transgender people.  You can choose to be on the side of justice, freedom and human dignity for trans people or go down the dark path of injustice and be forever reviled in the history books as part of the group of oppressors who tried and ultimately failed in their reprehensible task to deny human rights coverage for other Americans. 

Why The Trans Community Loathes HRC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rant alert::

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

Rant over, back to the rest of the story.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An apology that came on April Fool's Day.  

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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