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09/27/2007
9 LGBT groups stand up for acronym's last letter
Yesterday, the Washington Blade reported that House Democrats are likely to drop transgender inclusion from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in order to help its passage. In reaction, Jody Huckaby of PFLAG, Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Mara Keisling of National Center for Transgender Equality, Kate Kendell from National Center for Lesbian Rights, Jon Hoadley of National Stonewall Democrats, Rebecca Fox from National Coalition for LGBT Health, Jeremy Bishop from Pride At Work, Clarence Patton of National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects, and Andrea Densham from Mautner Project have issued the following joint statement:
Our collective position remains clear and consistent regarding the status of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. Our organizations oppose the removal of protections for transgender people from ENDA. We would also oppose any bill that did not protect transgender people.
We are shocked and upset that, according to the Washington Blade, influential members of the House of Representatives have apparently made a decision to remove protections for transgender people from the bill. If true, this decision was made without consultation with leaders of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
While we don’t doubt the sincerity of Congressional leadership’s intent to take action and be helpful to the LGBT community, we cannot disagree more with this strategy. We will continue to work with LGBT-supportive members of Congress to urge their colleagues to immediately drop this strategy.
It remains to be seen if our largest organization, HRC, will also come to bat for the T's, or if they will join the Dems who think full non-discrimination, like sex reassignment surgery, is a multi-part process. However, if that organization does break ranks with the other LGBT groups and goes along with the Dems' apparent new strategy, we must warn them: We've already heard outcry from folks who say that if the T is dropped, they wouldn't attend another HRC banquet even if the entertainment lineup included Felicity Huffman doing a one-night only, one woman version of TransAmerica, followed by Calpernia Adams and Alexis Arquette doing an interpretive dance to the latest song from Lipstick Consipracy. And they seemed to mean it, too!
So yea, seeing as how a community divided is our opposition's wet dream, we sincerely hope that you'll step up and do the right thing, HRC! We're pretty sure you know what that is.
Stonewall Democrats Stand for Inclusive ENDA [Stonewall Dems]
ENDA hits snag over transgender inclusion [Blade]
**UPDATE: Lambda Legal, GLAD and the National Association of LGBT Community Centers have joined the nine national groups on the statement. Also, the Empire State Pride Agenda, Garden State Equality, Equality Texas, and the Triangle Foundation are among the statewide groups that have put out statements.
***UPDATE, 9/28: HRC has released a statement. They don't WANT a non-inclusive ENDA. However, it doesn;t look like they are going to lash out against the apparent Dem strategy in the ways that the above groups are. Read the statement here:
Statement from Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solomonese on recent ENDA developments [HRC Back Story]
**UPDATE, 10/1: Click here to encourage Congress to support the original ENDA!
Your thoughts
I used to live in america too. My mother is from the Shetland Islands and I moved here a few years ago. We can get married here. It may not be perfect -- homophobia is out there -- but Scotland is becoming a mecca for glbt people wanting to get married.
Great blog! Rock on and keep fighting...
Posted by: Donna | Sep 27, 2007 2:29:36 PM
I'm glad to see all of these organizations speaking out. While I be the first to admit that a more incremental approach can seem tempting at times due to its pragmatism, I agree that going for full inclusion right away is most principled approach. And there are just times when principles need to come first.
Posted by: Jarred | Sep 27, 2007 8:18:18 PM
Nancy Pelosi has the power to push through trans inclusive legislation. Instead, she is blocking it to divide and conquer the queer community. She always has been bigoted against lgbt people. I doubt she will ever change.
Posted by: libhomo | Sep 29, 2007 3:54:14 PM
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