Time 4 Trans Justice

Have you heard about the poll where some 70% of the LGBT Americans were in favor of passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act without the trans-inclusive language, rather than it not passing at all? Well, the Human Rights Campaign conducted that poll, and they are the organization that pulled out their support at the last minute so that the bill would go through without that all-too-important trans-inclusive language. And now, people are wanting to know: is that poll that they conducted valid? Here are some of the questions raised from the PrideSource website:

“What polling company conducted the poll?; What is the source of the 500 people questioned, and were they all HRC members?; What is the breakdown of the group - lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender?; What is the margin of error?”

HRC was part of a larger group of 360 LGBT organizations in support of the trans-inclusive language, and had pulled out their support in favor of passing the bill without, as stated above. One has to wonder–was this poll an attempt to show that they had more support than they actually did? And, did they really ask Transgendered people what they thought of the revised bill? More than likely, they did not. More importantly, why would they take out their support of a bill that would give all of us the same rights as everyone else? As they are the Human RIGHTS Campaign, wouldn’t it make sense to support something that will give everyone RIGHTS?

On the day of the bill passing without the trans-inclusive language, my spouse became very outraged, and wrote a scathing e-mail, with many valid points, to the HRC. He has allowed me to post this here for all to read:

“Because you have not lived up to your name of supporting Human Rights I will not be contributing to your campaign nor endorsing your work.

Laws need to be passed for all Humans, not specific sub-categories. But even if sub-categories are to be singled out then by your giving up on Transgender in ENDA you are saying that it is ok that it is legal for discrimination against this segment of humanity.

One step for SOME of humanity is not what I thought HRC was about…Obviously you don’t believe in your own name.

Transgender as a group has a small voice. It is growing. HRC’s actions during ENDA will be remembered.“

Now, here is the reply he received back from them, which is a complete cop-out of what they wanted us to believe about their organization:

“We understand your concern and anger at the situation; HRC acknowledges that this ENDA bill that passed the House is an important first step to fight workplace discrimination and we are not in anyway celebratory of the fact that our transgender brothers and sisters were not included in this bill. We want you to know that we will not stop fighting for the inclusion of gender identity in ENDA.

Although we decided to support this version of ENDA in the final hour, throughout the entire process our goal was to have a fully inclusive bill go to the floor. The disagreement on strategies by advocates for equality should not make us question each other’s commitment to the common goal of getting protection for all members of our community. The truth is our real enemies will stop at nothing to prevent equality from moving forward for GLBT people.  That the extreme right wing is doing all they can to lobby for the defeat of ENDA, but it has nothing to do with whether or not it includes gender identity. Their goal is to simply have our movement fail and for ENDA to die in Congress, which would severely hinder any chance of protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans. 

While the bill Congress passed this week was not the bill we wanted, the Human Rights Campaign decided to stay at the table with Congress to ensure that millions of Americans receive the protections they deserve, and because passage of this bill is a first and absolutely necessary step toward preventing discrimination based on gender identity. Very soon, HRC will launch a new initiative to ramp up efforts on educating Congress on the importance of including gender identity in ENDA and protecting the entire gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

HRC continues to break down barriers in the corporate world through our Workplace Project.  This year a record 195 major U.S. businesses earned the top rating of 100 percent on our Corporate Equality Index, and for the first time, a majority of rated firms - 58 percent - provide employment protections on the basis of gender identity.

The bottom line: The commitment of HRC’s Board of Directors for a fully inclusive bill has not changed.  Because HRC stayed at the table, something we will continue to do, we were able to secure an unprecedented commitment from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Without a doubt, the only path to achieving a bill protecting our whole community was by securing passage on this historic vote.

After twelve years of hostile leadership, we have come so far and changed so many hearts and minds. Only a year ago, it never seemed possible that we could pass any GLBT legislation.  For the first time in history, both houses of Congress passed a hate crimes bill, and for the first time ever a workplace anti-discrimination law passed in the House. Even a year ago, we could not imagine this coming to fruition.  Our fight will not be won overnight; it will be won one step at a time.

Whether or not you stand with HRC, we hope that you will continue to take action in the fight for equality for the entire GLBT community.“

I read it first when he forwarded this crap to me, and was appalled then at the apparent lack of passion, and the obvious attempt at making themselves look good to the public. Reading it again now makes me even more upset with the way they have handled things. Really–how hard would it have been to actually support the fully inclusive bill, stood their ground, and then went back in a year to keep fighting for it? In this way, they would have had the respect of Congress, the entire LGBT community, especially the Transgendered community, and they would have been able to go back even stronger next year. There is more integrity in standing for a cause than there is in backing down when things get tough. In this way–the way they did this–they said to the entire world that we as a “sub-community” are less than human, and we don’t really need these protections like everyone else does. Like our issues aren’t that important, and that we should just sit down, shut up and take it!

Well here is one Tranny Boi who will not sit down and shutup! HRC–you messed up and you know it. You should be ashamed of your actions as an organization in Congress. And no amount of pre-formulated crap that you are using to “justify” your actions will fix what you did that day.