Quote from: tekla on December 25, 2011, 12:07:26 PM
Form follows function as the famous dictate goes. And if you look back, particularly back 15-10 years, you'll find that a lot of effort was being expended on changing laws, finding care, and creating change. But I see almost zero activism any more. The issue of finding care has morphed into 'who's going to pay for care' which is another issue entirely, and social change has shrunk to problems with my parents/family. With changes like that you're not only going to lose those that had been perusing political and social change, but you're also going to get deeper and deeper into issues that we - as a whole - can not change like 'your parents religious beliefs'. The more 'personal' the topics and situations, the less relevant any particular point of view is (as opposed to political and social change, where all the views need to be understood and if at all possible, included) and the more individual, and hence narrow and parochial, the themes become.
DITTO TEKLA,,,,
here is an example of some Transwomen activist and what they tried to do back in the day to get attention for our causes.
Protest targets transgender-less ENDA
Dan Kerman,
Gay.com /
PlanetOut.com Network
Tuesday, May 28, 2002 / 04:05 PM
SUMMARY: After three weeks, a homeless transgender activist has ended her one-woman vigil for transgender rights in front of the nation's Capitol.
After three weeks, a homeless transgender activist has ended her one-woman vigil in front of the nation's Capitol. Sleeping in a tent by night and making signs by day, she began her vigil on May 9 as part of an education campaign about the need for legal protections in the transgender community.
"I am just one of the many transgendered people around the country who can't find work," she told the
Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network. "Many of my sisters are on street corners selling their bodies and resorting to sexual slavery just to survive, and I would like a message sent to the country that my people need a lifting up," she said.
her vigil took place as the U.S. Senate prepares to debate the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). In it's current form, ENDA prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. But the bill does not cover transgender people. Though she has lobbied Congress in the past to include transgender people in ENDA, she says she's now come to realize that's not what's best.
"I don't want to hurt the gay and lesbian community from getting their bill passed, just so we could get what we wanted, which is inclusion in this bill," she said. "Maybe it's better to stand on our own two feet," she said.
Though she is a member of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC), her views are not the same as the lobbying group's official position.
"Our position on the bill is for inclusion," said Vanessa Edwards Foster, board vice chair of NTAC. "Employment and economic distress are rampant in the transgender community, and we clearly need this issue addressed," she said.
Foster says the transgender community is not only discriminated against in the workplace, but during the hiring process. She says in its current form, ENDA is incomplete and should be amended.
The bill's congressional sponsors have opted not to make changes to the legislation, and the lesbian and gay political organization the Human Right Campaign (HRC) has supported that decision.
"Not enough education has been done in Congress on gender identify to get the bill passed with that added, and that's why we support the bill in its current form," said HRC Communications Director David Smith. "However, we strongly believe the transgender community should be protected from discrimination and we want to work with them to make sure that happens," Smith told the
Gay.com/PlanetOut.com network.
NTAC's Foster says HRC's position is disappointing.
"We are feeling that the existing organizations that are pushing through the legislation are the self-appointed conservators of the transgender community," Foster said. "By that I mean that there's almost an impression that we are not able to control our own destiny," she said. "Our position is: give us the access to the individuals who are making these decisions, allow us to plead our own case," she said.
HRC's Smith says Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has promised to bring ENDA to a vote of the full Senate before the end of the current legislative session in October.
And while her vigil is over, her work is not done. She says she is now planning a march on Washington for next spring to bring to light the needs of the transgender community in the United States and around the world.
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