Last night, my friend Dean called for advice on how to write a resume for the Resumix system. After we despatched that little problem, he asked me how my transition is going. We were enjoying catching up, so I told him about ENDA. He asked for more info and so I compiled some links in an e-mail. Below is the 'short note' I sent him ('the tale grew in the telling'). I had to keep expanding so he'd know the who, what, when, how and why of the issue ('where' isn't that important to this story, and is obvious from context.)
Please, I challenge you to send a similar e-mail to your friends who are likely to support ENDA -- IF they first know about it! You may use my letter directly or modify it as you see fit. It's yours to take and use.
Karen
QuoteBasically, Rep Barney Frank (openly gay) and Tammy Baldwin (openly lesbian) sponsored this years' Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) This year was different, as for the first time in 20 years of tries, 'gender identity and expression' (->-bleeped-<-) was a part of the bill.
Gays and Lesbians do not understand Transgenders. Some Conservative Gays (judging by what I've seen on the internet recently,) appear to hate TGs as much as the Fundamentalist Right. Gay men who 'present' as normal males and lesbians who 'present' as normal females don't have near the problem with discrimination, nor is the onset of discriminatory behaviour as rapid, and it's usually elicited only when co-workers and other acquaintances find out the person is not in a 'normal', sanctioned heterosexual relationship.
But the discrimination is swift if the person is perceived to have violated the boundaries of sex/gender presentation -- for example, the 'swishy' male or 'diesel dyke' female. And of course, eversomuch moreso for the TG person who can't pass well enough (imagine being 'read' while buying a coke and a cellophane sandwich at a highway convenience store in the hinterlands...)
Barney called for a whip vote and found that there were barely enough votes to maybe pass ENDA if it came up for a vote at that moment. He called for another whip vote on a hypothetical bill that didn't have the gender expression/identity bits, and, as expected, it got about 20 more votes.
He then used that to announce ENDA-with-TGs would never pass and that in order to get some sort of ENDA passed, he was 'forced' to throw the ->-bleeped-<-s under the bus. He submitted a new ENDA with the gender identity/expression language eliminated.
Almost all of the LGBT- and Trans-advocacy groups immediately protested the decision, proclaimed their opposition to a non-inclusive ENDA, and said ENDA had to be inclusive or else.
With one exception. The largest GL'B''T' advocacy group (really, a political action committee), had this to say about the decision for the three days after it was announced:
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Did you hear that? I sure did. Then when they finally did speak up (after their only TG board member resigned in protest,) they said they were 'disappointed' the inclusive ENDA was being killed, that they would not 'support' the non-inclusive ENDA, but they wouldn't oppose it, either. (They are NO LONGER on my Combined Federal Campaign Christmas list.)
President Bush will veto the legislation anyway, but the Bush White House signaled they might be more favorable to a bill that excluded the trans people.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58258 <-Fundamentalist website.
If an ENDA is passed, even if vetoed (especially if vetoed,) Rep. Frank and the Human Rights Council can use that to dun conservative gay men (highest per-capita earnings in the LGBT community) for campaign donations. Given how a significant portion of the Gay Male community holds animosity towards TGs, the donation take is likely to be higher if the TGs are excluded.
CALL TO ACTION: Please call or write your congressional representative and ask them to a) Support and vote for the inclusive ENDA, and b) oppose the non-inclusive enda because it turns its back on those in the TG community most in need of protections
Thanks for reading my long-winded explanation;
Karen
More information, below;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Non-Discrimination_Act <-the basics
http://www.unitedenda.org/
http://www.transgenderlawcenter.org/one_bill.htm
http://www.transgenderlawcenter.org/enda_action.html
http://www.nosubstitutes.org/ <- Online petition. Please 'sign' and please send to friends.
http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/enda.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_empl2.htm
