It's a black day

[Ms Bev]

Tomorrow, I'm wearing black.  Black flats, black slacks, black blouse.  It's a black day for me, you, your brother and sister transsexuals, and all transgendered and non-cis-gendered Americans.  ENDA passed the house today..........it passed. It passed right by me without taking me with it.  And now I have fewer protections than ALL other American citizens.  It is indeed a black day.

Goodnite.

Beverly

[NickSister]

Could someone fill me in on this ENDA or link me to something?

I'm not American, but it sounds like a big issue.

[Shana A]

Maybe we could wear black armbands, then we can educate people about transgender issues when they ask us why.

Zythyra

[Rachael]

yay, shall we sew a t on? hey, maybe it will become compulsory like it was for the jews in nazi germany...
do excuse me if i dont publically out myself....
R

[Kate]

And now I have fewer protections than ALL other American citizens.  It is indeed a black day.

It won't get past Bush anyway

There ARE a growing number of corporations, states and municipalities with protections in place already. There is hope!

~Kate~

[Shana A]

Could someone fill me in on this ENDA or link me to something?

Nicksister,

Go to the news page here at Susan's, there's a ton of articles about it.

yay, shall we sew a t on? hey, maybe it will become compulsory like it was for the jews in nazi germany...
do excuse me if i dont publically out myself....

Rachael, I'm Jewish, and trans, so I guess I get to wear both a yellow star of David and a pink triangle. A fashion statement 
There's no need to out oneself to publicly express support for an issue. I listened to the hearings yesterday, and a number of legislators were eloquent in their support for transgender people. As far as I know, none of them are trans themselves. Well, perhaps the ones who spoke out against it  >

Z

[SocalledLife]

I'm not too sure I would want to work for a non-trans-friendly company that was required by law to keep me.  It would certainly not make the office karma any better and compound the job performance stress.
I'll stick to my top priorities, legal marriage rights protection, and recognition and specific inclusion of trans people in hate crime protection. I may not have a good job, but I dont want my trans friends murders and beatings etc to go unpunished as a "crime of passion".  One step at a time.

DANA

[Rachael]

im also jewish, i dont like the idea of publically anouncing that im a group x... its as bad as that, and who knows, it MIGHT happen.... but only in america... for the good of those people who we dont want tricking by the nasty ->-bleeped-<-s.... all ->-bleeped-<-s must identify themselves as such.... doesnt sound so alien does it?
R

[Id Est]

Too bad I have nowhere to really go that I could make a statement like that today or any other day....good idea if done safely though, like on a small scale. I've done a lot of talking to my friends and most of them immediately thought along the lines "some rights are better than none", and I don't blame them it is not their personal issue, but as long as prejudice and discrimination is still legal that is not cool.

[Ms Bev]

It won't get past Bush anyway

There ARE a growing number of corporations, states and municipalities with protections in place already. There is hope!

~Kate~

You are right Kate.  Everyone knew from the beginning that Bush would veto anyway.  I'm not saying this represents you at all, Kate, but a sour grapes attitude is of no help.  The bill was destined for veto, but the important thing in lieu of a win, was to bring the importance of transgender inclusion in a civil rights bill as as a concrete given.  If the original bill, or its watered-down ammendment had passed, it would show our LGBT solidarity, win or no win.  The fact that it was a partial win only reinforces the notion in peoples minds that HRC was fully prepared to drop us from LGBT, even though earlier they insisted they would not budge without us.  That makes us less than second class citizens in everyone's mind but ours.  That's why I'm so upset.
Yes, I'm one of the lucky few who works for a national company that insists on workplace diversity, regardless of state and federal laws, but some day soon, I have to move on, because their sales have dropped, and put me on a breath taking paycheck to paycheck lifestyle.  I really worry if I can find another company that protects me, because my government won't. 


Bev

[jenn]

Homeland Security has Social Security do the W2 data comparisons with employers, outing us.. and now the REAL ID act outing us even more by changing our gender marker back.. we need protection against discrimination now more then ever from the federal government's doings.  But no... what do they do?  Pour salt in our wounds (insult to injury) by saying we SCREWED you over and now guess what WE AREN"T GONNA PROTECT you sorry losers; we want you to SUFFER.

[Rachael]

i thought real id just made it harder to CHANGE your marker? not reverse it?
R

[tinkerbell]

Tomorrow, I'm wearing black.  Black flats, black slacks, black blouse.  It's a black day for me, you, your brother and sister transsexuals, and all transgendered and non-cis-gendered Americans.  ENDA passed the house today..........it passed. It passed right by me without taking me with it.  And now I have fewer protections than ALL other American citizens.  It is indeed a black day.

Goodnite.

Beverly

Let's just invade any of these states, cities and counties  >

http://www.transgenderlaw.org/ndlaws/index.htm

Actually there are thirteen states (plus D.C and a total of 92 cities and counties nationwide) that protect the transgendered according to the above link, and the number is still growing....


tink

i thought real id just made it harder to CHANGE your marker? not reverse it?
R

Hmmmm...it is a difficult issue.  As far as I know, they might make exceptions for people who are transitioning (i.e, seeing a therapist, on hormones, or on their RLT); however, we actually don't know what they are going to do; they just think they own everyone and can do whatever they please!  

tink

[Rachael]

ah, so this is more presumption for the sake of teh dramaz?
R

[Doc]

I've done a lot of talking to my friends and most of them immediately thought along the lines "some rights are better than none", and I don't blame them it is not their personal issue, but as long as prejudice and discrimination is still legal that is not cool.

Eh, this idea that the trans-excluding version of the bill is a partial win just isn't so. Not from the point of view of transpeople. Gay, Bi and Lesbian people got a partial win. The house passed a bill that protects them from discrimination in the workplace, unless the workplace is a special workplace that's allowed to discriminate because the organization that runs it thinks that a giant angry beard in the sky wants them to be bigots. Yay, gay bi and lesbian people, you got some rights, and that's better than none.

Transpeople, however, got nothing. Not some rights that are better than none, but nothing.

You might point this out to your friends.

Imagine if the civil rights laws that are supposed to protect people against racial discrimination excluded Samonans.  Would that be a partial win for racial equality, or a big win for bigotry against Samonans?

[kae m]

Removing gender identity from the bill essentially said that it's ok to discriminate against a group of people, as long as it's the right group of people.  I am sickened that our government is this narrow, maybe it will change some day, but not when "but then gay people can work at the bible store!" or "But how am I supposed to explain this to my children!" are actually seen as valid arguments by a large portion of our population and government.

Imagine if the civil rights laws that are supposed to protect people against racial discrimination excluded Samonans.  Would that be a partial win for racial equality, or a big win for bigotry against Samonans?

This is exactly it.  I especially love the argument that we must sometimes take small steps to accomplish a goal.  In reality it might unfortunately be true, but I would still like to hear the reason why one group of people does not deserve the same protections as any other...I just don't understand why people can't live and let live.

[cindianna_jones]

... I would still like to hear the reason why one group of people does not deserve the same protections as any other...I just don't understand why people can't live and let live.

Because we are, in their eyes, perverted sinners.  It's as simple as that.  They view what we see as our very existence as a choice of lifestyle.  They can not comprehend what is surely a life or death situation for us.

Why can't we all just get along?  Because, the only thing that unites us as a people is the hatred we muster for someone else.  We have not evolved.

Cindi

[Rachael]

its not that, its feminist propoganda suggesting transexual women are men in congnito to perv on women only spaces....
oh, and the penis fear....
R

[kae m]

... I would still like to hear the reason why one group of people does not deserve the same protections as any other...I just don't understand why people can't live and let live.

Because we are, in their eyes, perverted sinners.  It's as simple as that.  They view what we see as our very existence as a choice of lifestyle.  They can not comprehend what is surely a life or death situation for us.

This is what bothers me the most.  The people who pulled the wording out to make it pass are not the right-wing crazies, but some of the furthest left in congress who traditionally do not support that kind of view.  The legislation was important, but our hateful president would veto it regardless of the language, so by removing the language to get the bill to pass symbolically, an entire group of people is symbolically marginalized.  It is disgusting.  Then again, that there even needs to be legislation to protect people from these kinds of attitudes is just as disgusting.

Why can't we all just get along?  Because, the only thing that unites us as a people is the hatred we muster for someone else.  We have not evolved.

Cindi

I will never understand a reason for hate.  People are people, and people are capable of wonderful things no matter who or what they are.

It is a constant struggle for me to remain optimistic (and sickeningly optimistic I'm told), but if I wasn't I would fall apart.  Try as I might, I still have plenty of hate, for inequality and bigotry.  If only we could unite on that instead.   I don't expect universal acceptance in my life, but I hope someday it is possible even if I will not be around to see it.  Oh well, enough ranting for me.

[NicholeW.]

... I would still like to hear the reason why one group of people does not deserve the same protections as any other...I just don't understand why people can't live and let live.

Because we are, in their eyes, perverted sinners.  It's as simple as that.  They view what we see as our very existence as a choice of lifestyle.  They can not comprehend what is surely a life or death situation for us.

Why can't we all just get along?  Because, the only thing that unites us as a people is the hatred we muster for someone else.  We have not evolved.

Cindi

All of what she said and the sneaking suspicion on the parts of so many that they might secretly be attracted to one of us. I mean, wouldn't that mean that such a person had something wrong with them, to be attracted to someone once designated the same gender as they are?

Enough to make some folks lose sleep no doubt.

I suspect the hatred is internal and projected to those external to the hater.