Historical Congressional Hearings on Transgender Issues Underway
Frank, Sanchez Among Those Who Have Testified
http://www.innewsweekly.com/innews/?class_code=Ne&article_code=5677Powerhouse gays Congressman Barney Frank, (D-MA), and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, (D-WI), joined a slew of transgender men and women — including Diego Sanchez, director of public relations and external affairs for AIDS Action — testified today at a ground-breaking hearing before the House Education and Labor Committee's Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions.
The hearing, entitled "An Examination of Discrimination against Transgender Americans in the Workplace," is the first in Congress dedicated exclusively to the issue of workplace discrimination against transgender Americans.
"It's an injustice that we are ever evaluated for employment based on other people's comfort with our existence. I grew up in the South, where I wasn't allowed to swim in public pools because I'm not white. This experience today feels like a flashback," said Sanchez. "I am before you today to affirm that transgender and transsexual people, including me, are equally human and deserve to be treated like other people."
