Congress comes out to the Transgender Community - Part 3
July 2nd, 2008
Guest posting by Angela Brightfeather
http://www.monicahelms.com/blog/hrc/congress-comes-out-to-the-transgender-community-part-3.htm (http://www.monicahelms.com/blog/hrc/congress-comes-out-to-the-transgender-community-part-3.htm)
Angela has been an activist for the transgender community is some form or another for the last 42 years. Some of our community's activists weren't even born then. She has been on the board of NTAC, It's Time, North Carolina and the several other organizations too numberous to mention. Currently, she serves as the Vice President of the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) and is one of its Co-Founders. Also, Angela is one of my closest friends.
"Our Opposition Testifies Against Us"
Before I report on the opposition, I need to mention the testimony of Dr. Bill Hendricks of the Dow Chemical Company, who was a witness from the corporate sector. He addressed the hiring of Transgender employees and Dow's perspective about what has happened to them.
During his testimony, I could not help but think of the work that is being done all over the country today in corporations and businesses to broaden their HR policies to include Transgender people. I specifically want to mention the work done along those lines by Donna Rose and Jamison Green, who felt compelled to "draw the line" when it came to what we used to call "biting the apple." They recruited the favor of many HR executives in their work on behalf of our community.