By Chris Crain
Published: December 6, 2007

San Francisco Bay Times

"A controversial poll taken in October for the Human Rights Campaign, which showed some 70 percent of GLBT respondents still supported ENDA even after transgender protections were removed, was also conducted by Knowledge Networks and showed the same curious gender breakdown. HRC, which also paid for the Hunter College survey but wasn't involved in conducting it, was slow to release the demographic data on its ENDA poll.
Some suspect the nation's largest GLBT group was skewing the results of both surveys to support Clinton, largely viewed as the group's favorite, as well as its decision to reverse course and back the gay-only ENDA. That reads way too much into things, but does reflect the huge credibility gap HRC now suffers with many politically active gays.

The more interesting question is much more fundamental, and much more difficult to answer. Just who "counts" when we say "gay" or "GLB" or even "GLBT"? And if we can't decide who we are, how do we know what "we" want from our movement?"

Karen

Quote from: Karen on December 06, 2007, 01:58:18 AM
By Chris Crain
Published: December 6, 2007

San Francisco Bay Times

"A controversial poll taken in October for the Human Rights Campaign, which showed some 70 percent of GLBT respondents still supported ENDA even after transgender protections were removed, was also conducted by Knowledge Networks and showed the same curious gender breakdown. HRC, which also paid for the Hunter College survey but wasn't involved in conducting it, was slow to release the demographic data on its ENDA poll.
Some suspect the nation's largest GLBT group was skewing the results of both surveys to support Clinton, largely viewed as the group's favorite, as well as its decision to reverse course and back the gay-only ENDA. That reads way too much into things, but does reflect the huge credibility gap HRC now suffers with many politically active gays.

The more interesting question is much more fundamental, and much more difficult to answer. Just who "counts" when we say "gay" or "GLB" or even "GLBT"? And if we can't decide who we are, how do we know what "we" want from our movement?"

Karen

When I lived in the Washington, DC area I belonged to a transsexual support group and the HRC was my favorite target.  No matter how often I invited them to send a representative to our monthly meeting, they never did.  My pressure was constant, not just now and then.

I will say this:  the T never counted with HRC and it never will.  I do not trust Joe Solmonese or anyone else in HRC to represent anyone besides GLB.  There is no "T" in HRC.

Wing Walker

I am surprised Chris Crain even bothered to add the T onto the headline.
He certainly took pains to dismiss the transgender community as "an artificial construct of activists"