Monday, June 6, 2011
Hotline: A fortuitous Friday-night phone call brings our Transgender Rights Project Director a front-row seat for CT's long-awaited victory

by Jennifer Levi, Transgender Rights Project Director

http://blog.glad.org/2011/06/hotline-fortuitous-friday-night-phone.html

Without thinking, I answered, "Of course. I'll be there as soon as I can."

I could hardly believe that the moment for which I'd waited nearly six years had arrived. H.B. 6599, Connecticut's transgender civil rights bill, had passed the House of Representatives nearly two weeks ago and I'd been waiting impatiently for it to be run in the Senate. But each time I e-mailed Betty Gallo, our staunch lobbyist who's been tirelessly working this bill for years, there was little to report. I sent her a short e-mail earlier in the day asking, "Any info on timing?" She quickly replied, "No." Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about the bill when I left work that afternoon for my son's baseball game. But when the call came from Jerimarie Liesegang, head of the Connecticut Transgender Advocacy Coalition (also a visionary, tireless and devoted advocate), I knew I needed to get there quickly.