kerry lobel | living water

Happy Camp-er

If you really want to know about Mike Huckabee and his record on HIV/AIDS, ask Eric Camp. His blog, Happy Camp'er provides a powerful record of the Arkansas years -- the Clinton, Tucker and Huckabee legacies on HIV/AIDS.

Here's the latest post from his blog:

Bite Me, Huckabee

Candidate Huckabee admits he was so confused about how HIV was transmitted in 1992 that he believed people infected with HIV should be "isolated from the rest of society." To be clear, this was not 1982, but 1992. In 1992, it was obvious HIV could not be transmitted casually. As I recall, people with AIDS addressed both the Democratic & Republican National Conventions in 1992. Guess Huckabee missed the memo. You know, the one sent out in 1985 to every American household saying HIV was not spread by casual contact.

More fresh from the ministry then, Huckabee was more than willing to kick around the sick and dying in 1992. Just to twist the knife a bit, Mike also said queers are "aberrant, unnatural, and sinful."

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Mike Huckabee was an ignorant homophobic sombitch in 1992, and went a-courtin' the "God Hates Fags" vote with vigor. As effective treatment for HIV became available in America, it was a damn hard fight to make them available in Arkansas. "Waiting Lists" were the norm here for medications under Huckabee.

If Mike Huckabee really didn't know HIV couldn't be spread by casual contact in 1992, it was the same willful ignorance that infected Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Willful ignorance (under the guise of national intelligence) also started the Iraq War. The same willful ignorance allows the words "compassionate" and "conservative" to be linked.

Like the Rev. Pat Robertson (R) before him, I hope Huckabee's political ambitions get quarantined in Iowa.

New York Times calls on Pelosi to explain hate crimes bill strategy

Congress just can't seem to get it right. It is unable to stop the war in Iraq, pass comprehensive legislation to ban employment discrimination, or pass hate crimes legislation. For those following the "let the transgenders wait" story with ENDA, it should be noted that women were asked to wait their turn when the original hate crimes legislation was passed by Congress in 1999. We're still waiting.

I found this New York Times editorial interesting, perhaps you will as well.

The New York Times: EDITORIAL: Caving In on Hate Crimes
Monday 12.10.07

Congressional leaders, who have disappointed frequently this year, have done it again. This time, the House leadership has failed to find a way to get a bipartisan law against hate crimes passed and signed into law. Racial, religious, sexual and other minorities have waited long enough. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has to do more than just express her support for the bill; she must find a way to make it the law.

The Matthew Shepard Act would expand the definition of hate crimes and make important improvements in the federal response. To categories already covered by federal law, which include race and religion, it would add crimes committed because of the victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity, gender or disability. It would also broaden the federal government’s authority to investigate these hateful acts.

The bill has been a top priority of civil rights groups since Mr. Shepard, who was gay, was beaten to death in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998. It also has strong support from law enforcement, including the National Sheriffs’ Association and the National District Attorneys Association. The House passed it 237-180, with significant Republican support, and the Senate passed a similar bill by voice vote, after a 60-39 cloture vote.

President Bush has suggested he would veto the bill. It’s an unfortunate threat, but one he is certainly capable of carrying out. House and Senate leaders planned to get around that threat by attaching it to a Department of Defense Authorization bill, which Mr. Bush would have had trouble vetoing. But House leaders decided last week that since some liberals did not want to vote for the defense bill and some conservatives did not want to vote for the hate crimes bill, they could not piece together a majority to get it through.

Ms. Pelosi says she is still committed to getting the Matthew Shepard Act passed, perhaps early next year. That’s nice, but it is time for her to explain how she intends to do it — and then to make it happen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/opinion/10mon3.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

We remember

Today we observe World AIDS Day. But every day around the world is World AIDS Day.

Today and every day I remember my beloveds and my comrades, lost to me, lost to us, forever.

I remember standing at the Capitol, when the AIDS Memorial Quilt was unveiled for the first time. Suzanne Pharr and I stood there with Eric Rofes (now also lost us unexpectedly). Name after name was read, and I was so struck by Eric saying, "I knew him, I knew him, I knew him." Suzanne and I lived in Arkansas then, and the HIV epidemic was just starting to hit us full force.

My friend Eric Kamp reminded me of the losses of our Arkansas friends just recently, by sending along a videotape with the  photos and stories of our lost ones. The tape was also an important reminder of all the ways we fought for our friends and loved ones -- for respect, for medication, for care, for housing, and for dignity.

My friends like Eric, living with HIV all these years later, are still fighting. We're still dogging Presidential candidates to make a firm commitment to end the HIV epidemic. We're still fighting to get no and low-cost medications to those that need them. We're still fighting battles around employment, housing and hospital care. We're still fighting, all around the world.

As the toll of HIV infection and HIV-related deaths continues to rise, as homophobia, sexism, and racism, continue to rise, we must remain vigilant. Not just today, but everyday.

Clinton Polls Best? Knowledge Networks Says So

My ten years in Arkansas didn't make me a Hillary fan and I was one of those that weren't very hot on Bill Clinton during his run in the primary. So I was intrigued by the headline today in the New York Times that read "Clinton polls best among gays, lesbians." According to a new nationwide poll released today by Hunter College in New York, almost 63 percent of respondents said they supported Senator Clinton, with Senator Barack Obama of Illinois a distant second with just over 22 percent.

Kirk Johnson writes in his blog:  

About one-third of the respondents, who were interviewed through an internet system link by Knowledge Networks Inc. between Nov. 15 and Nov. 26, said they became more liberal and more interested in politics after coming out about their sexuality. Overall, about 33 percent of the respondents described themselves as very interested in politics and public affairs, compared to about 22 percent of the general population asked the same questioned by Knowledge Networks.

Well, as you may recall from my post yesterday, I'm feeling cynical about polls. And now I'm feeling worse because my random digit dialing friends at Knowledge Networks have called more of their LGB friends and I'm still not on their list.

Anybody home?

This week's news continues to be filled with stories about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)  and about the role that the Human Rights Campaign played in advancing a GLB-only version of the bill. Joshua Lynsen's post in the Washington Blade quotes poll experts who question the HRC ENDA survey. I'm no survey expert, but even I've been surprised that the survey offered no margin of error.

The survey, conducted Oct. 2-5, polled a roster of people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual, and were previously located by Knowledge Networks through random-digit-dialing methodology. As I've said before, Knowledge Networks didn't call me or anyone that I know, but my fantasies about the call are running wild. Just imagine, random digits dialing your house. The phone rings, the digits have dialed you at random, perhaps at your unlisted number. And then, you're asked if you're queer. You say yes. And then later, maybe months later, your new best random-digit-dialing friend calls again with the ENDA poll.

Those dialed at random may have a better chance of being called than Donna Rose and Jamison Green. They just resigned from the HRC Business Council because Joe Salmonese, the executive director of HRC couldn't find time to call them in response to their now 3-week old request for a meeting. I don't know Donna personally -- she was HRC's first transgender board member and had already quit their governing board, but I do know Jamison -- and if you can name 5 transgender people in the US, James is on that list. Donna and James are not getting mad, they're organizing, and their new effort can be found at  Transgender Education Partnership: Understanding Through Education.

What is HRC thinking? Perhaps the dialing digits can call through the HRC staff directory at random. Surely someone over there might pick up the phone.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

I wrote this speech for the Matthew Shepard vigil on October 14, 1998. As we observe Transgender Day of Remembrance, we lift up those lives lost, those lives damaged, those lives lived less than whole because of pervasive discrimination in our society.
___________________________________________________________

I am chilled and saddened by the murder of Matthew Shepard.  And I am angry.  I am angry because we have lost another member of our community to hatred.  I am angry because we live in a society that does not recognize the full humanity and equality of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.  I am angry and my heart is heavy.  But I come here tonight not only with anger, but also with a spirit of renewed dedication and purpose. 

Tonight we lift up Matthew and his spirit, and we mourn for what might have been.  We lift up his countless friends in Colorado and Wyoming.  We hold his family close to our heart.  Tonight our parents hold us closer, and we cling even more tightly to our children. 

America is stunned by this brutal murder.  Unfortunately we, as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, are not so stunned. This is not an isolated incident. The brutal murder of Matthew Shepard is far from the first anti-gay murder, and it is with sadness and outrage that I admit that it will not be the last.  Hundreds of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people have been murdered simply for who they are, simply because they are different.   In our grief, let us remember some of them:

We remember Brandon Teena, a transgender teenager in Nebraska who was murdered for crossing gender lines.

We remember Rebecca Wight who was murdered on the Appalachian Trail because she made love with a woman.

We remember Scott Amedure of Michigan who was murdered after his appearance on the Jenny Jones show because he said he had a crush on a straight man.

We remember Brian Wilmes of San Francisco who this year was viciously beaten to death outside a gay bar by a man screaming anti-gay epithets.

We remember Tyra Hunter, mocked by D.C. emergency workers as she lay critically injured simply because she was transgendered. 

And we remember countless others targeted for violence on the street and in our schools.  We have lost so many lives to violence.  Anti-gay violence is a fact of life for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in America.  Anti-gay violence has become an American tradition.  It is a shameful tradition.  It is a tradition that must end.

The men who killed Matthew Shepard committed vile and evil acts.  But Matthew Shepard's death is not only about Laramie.  Matthew Shepard's death is not about Wyoming. Matthew Shepard's death is not about cowboys. Matthew Shepard's death is not about macho men.

Matthew Shepherd's death is about a society that devalues gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Matthew Shepard's death is about a society that does not accept gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people as full human beings. Matthew Shepard's death is about institutional discrimination perpetrated by all three branches of our government. Matthew Shepard's death is about a Supreme Court that upheld the criminalization of us. Matthew Shepard's death is about a Congress that condones  discrimination against us in its refusal to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and in its blatant discrimination against the ambassadorial nomination of openly gay James Hormel. Matthew
Shepard's death is about a President who condemns hate violence but still signed the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act. Matthew Shepard's death is about a society that consciously and purposely excludes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people fromreligious life. Matthew Shepard's death is about a society that calls us criminals for loving each other.

The murder of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people is the most extreme expression of the homophobia we live with everyday.  Whether we are gay teenagers harassed and beaten in high school, adults who are compared to kleptomaniacs by the leader of the Senate, mothers who lose custody of our children because we are lesbians, or employees who are afraid to put pictures of our partner on our desks, we are all the target of homophobia.

We all live with hatred and fear, whether we live in Laramie or in Little Rock, in San Francisco or Washington, DC. In America's smallest towns and largest cities we live with the specter of fear over our shoulder, because we live in a society that debates whether we have a right to exist.  Whether it's ignoring, killing, curing, or discriminating, the point is still erasure.

We are not equal and we are not safe.  And it is this reality that fuels our passion for justice.

Nearly all of America has expressed outrage at the killing of Matthew Shepard.  Americans, perhaps, are feeling some of the pain we feel every day.  We are grateful for your attention and your outrage, America.  But, we ask, where have you been?  Where have you been, America, for the 18 victims of anti-gay murder last year?  And where will you be, America, when this story of Matthew Shepard grows old?  Where will you be, America, when the next gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender person is murdered because of who they are? Where will you be, America, when another TV or newspaper ad runs claiming that gay people should change ­ that we should not be able to exist simply as we are? What will you say the next time you hear an anti-gay joke? How will you vote on the ballot measure in your state that would deny basic equality ­ nothing more and nothing less ­ for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people?  Where have you been, America?  More importantly, America, where will you be?

Finally, I say this to our gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities.  Tonight, we hold each other close and we mourn.  But tomorrow, each of us must lead the way.  Each of us must lead in the cities and towns where we live.  Each of us must work for our own equality and stand with those whose issues are inextricably linked with ours.  It is no coincidence that the alleged killers of Matthew Shepard also are reported to have targeted two Latino teenagers, even cutting the scalp of one of them.  We have a responsibility to acknowledge and speak up against all expressions of discrimination, scapegoating, and violence.  Our struggle must be focused but it must not be narrow.  We cannot expect others to be there for us if we are not there for them. 

Tonight, I ask all of you recommit yourselves to repealing sodomy laws in every state, to passing hate crimes and civil rights laws in every state, and to working for school safety in towns and cities across America. We must let this outrage spark a renewal of our spirits and of our commitment to work for equality for every American.

ENDA: Martian Child?

It's true that I've been pre-occupied with the GLB-only version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. (ENDA). I think about it wherever I go, and wonder how it is that we've come to this place where the nation's largest gay (and I use this word intentionally) organization has been willing to support a strategy that divides our community from itself.

And so, I was ready for a distraction this morning when Marta suggested that we go to a movie. We went for maximum distraction -- 108 minutes of John and Joan Cusack in Martian Child.

I loved Bobby Coleman as Dennis, the Martian Child, adopted by John Cusack. And I'm betting that many of you will join me in recognizing and understanding his character, the odd kid, who literally spends his days in a box. As time goes on, the box gets bigger, and the character, Dennis, learns to play "non-Martian" where it matters -- in school and at the important adoption hearing. He learns to save his "Martian" self, style, dance and language, for home.

At the end of the film, Dennis goes off, intending to return to Mars. He realizes in that special Hollywood way that he is already home. Home, he learns, is where people love you, where they embrace you, and where they never ever leave you. And where, truly, in your family, you can be your glorious Martian self.

You can judge for yourself about whether Dennis is a Martian or simply feels like a Martian. At the end of the film, the John Cusack character isn't quite sure about the answer. He just knows that he's not going to leave the kid behind, no matter what.

I'm not sure what happens to the kid after the movie ends. Will he assimilate? Will dad tell him that he should play "non-Martian" to stay safe or get ahead in school or on the job? Will he be the first Martian president of the United States?

In this Congress, ENDA did not have a happy Hollywood ending. There is one thing upon which the United States Congress and the Human Rights Campaign agree: if we can't assimilate in the workplace, we should stay in the box.

PS. A reader tipped off the blog, After Elton, to an interesting development in the journey of gay author David Gerrold's semi-autobiographical book The Martian Child to movie screens. Even a book by a gay man about life as a single father, had to play straight to be made for the big screen.

ENDA: What would Bella do?

ENDA: What would Bella Do?

With our community in the midst of a heated debate about the Employment Non Discrimination Act, I've been thinking alot about what Bella Abzug would have to say about ENDA. Her bill, introduced in 1974, would have barred discrimination based on sexual orientation and marital status in housing, public accommodations and employment. 

A fighter for justice and peace, equal rights, human dignity, environmental integrity, and sustainable development, Bella Abzug advanced human goals and political alliances worldwide.

Representing women, justice, and peace, she cast her first vote for the Equal Rights Amendment. As chair of the Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights, she coauthored three important pieces of legislation: the Freedom of Information Act, the Government in the Sunshine Act, and the Right to Privacy Act. Abzug's bills exposed many secret government activities to public scrutiny for the first time. They allowed her and others to conduct inquiries into covert and illegal activities of the CIA, FBI, and other government agencies. The first member of Congress to call for Nixon's impeachment, Abzug helped journalists, historians, and citizens to combat the disinformation, misinformation, and generally abusive tactics that marked so much of the Cold War and blocked for so long the path toward human rights.

Above all, Abzug achieved splendid victories for women. She initiated the congressional caucus on women's issues, helped organize the National Women's Political Caucus, and served as chief strategist for the Democratic Women's Committee, which achieved equal representation for women in all elective and appointive posts, including presidential conventions. She wrote the first law banning discrimination against women in obtaining credit, credit cards, loans, and mortgages, and introduced pioneering bills on comprehensive child care, Social Security for homemakers, family planning, and abortion rights. In 1974, she introduced her amendment to the Civil Rights Act.

In the weeks and months ahead, we'll have many conversations about how to move forward with the best strategies to bring full equal rights to the LGBT community. As we move forward, perhaps it is time to also look back, at the feminist who understood that there should no barriers to full participation in our society.

What would Bella do if she were living now? None of us can know for sure. But somehow I think that through her feminist lens she would have understood that homophobia and sexism are inextricably linked together and that any solutions must address them both.

ENDA: Something fundamentally broken

Mike Signorile conducted a very interesting interview today with Human Rights Campaign director Joe Solmonese. Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend has the audio of the Solmonese interview posted on her blog. Mike is a tough interviewer and his interview with Joe may give the best insights, yet, into HRC''s work in Washington, DC.

By all accounts, it looks like the GLB-only version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will come to the floor of the House of Representatives tomorrow.

After days of silence from our national LGBT organizations, HRC came out today with both guns blazing.

First, HRC needed to call in reinforcements, since more than 300 LGBT organizations had opposed their position on the GLB-only ENDA. So they released a poll of 500 LGBT people. For the record, they didn't call me or anyone I know. 70% of those polled supported moving forward with the GLB-only version of ENDA.

Joe Solmonese was quoted in the Advocate as saying, “There were so many people out there speaking so emphatically about where the entire community was that I thought maybe we should get a sense of it, and that’s why we did the poll. So it was surprising to me, but I think it really speaks to the fact that there’s a big diverse community of GLBT Americans all across the country.”

Hello, Joe, I'm not sure how many "T" Americans your poll called, but thanks for at least including them in your quotes, since they won't be in the legislation. And thanks for admitting that your organization makes its decisions through polling our own people -- ah, our GLB membership dollars at work.

Then, according to the Southern Voice, the very respected Leadership Council on Civil Rights made its views known on the GLB-only ENDA in a two page letter.

They wrote: "With each significant step toward progress, the civil rights community has also faced difficult and sometimes even agonizing tradeoffs. We have always recognized, however, that each legislative breakthrough has paved the way for additional progress in the future. With respect to ENDA, we take the same view.”

HRC was the only gay rights group to sign on to the letter. It has long-served on the group's executive committee and most assuredly advocated for this public statement. In my view, LCCR will find itself on the wrong side of history on this issue.

Finally, to add insult to injury, Solmonese has said that HRC intends to count the GLB-only ENDA vote as part of their civil rights scorecard. So our friends that vote against the stripped down GLB-only ENDA can look forward to being scored by HRC with a "no vote." I'll look for the asterisk that explains that there were good guys who voted against the bill out of principle and bad guys who voted against the bill because they hate queer people.

There's still time to call your Congress member and our national organizations to let them know where you stand with ENDA before the vote tomorrow.

And then, once this vote is over, we'll have many months to analyze what went wrong and what went right with ENDA in this Congress. In my mind, something is fundamentally broken.

Waiting

Like many of my LGBT brothers and sisters, I've been waiting for the last several days to see exactly what Congress intends to do about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

I've filled the silence with meditations on my favorite waiting music and literature. The 1983 album, Waiting, by Fun Boy Three has been much on my mind and their tune, The More I See (The Less I Believe), seems as relevant now as it did when it was written.

YouTube - Fun Boy Three - The More I See

According to Wikipedia, Fun Boy Three were a short-lived but successful multi-racial English band which ran from 1981 to 1983 and was formed by singers Terry Hall, Neville Staples and Lynval Golding after they left The Specials. They set about making music which covered a variety of genres. The band enjoyed six UK Top 20 hits, including the jungledrum- inspired "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)" and the brassy, marriage-cynic anthem "Tunnel of Love" and created two albums of which the eponymous Fun Boy Three was the most successful.

The trio's last UK hit was the song "Our Lips Are Sealed" from album Waiting, co-written by Terry Hall and Jane Wiedlin of the US band The Go-Gos, who had had a US hit with the song a year earlier. They then toured the USA and split afterwards.

Tammy Baldwin speaks out about gender identity

I love it when I find myself in agreement with any member of Congress because it happens so rarely. Here's Congressmember Tammy Baldwin talking today on National Public Radio about gender identity, wholeness, and why we must all move forward together.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15413613&sc=emaf

House committee advances ENDA legislation that splits the LGBT community

NCLR Joins 300 Other LGBT Organizations in Urging Support Only for an ENDA That Includes Protections Based on Gender Identity and Expression

(Washington, D.C.) — The House Committee on Education and Labor today passed HR-3685, the non-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill NCLR, and over 300 other organizations, cannot support because it abandons the transgender community. The first iteration of ENDA that was considered this session would have made it illegal to discriminate in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but the bill that passed out of committee today would allow transgender workers to suffer discrimination at work with no protection or recourse.

A gender identity-inclusive ENDA would not only protect transgender workers, but workers who are perceived to act inappropriately given their sex, such as someone called butch or effeminate.

“We are deeply disappointed that the committee has voted to move forward a bill (HR-3685) that is not supported by a single LGBT organization, and ignore a bill (HR-2015) that is fully supported by all LGBT organizations,” said NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter. “Today’s vote has an impact on real people who desperately need protection. Across this country, transgender people face extremely high rates of unemployment and homelessness due to employment discrimination. This is a crisis in our community, and one that state legislatures are taking action to address. We cannot possibly support a federal bill that leaves transgender people behind.”

More than 300 LGBT and other civil rights groups continue to urge community members to call, fax, and email their congressional representatives. 

“Everyone should have the right to come to work knowing the only factor in employment decisions is their ability to do their job—no exceptions,” said ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Christopher Anders, one of the 300 organizations opposing a stripped version of ENDA, “The LGBT community is a community, not a group of factions. We’re not fighting for a group—we’re fighting for all Americans to be free from discrimination at work, and we won’t support ENDA until all Americans are included.

Who cares about the death of a queer superhero anyway?

I can still remember my weekly trips to the local drug store to pick up the latest superhero comics. Harpers Magazine recently ran a list of queer comic-book characters and their fates, compiled by Perry Moore, the author of Hero, a young-adult novel about a gay teenage superhero, published by Hyperion. Moore writes: "The very fabric of our society is defined by whom we choose to venerate as our heroes. Things are beginning to change, but for every step forward – and there are some very good ones -- the comic book world has taken some giant leaps back."

United ENDA supports Baldwin efforts

THIS STATEMENT IS BEING RELEASED BY UNITED ENDA. FOR A LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS REPRESENTED BY UNITED ENDA, GO TO http://www.thetaskforce.org/activist_center/ENDA_oct1_letter

 

United ENDA Supports Congresswoman Baldwin’s newly announced efforts to restore gender identity protections to Employment Non-Discrimination Act

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced today that she has secured an agreement from the Democratic leadership to introduce an amendment to H.R. 3685 that would restore gender identity protections to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The amendment would be considered on the House floor next week, after the bill moves through the House Education and Labor Committee this Thursday. After her announcement, the United ENDA coalition released the following statement:

 

Two weeks ago, our community was told that gender identity would not be included in any version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Congressional Leadership expected our community to acquiesce. However, United ENDA effectively communicated the strong opposition of hundreds of organizations and millions of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to leadership's efforts to advance a stripped down version of the bill.

 

It is because of our unprecedented efforts that new options, such as the proposed amendment by Congresswoman Baldwin, are able to come before Congress. Members of Congress responded to the successful strategy of our coalition and many expressed their strong desire to vote for an inclusive bill that protects all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

 

Clearly, our preferred strategy is to pass the original ENDA (H.R. 2015) out of committee. However, if we are faced with a non-inclusive bill following the committee vote, we will work with Congresswoman Baldwin to repair ENDA to include protections on the basis of gender identity. We appreciate that Congressional leaders like Congresswoman Baldwin continue to share our commitment to pass an inclusive bill, and we expect Speaker Pelosi and the House leadership will actively support the Baldwin amendment.

Take Action on ENDA from NCLR's Shannon Minter

URGE YOUR CONGRESS MEMBERS TO LISTEN TO THE LGBT COMMUNITY AND OUR ALLIES!

WE OPPOSE HR 3685, A NON-INCLUSIVE EMPLOYMENT BILL!

In an unprecedented act, Congressional leadership is moving forward to pass civil rights legislation that is not supported by a single organization within the LGBT community that the bill is intended to protect.

House leaders have scheduled HR 3685 for mark-up in the House Education and Labor Committee on Thursday, October 18, with a floor vote as soon as October 23. The Committee is holding a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss this strategy. HR 3685 is an employment non-discrimination bill that does NOT ban discrimination based on gender identity; it also includes a far more sweeping religious exemption than we have seen in any other civil rights legislation of this kind. This bill is opposed by over 300 LGBT organizations. Tens of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and our allies have contacted our members of Congress to express our dismay and to urge Congress to only consider HR 2015, the inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that will best protect ALL members of our community.

This issue is especially important for the lesbian community. Many lesbians—especially those who are masculine or butch—are targeted for discrimination because of their gender expression. For a first person account of why passing a unified ENDA is so important to lesbians, please go to this guest entry on Kate's Blog from Jennifer Levi of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD).

HR 3685 is a bad bill for all of us because:

• It is unprecedented for Congress to pass civil rights legislation that is not supported by a single organization in the community the law is supposed to protect. Over 300 LGBT organizations representing over 2 million Americans actively oppose any employment non-discrimination legislation that does not include gender identity.


• HR 3685 does NOT provide sufficient protection against discrimination for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. Not only does this bill completely fail to protect transgender people, but it also fails to protect lesbians, gay men, bisexual, and straight people who do not conform to gender stereotypes.


• HR 3685 includes a sweeping religious exemption. Under this version of ENDA, tens of thousands of hospital and university employees would NOT be protected.


• HR 3685 allows discrimination in the provision of employee benefits. Under this bill, employers could provide benefits to families of straight employees and not to families of LGBT employees.


• HR 3685 will undermine state efforts to pass inclusive legislation.The trend in state legislatures over the past five years has been to keep gender identity in civil rights legislation—the last seven states to pass these laws were successful at banning discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity. We have been able to do this because we refused to back down on the need for inclusion—but if Congress passes HR 3685, it will send a powerful and negative signal to state legislatures. We do not want to turn back the clock on equality!


• HR 3685 is morally and strategically wrong. Not only is it morally wrong to leave part of the LGBT community out of this bill, but it is also strategically wrong. We have learned from our work in the states that it is far easier to include gender identity in civil rights legislation the first time it is passed than it is to try to go back and add it in later.

What will it take to get Congress to listen to the American people? Your voice is urgently needed! Please call, fax, and email your representative in the House TODAY—even if you have already done so. We must continue to stand together to make our voices heard. 

Never before has your voice been so important to our future and our community. When we fight, we win! Please join us in fighting for a bill that truly protects all of us.

Jennifer Levi on the importance of an inclusive ENDA

Ever since attending a meeting last Friday with staffers from members of Congress who have said that they are going forward with a non-inclusive ENDA, I have been thinking about two questions I heard from those who disagree with the over 300 organizations who have pushed exclusively for an inclusive ENDA. They are:

1. Why can’t you continue to do the educational work you started on the gender identity portion of the bill after a sexual orientation-only bill goes forward?
2. What is the harm of the so-called incremental approach that splits off the gender identity provision and moves forward with only sexual orientation protections?

My answers to these questions are related and I answer them here.

The problem with the approach is that formally dividing a bill that is intended to cover the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community does not reflect the experience of many of us in the community. I would argue that to be the case for most of us but certainly nothing in my answer hinges on that empirical assessment. Perhaps more importantly, what separating out the provisions does is to artificially impose a classification structure upon the community that serves to divide us in ways that we do not naturally divide ourselves.

What do I mean by this? Well, from a very personal perspective, I identify as both lesbian and transgender. How could that be? The answer is that to much of the world I appear to be a man. When I go to restaurants, servers refer to me as “sir.” When I board an airplane, the people at check-in often ask why I have someone named Jennifer’s identification. And, although I look like a man, my body parts are more typically associated with someone who is female. I have the name of Jennifer because it is the one my parents gave me.

Sometimes it is hard to move through the world with a masculine expression in the body of someone female. But for me, it would be harder to move through the world with a gender identity--one that is more easily read as feminine--that does not match my inner, lived sense of who I am. The difficulties I encounter stem, I believe, from having to face others’ discomfort. At least I do not have to live with my own.

Certainly, there were times when I did. There were years when I tried to change the outward expression of who I am in order to get along and not have to face others’ discomfort. I wore more feminine clothing, shaved my legs and removed my beard. The psychic pain of this choice was mostly unbearable. Rather than sacrifice myself, I risk and face society’s discomfort with the mismatch between my gender identity/expression and my sex.

As to why I identify as lesbian, well, I nearly always have. I came out as lesbian earlier in my developmental process than I identified as transgender. My intimate relationships have mostly been with women. As someone with a mostly female physical body, identifying as lesbian has assuredly made it easier to get dates.

So, for me, and I venture to guess many in our community (pretty much all of the butch lesbians and feminine men), the characteristics of gender identity and sexual orientation are inextricably intertwined. It is nearly impossible for me to understand my identity through one lens and not the other.

The reason, I believe, there has been such an overwhelming outpouring of community support in response to Congressional efforts to strip ENDA of gender identity protections is because it is so painful, maybe indeed impossible, for the LGBT community to even understand the distinction that would be imposed upon us by a bill that advances with one and not the other.

Laws are supposed to advance protections and do no harm. Stripping ENDA of gender identity does serious harm. It forces our community to accept, and worse, advertises to the rest of society, a distinction that is artificial—one that undermines for many of us our self-identity and lived experience. Because of the inaccurate definition of community we are left with, it also makes it nearly impossible to educate because the bifurcation reflects a fundamentally flawed description of who we are.

To be sure, there was a time when the community wrestled with whether we should forge political community across the LGB and T divides. Those were hard years for many of us, personally and politically. But we as a community are completely in a different place. That different place does not reflect compromise or political correctness. Rather, I believe strongly, that it reflects growth and a development of awareness that we cannot separate sexual orientation and gender identity.

Asking us to move forward with a bill that only includes sexual orientation does a grave disservice to each of us for whom that is not a real distinction. Moreover, it does so for partisan political purposes. In the end, a “historic vote in the House” that will assuredly face a presidential veto gets us no legal protections. And, if taken on a bill that strips gender identity and leaves only sexual orientation, the vote would come at a very high cost indeed.

Jennifer Levi, Esq.
Senior Staff Attorney
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders

It's been a long time coming

In 1999, the Task Force, along with NCLR and other national organizations, advocated for an inclusive Employment Nondiscrimination Act. Here we are, eight years and millions of dollars later, having the same important conversation. And you know, I'll stand with the over 300 LGBTQ organizations that are on the right side of history with this one.

WASHINGTON, DC --- June 16, 1999 --- The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) released the following statement today regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The following is attributable to Kerry Lobel, executive director of NGLTF.

        Bella Abzug demonstrated great courage and conviction in 1974 when she introduced this country's first comprehensive civil rights bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. Civil rights for gay people were not a popular cause and she knew at the time that the bill was many years away from passage. Bella knew something that we could all stand to learn again ­ it's not about political pragmatism, its about progressive principles...

        NGLTF has been advocating for language expressly covering transgendered people in ENDA. We have met with members of Congress, advocacy organizations and transgender activists. We firmly believe that this advocacy process is moving the agenda for GLBT equality forward. We have been clear that our mission does not allow for leaving anyone behind...

        In 1997, NGLTF amended its mission statement to include the struggle for equal rights for transgendered people. The discrimination, harassment and violence transgendered people experience in this society is shameful. We believe that there is one movement for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality...

        Federal, state and local laws are necessary to end this injustice. In fact, transgender inclusion is becoming more accepted as part of civil rights bills across the country...

        To build a transformational movement, we must take the risks that challenge conventional thinking. When the forces against us are strong and feel overwhelming, the response cannot be fear and political expediency. The true test of democracy is how it embraces those who look, act, and think differently, not just those who are the same. This is the world we dream of ­ one that values the worth and dignity of every person.

        Principled politics is not a popularity contest. Over the years, we have not wavered and ultimately our vision has often prevailed. This struggle is not the responsibility of any one organization or a particular member of Congress. This is about a long-term vision of a unified movement for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered equality.