No ENDA on House calendar this week

How ironic...

....or perhaps not, that the ENDA is absent from the calendar, while the House considers deisgnating October Country Music Month so recently after John Rich's disparaging comments.

  

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by: SuburbanHomo @ Mon Oct 29, 2007 at 14:17:10 PM CDT

Country music and names

Rather telling when the month known for celebrating diversity is also going to be the month to celebrate cheating husbands, lonely hearts, and substance abuse.

ENDA's dropped. Time for the backlash within the community, I suspect...

http://www.dyssonance.com  Breaking all the rules...

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by: dyssonance @ Mon Oct 29, 2007 at 14:23:15 PM CDT

somethings to note

http://www.washblade...

Majority of Democratic freshmen in House back trans-inclusive bill  Gay
State groups holding steady against gay-only ENDA

JOSHUA LYNSEN
Friday, October 19, 2007

Most freshmen House Democrats want to include transgender people in the Employment Non-Discrim-ination Act, even though they generally hail from conservative districts.

More than 70 percent of the 43 House Democrats serving their first terms are co-sponsoring the trans-inclusive ENDA. That's a stronger show of support than the lawmakers gave the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Act.

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Among the 43 lawmakers, 31 are co-sponsoring the trans-inclusive ENDA, and one is cosponsoring a version that lacks trans protections. By comparison, 22 of the 43 legislators co-sponsored the hate crimes measure.

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Stacey Sobel, executive director at Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, Ian Palmquist, executive director at Equality North Carolina, and Paul Scott, executive director at Equality Texas, said they also lack commitments from certain first-term House members.

The leaders said activists in their states are calling, writing and visiting those congressional offices, but have won no promises.

Nonetheless, the leaders said they plan to keep pushing freshmen House members to support only an ENDA that includes gender identity and transgender protections.

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by: AHiddenSaint @ Mon Oct 29, 2007 at 15:05:00 PM CDT

also to be thanked

http://prideagenda.b...

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn) spoke on the House floor last night about the need to pass a trans-inclusive ENDA. He's the first member of the New York Congressional Delegation to do this, and we applaud him for his leadership on this issue. We hope other New York Members of Congress follow suit.

Also important--Rep. Weiner stated that if the Baldwin Amendment should fail, members should not vote to pass the stripped version of the bill--not accept "half the loaf," as he put it--and wait until Congress was in a place to pass a bill that would include GLB and T. He points out that House action on the bill is likely to be symbolic anyway (because of Bush's threatened veto).

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by: AHiddenSaint @ Mon Oct 29, 2007 at 15:06:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I've called my congressman - Keith Ellison

And so have others - most calls in Minnesota - despite OutFront Minnesota - have been saying, support the Baldwin amendment, but get ENDA done, with or without the amendment.  The strategy of opposing the final bill if it doesn't include transgenders is one I respectfully disagree on. 

 

Strib coverage here - they interviewed Janet Boynes...

 http://www.startribu...

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by: lloydletta2 @ Mon Oct 29, 2007 at 23:35:57 PM CDT

Listened to HRC last night

and they pretty much said a lot about the amendment, but it was very obvious they pretty much don't give a damn about it.

They also seemed to "second" Franks call for "more education" and suggested that the trans movement hasn't been around as long as Stonewall.

Forgetting, of course, that a transwoman started it.

*sigh*

To see the "other side" of the concept, I did come up with a parallel situation.

You have 4 people in a house that might be on fire.

Only 3 can escape. If it is, indeed, on fire.

http://www.dyssonance.com  Breaking all the rules...

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by: dyssonance @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 01:00:34 AM CDT

Tempest in a teapot

 

ENDA, with or without T, is unlikely to make it through the Senate, and is sure to be voted.

But, I hate to say, I told you so, regarding...

The frosh Dems also expressed that they didn't want to vote for T-inclusion because they were concerned about the political impact on their re-election bids.

...Ts obviously haven't laid the groundwork to gain the political support for T-inclusion.  It really is as simple as that. 

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by: raj @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 05:21:33 AM CDT

Dang...

So much for Stonewall being any sort of groundwork, then

Why is Sylvia's part always ignored?

http://www.dyssonance.com  Breaking all the rules...

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by: dyssonance @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 07:17:35 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I belong to the reality-based community...

...feel free to believe what you wish.  But, if you wish to be part of the reality based community, you will recognize several things.

One, Stonewall was hardly the first G&L mobilization for equal rights   The Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Billitis predated Stonewall by a number of years.  There were also gay-rights groups at least in foreign countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Two, it was several decades between Stonewall (1969) and NYS passing a state-wide gay rights law (2004 or so).

Three, you may want to believe that Stonewall was a T rebellion, but that has been highly disputed: http://www.indegayforum.org/news/show/26644.html">The Myth of a Transgender Stonewall.  Irrespective of that, Ts should do their groundwork.  G&L's can't do it for them.

I for one am not going to sit still for Ts denying the possibility of equal rights for G&Ls merely because they haven't laid their groundwork.

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by: raj @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 09:34:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

pssst....

...ENDA will not be signed by Bush even if it ever makes it to the Senate in the next year.

Direct your energy toward helping advance a credible ENDA that respects employment rights for all of us in the post-Bush era.  

This fight should be over.  Stop attacking people that don't deserve to be scapegoated. 

 

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by: Patrick @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 10:28:32 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I actually do believe that...

ENDA will not be signed by Bush even if it ever makes it to the Senate in the next year.

I have written that here many times before.

But, if there is a president that would be willing to sign a G&L ENDA, I don't want the Ts to believe that they are automatically entitled to a T-inclusive bill, and thereby hold back a G&L bill. 

I had believed that I had made that clear.

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by: raj @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 11:12:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oh, no worries, babe

You've made it abundantly clear that they are simply hangers-on and should be removed for the sake of our convenience--heaven forbid they get a free ride. Merry fuckin' Christmas. 

Curses! My million dollar ideas foiled again: "God Bless Your Brand!" http://www.christvertising.com/

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by: TJ McFisty @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 11:46:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

history repeats itself

This is why Transgenders have struggled in getting their own stuff passed. Powerful groups like HRC used to put pressure on things. Transgender people have been fighting for rights long before the Gay community we just get pushed aside because some people are on a power trip or is transphobic.

http://transgriot.bl...

In a pattern that persists to the present day, The GLF had protections for transpeople removed from a proposed 1971 New York GLBT rights anti-discrimination bill under the pretext that it wouldn't pass with such 'extreme' language.

Ironically the bill failed anyway and the New York City GLB-only rights bill wouldn't pass until 1986. Transgender inclusion was fought at that tome by Tom Stoddard, who would later head Lambda Legal. Transgender people didn't get added in the New York City bill until after Sylvia Rivera's death in 2002.

In 1979 Janice Raymond poured more gasoline on the fire with her virulently anti-transgender book The Transsexual Empire. Raymond also took it a step further in 1981 and penned a quasi-scientific looking report that was responsible for not only ending federal and state aid for indigent transpeople, but led to the insurance company prohibitions on gender reassignment related claims. Germaine Greer's anti-transgender writing combined with Raymond's led to involuntary outing and harassment of transwomen in lesbian community settings. It also sowed the seeds for the anti-transgender attitudes in the lesbian community that persisted through the late 90's.

So what does this have to do with HRC since it didn't get founded until 1980?

The problem is that the senior gay leadership is still influenced by the Fouratt-Raymond-Greer negative attitudes towards transpeople. That sentiment is concentrated disproportionately in California and the Northeast Corridor. The early gay and lesbian leadership also sprang up from those areas as well.

The transgender community around the late 80's renewed its organizing efforts to fight for its rights. The early leadership was also concentrated in the Northeast Corridor and California as well and regarded the gay community as natural allies.

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by: AHiddenSaint @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 15:56:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Before Stonewall: The Compton's Cafeteria Riot

http://www.intraa.or...

The Compton's Cafeteria riot predated the famous uprising at New York's Stonewall Inn by three years.

Although Gene Compton's eatery in the seedy Tenderloin district of San Francisco was a haven for gay men, lesbians and transgender people, police harassment was nonetheless a common occurrence. On an evening in August, 1966, an officer entered and grabbed one of the "queens," who threw a cup of coffee in his face. Mayhem erupted as drag queens kicked the cops with their high-heeled shoes. Rioters smashed windows, broke furniture and set fire to a car. The event lasted a day, and picketing lasted several more days.

In the aftermath of the riot, the San Francisco Police Department's community relations department began focusing on sensitivity training and brought gays, lesbians and transgender people into the dialogue, said Cecilia Chung, San Francisco human rights commissioner and deputy director of the Transgender Law Center.

"Forty years ago, female impersonation was illegal, and you could even be arrested for wearing buttons on the wrong side of your shirt," Chung said. "In many ways, we can attribute our success in the transgender civil rights movement and the larger LGBT movement to our courageous predecessors at Compton's Cafeteria."

A plaque was placed Thursday at the site of the cafeteria at Turk and Taylor streets. Among those honored at the ceremony were several transgender individuals active in the community 40 years ago, and retired police Sgt. Elliott Blackstone, the San Francisco force's first liaison to the LGBT community.

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by: AHiddenSaint @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 15:31:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Grrrr....

That *5* year old article has some flaws -- such as the fact that the *actions* of the police who were doing the raids were specifically targeting any bar where Transgender people could be found.  Why transgender people?  Becuase they were "obviously gay" -- they were the visible manifestation of gay people that could be seen, photographed., and targeted.

Stonewall had some.

So much for your mythbusting.

Nor did I say Stonewall was a t rebellion. I never have, and I never will.  But It does show we've been around since the start of the current movement.

You want to go back farther?  Sure. We can do that.

Look at the title of the 1926 song "Masculine Women, Feminine Men."  That, by itself, is a transgender expression -- and you think T rights don't have the history, or are "riding your coattails"?

Sorry -- that's a load of horseshit.

We are you and you are us.

Its been that way since Hirschfield (that late 19th century stuff you were talking about). Indeed, the earliest movements were based around his work, and all featured trans issues becuase gay people *were* trans at the time.

TAO in the mid 60's. COG and Labyrinth were formed in 1967. STAR, TAT, and Trans Anon in 70 and 71. Those were all trans groups. Gee -- about the same time as Mattachine, no?

Plus, Bilitis had a transwoman as Vice President.

We are you and you are us.

We have been fighting for all our rights -- inclusively -- for as long as you have.

We've laid our groundwork -- we had no choice.  Everyone thinks of *us* as you.  All the objections and arguments have always been about us.

If anything, you've gotten to where you are on *our* coattails.

Until the last 15 years or so, though, we had one benefit that you generally didn't: we could woodwork, could go stealth.

Not anymore. Not with background checks for 50 bucks. Not with invasive government paperwork and identity crackdowns under questionable executive orders.

hmmm -- doesn't that coincide with the rise in out activisim among the FTMs? With the general rise in overall out activisim on trans stuff?

Groundwork?  We've laid plenty and then some, and you are honestly going to sit there and tell me we haven't done enough?

We are you, and you are us.

What you are saying is Screw the drag queens and kings, let the limp wristed keep struggling, I got mine, dude, and ya'll can go screw yourselves.

And here you try to justify it by saying we haven't done our groundwork.

We are you, and you are us.

Anyone who doesn't conform to heteronormative behavior nroms is gender variant.

That includes men who are attracted to men and women who are attracted to women. Those are not heteronormative things.

That makes you a T, as well, even if it annoys you.

Get it yet, or do I need to say it again?

http://www.dyssonance.com  Breaking all the rules...

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by: dyssonance @ Tue Oct 30, 2007 at 15:56:36 PM CDT

[ Parent ]