After the premier gay rights organizations in the country lined up two years ago to tell Congressional sponsors that they would not support any version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that did not include both "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," Congressional sponsors are are shedding their spines at the first sign of resistance from the conservative Republicans.
There is a comprehensive breakdown of what happened over at Pam's House Blend, but here is what needs to be made public:
We just got confirmation this afternoon that the leaders in the House of Representatives have indeed stripped gender identity from ENDA. There is still time though for you to join me and contact all the democrats in the House, especially the leadership:
It is imperative that we demonstrate unity and urge the Speaker to put gender identity back in the bill.
Personally—since none of these fools have the spine to stand up to the religious conservatives—I hope that some religionist conservative hypocrite fillibusters the living daylights of this bill and sends it off to some dark corner for the foreseeable future.
[Don't forget the poll at the end.]
I'm furious, for several reasons, and I don't even really know where to start.
But Barney Frank, who is one of the primary sponsors of ENDA, is as scared of transgendered individuals as Sen. Larry Craig is of being outed as gay. Barney Frank has been willing to toss transgendered persons under the bus for years to advance political agendas. And what is most disgusting about it is that for all the political idealism he wants to spout about how Congress has an obligation to assert its authority, do the work of the people, and all the intellectual underpinnings of that idealism, he will shed his "idealism" and spine in favor of rank political expediency at the drop of a hat. This isn't something new for him, either. Barney "The Purple Transphobe Dinosaur" Frank has a long track record of this kind of hypocrisy and it needs to be put out there for all to see.
And Frank's platitude to the transgendered community about incremental progress and how "we'll come back for you later" is complete bullshit. And he knows full well when he says it that the words are empty, which is far more infuriating. The same thing was told to the transgendered community when the New York legislature passed their employment anti-discrimination law (SONDA)—and the priority that the LGBT organizations focused on in the next legislative session? Gay marriage. Maryland LGBT groups took the same approach—jettison the transgendered folks to speed things along, promising to come back for them later. Their bill passed, and just a couple weeks ago, the LGBT organizations in Maryland introduced legislation for ... wait for it ... gay marriage.
In discussing the recent hate crimes bill that was passed by Congress, Frank was ready to toss "gender identity" out to get that one past conservative Republicans. As Mara Kiesling of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) has often noted, "we're hated so much that we get tossed out of the hate crimes bill."
Nancy Pelosi, for all her bluster about how the Democrats are finally in control and doing the people's work, has shown an equal willingness to shed her spine and her ideals in order to preen in front of a generally unaware electorate. She's agreed to have the language stripped
Political Impact
Yet not one jurisdiction where legislators have passed non-discrimination laws protecting "gender identity" has a legislator lost a subsequent election because of that vote. Workplace protections for "gender identity" plays in Peoria—literally. Peoria, IL, that little hamlet of middle America, wrapped in cornfields, and the Republican stronhold of Congressmen Bob Michel and Ray Lahood, voted FOR adding "gender identity" to the city's workplace protections. And so did its sister cities, Bloomington and Normal, IL. And so did the state of IL. And not one of those legislators has lost his/her seat over those votes. Not one.
And dozens of other state and local jurisdictions have passed localized protections to cover "gender identity" including New York (city), Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Minneapolis, and far too many others to count. The overwhelming majority of Americans favor such protections. Recent polls show that over 60% of the American public favors workplace protections for transgendered individuals. So what's there to be afraid of?
What Next?
Contacting Congresspersons is always the first place to start in situations like this. As tone deaf as Barney Frank is, not everyone in Congress is that ignorant or chicken-sh*t. Call your Congressperson and let them know that employment non-discrimination for gays and lesbians should not be bought at the expense of leaving transgendered persons unprotected.
Speaker Pelosi
California-8th, Democrat
235 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0508
Phone: (202) 225-4965
Barney Frank
Massachusetts-4th, Democrat
2252 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-2104
Phone: (202) 225-5931
George Miller
California-7th, Democrat
2205 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515-0507
Phone: (202) 225-2095
Also, it is imperative that the primary LGBT organizations behind this legislation hear from people who are opposed to this kind of political economy where the civil rights of some are bought and sold at the expense of others.