Tag: organizations

ENDA 2009

Posted by helenboyd – May 30, 2009

Here’s a Washington Blade article about Barney Frank which discusses his opinions on this year’s efforts to get a gender-inclusive ENDA passed:

Frank said transgender activists and allies have been lobbying lawmakers to support the gender identity provisions, and he’s “more optimistic” that ENDA would pass with such a provision. But Frank stopped short of saying he was certain the bill would pass with the gender identity provisions.

“There’s no certainty in politics,” he said. “People got to lobby hard. And not lobbying Nancy Pelosi, or me, or [Reps.] Tammy [Baldwin] or George Miller — they should be calling their own representatives. I’m optimistic, but it’s not a done deal.”

& Jillian Weiss will be writing a series of articles at her Transgender Workplace Diversity blog in order to answer these questions:

  • How should gender identity be defined?
  • Does “gender identity” language protect employees other than transgender people?
  • What are the scope of the exemptions from coverage included in the bill?
  • Who supports ENDA, and why?
  • Who opposes ENDA, and why?
  • What education do Members of Congress need?
  • What should I tell my Congressperson?
  • How will the relationship between transgender advocates and the wider LGBT advocacy community play out in this go-round?
  • What has been the experience of organizations in jurisdictions with current gender identity protections?
  • What types of issues have come up with transgender workers in the workplace?
  • Is ENDA beneficial, detrimental, or neutral for the organizations that it covers?

…which will give us all more information & talking points when contacting our Representatives, as Frank says we should, so you should look up now so you’ll be ready. (On the top left side, you can put in your zip code & get the contact info for your Rep.)

Turning 40

Posted by helenboyd – May 10, 2009

In a few days, we’ll turn 40. People have asked if there’s anything in particular we want, which is sweet.

So here’s the list:

Or you can just wish us a happy 40th in the comments below!

Hate Crimes Vote Today

Posted by helenboyd – April 29, 2009

Call your reps now and tell them to vote YES on the Hate Crimes Act – HR 1913. NCTE has a ton of info up that you can use when you call, and the number to call is 866-346-4611.

Spanish Language Trans PSA

Posted by helenboyd – April 23, 2009

I don’t read/speak Spanish myself, but was sent this by someone who does:

Surprising campaign, under the auspices of the (Chilean goverment’s) Division of Social Organizations (they provide grants and help to NGO’s) and the communications division of the Metro in Santiago (2,000,000 riders a day).  The posters appeared at all the metro stations and their design is very good; one can see a full size version from the last link. It was produced by a transmen’s org but displays very balanced info about MTF and FTM treatment and most of all about the difficulties and discriminations associated to being trans, pointing out that this is not a choice but an inborn condition.  Trans orgs there are also in conversations with the government’s civil registry to be able to get national ID cards with the appropriate gender marker without having to certify surgeries (as in Spain).

(Apparently trans guys who speak Spanish are as cool as they’re English-speaking counterparts.)

For Milwaukee

Posted by helenboyd – April 22, 2009

We had a great time in Milwaukee this past weekend: a gathering of LGBT people on Saturday night, a sex workshop at The Tool Shed on Sunday, and then a workshop on gender variance Monday afternoon followed by a 7PM lecture about queer heterosexuals.

I did meet a bunch of people who asked me about various resources I mentioned in passing, so here goes:

& I think that’s it. If I’ve failed to mention anything I said I would post to here, feel free to email me about it or remind me in the comments section.

Amazon Filters Out Queer/Sex Books

Posted by helenboyd – April 12, 2009

Not books about queer sex per se, although I’m sure those are included, but books about sexuality and/or queer topics, have lost their rankings at amazon.com. Mine included.

As Mark Probst reported, they are removing the rankings of these books exactly so they do not appear in “some searches and best seller lists.”

My Husband Betty was often categorized either in sexuality sections or in LGBT sections, but She’s Not the Man I Married is classified as a Gender Studies book.

This is bullshit. Amazon.com already gets crap ratings on the T with HRC’s Corporate Equality Index. When you see a book you like is missing its sales rank, that’s probably why: they’re filtering LGBT books out of their lists. Aside from being a bad business decision, it’s discriminatory and – well, just stupid for booksellers to be censoring their lists.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: When you find a book  that doesn’t have a sales rank, please send Amazon a message using the feedback page provided – scroll down toward the end of the page, & look for a Feedback box shaded light blue.

& GOOGLEBOMB: link to this page that redefines “amazon rank” more accurately.

Fed’l Hate Crimes Bill Trans-Inclusive

Posted by helenboyd – April 5, 2009

From NCTE:

Last night, Representative John Conyers of Michigan re-introduced The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, H.R. 1913. This would be the first-ever federal law to provide protections for transgender people. It is identical to the hate crimes bill passed by the House of Representatives in 2007 and includes the language that transgender advocates requested. It is also the first transgender inclusive bill to be introduced during this Session.

In his comments introducing the bill, Rep. John Conyers stated, “Hate crime statistics do not speak for themselves. Behind each of the statistics is an individual or community targeted for violence for no other reason than race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. Law enforcement authorities and civic leaders have learned that a failure to address the problem of bias crime can cause a seemingly isolated incident to fester into widespread tension that can damage the social fabric of the wider community. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 is a constructive and measured response to a problem that continues to plague our nation. These are crimes that shock and shame our national conscience. They should be subject to comprehensive federal law enforcement assistance and prosecution.”

Representatives are heading home to their districts for spring recess from now until April 21st. It is vital that you call them in their district offices to urge their support for this critical piece of legislation. Those who oppose this legislation will be active during this time-we need to be as well so that members of Congress are hearing from those directly affected by this legislation. Please take this important step to help address the violence faced by transgender people.

To find your Representative, visit our webpage or go to the House of Representatives webpage at www.house.gov and enter your ZIP+4 to find your member of Congress.

WHAT THE BILL SAYS
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 1913, would:

  • Extend existing federal protections to include “gender identity, sexual orientation, gender and disability”
  • Allow the Justice Department to assist in hate crime investigations at the local level when local law enforcement is unable or unwilling to fully address these crimes
  • Mandate that the FBI begin tracking hate crimes based on actual or perceived gender identity
  • Remove limitations that narrowly define hate crimes to violence committed while a person is accessing a federally protected activity, such as voting.

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act is supported by nearly 300 civil rights, education, religious, and civic organizations. The bill is also endorsed by virtually every major law enforcement organization in the country-including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Sheriffs Association, the Police Executive Research Forum, and thirty-one state Attorneys General.

For more information:

  • Read the specifics about this legislation from the Library of Congress, go to their website and search by bill H.R. 1913
  • View our fact sheet about the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act and read additional information about hate crimes on our website.

& That’s exactly why I love NCTE: all the info you need to do what you need to do.

Trans Equality & the Feds

Posted by helenboyd – April 3, 2009

NCTE asks:

What would federal policy look like if transgender people were fully and fairly included? Over the past months and years, NCTE has compiled a list of 112 separate policies that directly impact the lives of transgender people and our families that need to be added, removed or changed. Our latest publication, “Transgender Equality and the Federal Government” outlines each of these issues. We expect that some of these policies can be changed in the short term, while others will require long term activism. Some of the issues here will be at the forefront of NCTE’s work in the coming year and in other areas, our partners in this work will be the ones to lead, with our support.

You can read that document online, or check out in .pdf format.

HRC Comes Around on ENDA

Posted by helenboyd – March 25, 2009

Kind of remarkable, no?

Like plenty of others, I’ll believe it when I see it, and will continue supporting The Task Force and NCTE over HRC, but this, if it turns out to be true, is a very.good.thing.

Gainesville Says No

Posted by helenboyd – March 24, 2009

Unofficial results from Gainesville are that the good citizens of the historic Florida town voted no to turning back the clock and getting rid of LGBTQ discrimination protections.

58% No on Amendment 1 (and 42% Yes) according to Mara Keisling of NCTE & Allyson Robinson of HRC.

Good news! Not only that, but the “keep crossdressed men out of bathrooms” schtick didn’t work. Go Equality Gainesville!

1 of 100 Women

Posted by helenboyd – March 14, 2009

Pam’s House Blend reports that Mara Keisling is one of the many women who have been invited to participate in an announcement ceremony.

Mara Keisling, for those of you who don’t know, is a lesbian-identified trans woman who is also the executive director of NCTE.

(Toldja he was trans-inclusive.)

(Thanks to Pam & Diana in CT.)

Filmed Attack on Peruvian Trans Prostitute

Posted by helenboyd – March 13, 2009

A Peruvian television station was invited to a planned attack on a local prostitute who is a “travesti” – a MTF trans prostitute. It aired on television, and was later aired with a longer segment.

Blabbeando covered it, as did Queers United.

Note: prostitution is not illegal in Peru.

Prop 8 & The NAACP

Posted by helenboyd – February 26, 2009

The NAACP has been one of our strongest allies in the fight against Proposition 8 in California. The national NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund (LDF) and the California branch of the NAACP joined other civil rights groups in filing a major brief before the California Supreme Court in support of equality, and LDF recently urged the California legislature to enact resolutions calling for the invalidation of Prop 8.

The NAACP is getting some push-back for these efforts. Now is the time for us to support them and show that coalition politics goes both ways. Please join me in expressing your support for their statement of equality to your local NAACP branch:

We are not alone in this fight. Let’s show that we know how to step up to the plate when others step up for us.

(via EJS & NCLR)

Benefit Performance

Posted by helenboyd – February 25, 2009

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and PFLAG New York City invite you to Christine Jorgensen Reveals: A very special benefit performance supporting the work of Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and PFLAG New York City

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

The Lion Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street (Between 9th and 10th Avenues)

Tickets are $40, and you can buy them here.

Femme Fever Gala Ball

Posted by helenboyd – February 21, 2009

The Femme Fever Gala Ball will be held on April 18, 2009 from 8pm to 12am & has been compared to a prom-like event. Betty & I have been to a few Femme Fever events & Karen hosts a great party.

All the info you need is below the break. More→

Gainesville’s Fight

Posted by helenboyd – January 10, 2009

Allyson Robinson posted this message about Equality Florida’s fight for a gender-inclusive non-discrimination law in Gainesville, Florida on our message boards, & I thought it deserved a larger audience:

Many of you are aware of the fight brewing in Gainesville, Florida over their trans-inclusive non-discrimination law, passed by the city council last year. Gainesville’s non-discrimination ordinance had covered sexual orientation for years, but when gender identity was added last year, opposition was activated. The opposition group collected a huge number of signatures–over 10% of the projected voting population–to get the anti-discrimination ordinance placed on the ballot in a special election. That’s tremendous for this kind of municipal issue; more people signed the petition against these protections than voted for the mayor or any sitting city council member in recent elections.

Though the charter amendment the opposition group is pushing would eliminate protections for the whole LGBT community, their messaging is focusing on transgender people–the “bathroom diversion.” Their flyers state, in letters a inch tall, “KEEP MEN OUT OF WOMEN’S RESTROOMS.” As we’ve seen all over the country, and writ large in California last fall, this kind of fear-based messaging is very, very difficult to dislodge from voters’ minds. The special election is scheduled for March 24.

This fight has national significance. The “bathroom diversion” is quickly becoming our opposition’s weapon of choice. They used it successfully in Hamtramck, Michigan, it might have succeeded in Montgomery County, Maryland had the courts not intervened, it’s getting drug out in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and it’s already being raised at the state level in places like Connecticut that are considering inclusive non-discrimination bills this year. We must show both our opponents and our supporters that we can consistently defeat this tactic. If we don’t, municipalities or states considering trans-inclusive non-discrimination laws may become gun-shy, preferring not to deal with costly ballot initiatives in response to pro-equality laws.

More→

Congress Is Back

Posted by helenboyd – January 6, 2009

From the NCTE:

Today, January 6, Members of Congress raise their right hand and swear to uphold the Constitution as they begin the new legislative session.

Let’s make sure the first thing they hear about is the importance of an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that protects all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224 3121 and have them connect you to your Representative (based on your zip code). Tell them: “I am a constituent and I would like you to please tell Representative _______ that I strongly support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would ban discrimination against all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.”

Then, call back and leave messages with your two Senators too!

Request an in-person meeting for you and other community members with your two Senators and your Representative (or their staffs) in their home district offices. You can call the district offices to request these meetings but they often want you to fax a meeting request. To find contact info for district offices, go to to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov.

Sample meeting request letters, and other talking points and resources for your meetings, are available in the following toolkits:

Congrats to Diego Sanchez

Posted by helenboyd – December 18, 2008

Congratulations to Diego Sanchez for his new appointment as Barney Frank’s senior policy advisor.

There are misgivings, of course, precisely because Sanchez has worked with HRC & crossed picket lines in SF to speak at an HRC dinner (when even the SF mayor wouldn’t).

(I’m going to agree with Courtney, who wondered aloud on the MHB forums, as to whether or not Frank will be comfortable sharing a bathroom with him.)

NYC HHC Report

Posted by helenboyd – December 11, 2008

Betsy Gotsbaum, NY’s Public Advocate, has released a report (pdf) that recommends way to improve the LGBT population’s access to healthcare.

Among the recommendations:
• Require in-house LGBT sensitivity training for all HHC employees.
• Designate an LGBT liaison in each HHC facility.
• Establish, display, and enforce a zero-tolerance discrimination policy.
• Establish a review process to monitor progress.

Among the people quoted in the press release are Ray Carannante of CenterCARE and Michael Silverman of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF).

Muxe

Posted by helenboyd – December 11, 2008

The NYT did an article about the Oaxacan tradition of recognizing male-bodied people who grow up to live and fulfill a female role. What’s interesting to me is that a few people on our boards objected to the one time that one of the muxe was referred to as “he,” which started an interesting conversation about cultural imperialism, effectively.

  • That is, can we tell a mother of a muxe that she is wrong for using the “he” pronoun for her child?
  • Do we know that a muxe would find that problematic?
  • Do we even know that someone muxe would identify as what we think of as trans?

I don’t think we can know any of that, but I do know that I’ve had enough people tell me I can’t call Betty my husband to object to anyone saying they know for sure what pronouns to use. An interview with a muxe that appeared in a gay magazine of Argentina (English translation) helps explain: he uses he for himself but does explain he doesn’t speak for all muxe, too.

Interestingly, perhaps, someone at the LGBT Blogger event asked me & Autumn about all the “correct” language issues within the trans, & we both kind of rolled our eyes. She points them to GLAAD’s usage guidelines, & I said he’d never make every trans person happy but to ask the person, if possible, or to ask others who might know. (I also mentioned that being upfront about feeling ignorant was entirely acceptable, & might defuse a lot of tempers.)

We didn’t quite come to a conclusion, but one of our frequent posters ended on this note:

“Trying to overlay one’s cultural understanding, whether consciously or not, over those of another is risky at best.”

Which is an excellent rule of thumb.