Obama Tells Teens: "It Gets Better"

Via Whitehouse.gov - Some words of hope by President Obama for Dan Savage's It Gets Better project. Now if we could only get him to strike down institutionalized discrimination with DADT and ENDA, then we'd be in business..

Why The LGBT Community Doesn’t (or Shouldn't) Believe Anything Democrats Say Anymore

Via Trans Group Blog:

Did you catch Tim Kaine’s new video, supposedly about the progress the Democratic Party is making on LGBT issues? Like a lot of what comes out of official Democratic Party channels these days, it’s simply unbelievable. Not amazing, exciting, or surprising, but quite literally not believable.

Most notable is Kaine’s assertion that Democrats are “working hard” to pass ENDA. Really? Current whip counts (our own) show that there’s more than enough support to pass ENDA in the House at least, but despite this well-known reality it’s delayed, and delayed, and delayed, until it seems it’s once again fallen off the calendar entirely. Even more ridiculous is Kaine’s statement that “LGBT equality can’t be achieved overnight.”. Has this guy been living in the same country or even on the same planet as the rest of us for the last four or five decades?

................

Simply put, Tim Kaine is not a credible spokesperson or advocate for progress on LGBT rights. History teaches us that Kaine and other fair-weather “progressives” in the Party are not the solution, but rather one of the biggest obstacles to achieving real equality for LGBT Americans.

Read the rest...

Chicagoans Show Solidarity with DC Marchers

A crowd of several hundred gathered in Daley Plaza Oct. 11 to demand federal action to move forward rights for LGBT people. The rally, organized by local group LGBT Change, was planned in solidarity with the National Equality March taking place in Washington, D.C., on the same day.

 Read more in this Windy City Times article

Although many present were focused on marriage, AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Jim Pickett reminded the crowd that several other issues impact GLBT people, such as health care reform and HIV/AIDS.

“Frankly, I don’t hear enough of this among LGBTs,” Pickett said.

Read more in this Chicago Free Press article

Illinois State Representative Greg Harris at the rally



AIDS Foundation of Chicago Advocacy Director Jim Pickett's remarks


Check out video from the rest of the speakers here.

Barack shows some love for the LGBTs

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA
# # #

The Invisibility of T

We must tell our own truth,
or others will do it for us.

By Pistol Pete

It's been forty years since the Stonewall uprising, forty-three years since the lesser known Compton Cafe Riots. It seems a lifetime removed from the era when gay bars were raided and ashamed men with covered faces were escorted to paddy wagons. All of us in the LGBT community are thankful for the courageous actions of our forefathers & mothers, but sadly most of us could not name them if we tried.

I wonder if things would be different for my particular letter, T, if the LGBT community didn't have such a clandestine history. While there were many leaders in the infancy of the gay right movement, a large number of them were transgendered men and women. In fact, some of the main players in Stonewall were transwomen and drag queens, so why are names like Sylvia Rivera so unfamiliar? These individuals were once at the forefront of public harassment and police brutality, and the first ones to stand up for their rights. Well, something funny happened after a couple of years: it became a lot easier for the movement to bargain with politicians when the T wasn't at the table.

Sylvia Rivera

Since that time how much has changed? Just last year the Human Rights Campaign ditched the T's at the first sign of light for a sexual orientation-only Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that would have been vetoed by President Bush anyhow. It is important to note that many LGB individuals were disheartened by the move, but it was a clear signal from the LGB"T" leadership to the trans community.

So we did what any hot mess trannies would do - we made lemonade! The great thing about HRC's cowardice is that it highlighted a realization that older generations knew all too well - the transgender community cannot readily count on LGB groups for support. As most gays are aware, sexual orientation and gender identity are not the same thing and often times gays and lesbians are just as confused by the transsexual phenomena as any other group. This isolation has led transpeople to unite forces to form a more visible, burgeoning and connected transgender community. People are stepping out of the shadows, risking social and professional ostracism to fight change.

Case in point is the 5th Annual Transgender Lobby Days in Washington D.C, which I attended on April 27-29th. It was inspiring to be with such a strong, intelligent, and articulate group of individuals - many of whom have thrived personally, mentally and emotionally despite experiencing social and/or employment discrimination, harassment and assault. It was wonderful to meet transpeople like Shannon Minter, who are doing amazing things with their lives.

Shannon Minter

And politicians are becoming more receptive to the cause because of organizations like the National Center for Transgender Equality, who organized the Lobby Days. I must say that when I told my Representative that I was a transgendered man, his reaction was all too normal. His eyes widened with surprise, he became quiet, and started looking for the tell tale signs that he must have missed - they weren't there. I could tell he was taken aback, but very polite and supportive of our cause. It's a process, but folks are learning fast. The day after we lobbied Congress, a transgender-inclusive hate-crimes bill passed the House, 249-175, and an inclusive ENDA will be introduced in the next few weeks.

I firmly believe that when transpeople take the leap and step out, revealing their status, equal rights will swiftly follow. Education and familiarization are the keys to fighting stigma, and all too often transfolks are afraid to stand up and be counted. Many, if not most, transgender individuals can go through life without anyone knowing - they look and act like the ordinary human beings they are. But to bridge the gap from the exotic, unusual or strange stereotypes to an accepted, integrated community, transpeople must voluntarily let go of the cold comforts of a closeted life, just as the gays have done. The main obstacle here is not a radical right-wing ideology, but preconceived notions and conventional wisdom that pegs transgender people as unstable libertines, a la Jerry Springer, transgressing gender norms for pure entertainment, shock value or misguided personal gratification. We must tell our own truth, or others will do it for us.

Marry THIS!

Yet here come the Queer elites once again, touting same-sex marriage, potentially generating a renewed surge of religion-based anti-LGBT bigotry at a time we can least afford it, getting the right-wing worked up against us all over again just before the matter of our right to work is due to be taken on in Congress. I mean really, just how selfish and shortsighted can these people be?

by Rebecca Juro, via The Bilerico Project

I don't know about you, but I'm long past sick of the elitist tunnelvision of these so-called marriage equality advocates.

America is in the beginnings of a massive recession. Americans are losing their jobs by the millions. LGB and especially Transgender-Americans, often the last hired and first fired even in good times, are hurting and hurting badly economically. An inclusive version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is due to be introduced in Congress later this year. And what do we see from our so-called activist elite? This nonsense.

Let's be clear: LGBT Americans, like the rest of the country, need jobs, we need them right now, and a lot of us need those jobs right now a hell of a lot more than we need the ability to file joint tax returns.

Read the rest.

Rep Tammy Baldwin's ENDA Statement

[ENDA passed the House yesterday 235-184 --- click for more info on Towleroad]

Press Releases :: November 7, 2007

Statement On House Passage of H.R. 3685, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007

Today, the House took an historic vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act . . .a bill that expands the law of the land to prohibit job discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation. This is an historic moment in the on-going movement for equality in this country. As in all movements, achieving success is a process, and today’s legislative accomplishment marks a milestone, but certainly not the end, of our quest.

I offered an amendment to H.R. 3685 because I strongly believe that we must prohibit job discrimination against people because of their gender identity.

This is a complex issue. Few people are very familiar with it or understand how a person’s body might not match one’s internal sense of gender. But, there are Americans who confront this reality and therefore seek to live as the other gender in order to feel whole. This is not a new phenomenon... it is not a fad. And it certainly is not a reason to suffer discrimination in the workplace.

The importance of non-discrimination laws cannot be overstated. Substantively, they provide legal remedies and a chance to seek justice.

Symbolically, they say that, in America, we judge our fellow citizens by their integrity, character, and talents; not their sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, age, or disability.

Some people have asked why I insisted on bringing an amendment to the floor, only to withdraw it without a vote. The reason is simple. Those left behind by this bill deserve to hear, on the floor of the House, that they are not forgotten and our job will not be finished until they, too, share fully in the American Dream.

Those who would practice employment discrimination, who permit bullying or ostracism on the job, who hire or fire based on stereotyped notions of what is masculine and what is feminine, rather than on a person’s skills and ability, need to hear, from the floor of the House, that such practices are not acceptable in our society.

Irrational hate or fear have no place in our society. If we truly believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, if we truly want to protect the most vulnerable in our society, if we continue to profess that all men are created equal, then we must work toward achieving the American Dream for all…not just for some.

So, I join with my colleagues in celebrating House passage of a bill that bans employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. This is important and necessary legislation. And I remain committed, as we all are, to passing legislation that bans workplace discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

Symbolism or substance in ENDA debate?

via the Bilerico Project

Guest poster - Jody Huckaby, executive director of PFLAG

When the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) received its first-ever vote in the House of Representatives and passed the Education and Labor Committee on Oct. 18, it should have been a historic - and celebratory - moment for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

But there was a cloud hanging over the vote, with over 300 LGBT and allied groups in the United ENDA Coalition advocating for the original form of the bill introduced earlier this year- one that finally included a ban on discrimination based on gender identity. The House Democratic leadership's decision to strip those protections from the bill, leaving only sexual orientation covered, has turned what should have been a victory into an unnecessarily divisive, disappointing setback for the LGBT movement. Unfortunately, the mainstream media has characterized this primarily intra-community conflict as the protestations of a "fringe minority of transgender activists" or the "extreme left" of the LGBT population. Nothing could be further from the truth. One look at the list of organizations and the constituencies we represent makes that crystal clear.

Read the rest.

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin to introduce floor amendment to ENDA restoring gender identity

via HRC Back Story, October 17

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced late yesterday afternoon that she plans to offer an amendment on the House floor to reinstate protections for transgender people to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The sexual orientation-only version of the legislation, H.R. 3685, is currently scheduled for a markup in the full House Education and Workforce Committee on Thursday.

The U.S. House is expected to have a floor vote on ENDA next week.

Weakened ENDA Means Less Protection for Everyone

"Definitions of who is protected by the bill leave gaping loopholes so that no one will be fully protected against discrimination. Congress should finish the work it began 44 years ago when it made employment discrimination based on sex illegal, and once and for all rid the workplace of sexual stereotypes."

STATEMENT

The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders and the Transgender Law Center are dedicated to establishing and preserving the civil rights and civil liberties of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Between us, we have been responsible for most of the public interest litigation about the rights of LGBT people in this country.

Click here to read the statement.

Click here for an open letter from Lambda Legal to Congressman Barney Frank.

Once more under the bus

Blogged by: Denise on October 5, 2007 at 10:49 am on the AAC blog

This week controversy broke out over a proposal to remove “gender identity” as a protected category from the ENDA. Proponents argue that removal would improve the odds of the bill passing the House and gender identity could be added after the passage. It reminds me of the arguments in the 80s about whether gay men should be identified as gay when reporting AIDS cases or whether the phrase “men having sex with men” should be used. Congressional staffers and Washington groups argued vigorously for MSM, claiming that it’d be easier to work around the homophobes and more money could be obtained for AIDS if the gay thing could be glossed over. The social scientists liked it because they argued people of color would be more easily reached than if they had to identify as gay. On the other side were activists who argued that “MSM” ignored the existence of the gay community, with its complex and non-biologically based family structure, reducing the focus to an individual and a sole behavior. The activists argued that effective intervention could not occur in isolation from people’s communities.

Well, its been over 30 years now and we’re still using MSM, got a lot of money–not enough, of course, but a lot–and we have seen a steadily increasing percentage of new infections in gay men, particularly gay men of color. Now I’m hearing the same argument for expediency to support the removal of gender identity. Transgender people are already at increased risk of HIV infection, for reasons of isolation, economic marginalization and difficulty accessing health care–familiar reasons to gay health activists. Excluding gender identity from federal protection is not going to pass the bill–no one thinks its going to get out of the Senate, but it will further fracture our community and subject a valued part of it to increased health risk. Let’s not do it again.

Call to Action on ENDA

Dear LifeLube,

Late last week, House leaders announced their decision to change the language of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) so that it only includes sexual orientation and not gender identity. These House leaders have said that they do not have enough votes to move forward with the original fully-inclusive bill.

We are profoundly disappointed by this move, and I want to explain our position and ask you to write your congress member today.

Tell your representative we need an employment discrimination law that includes the entire GLBT community.

Since 2004, the Human Rights Campaign's policy has been to only support civil rights legislation that is inclusive of gender identity - a policy that was reaffirmed by our Board of Directors in a vote on Monday night.

That's why we fought tirelessly for - and won - Congressional approval for a hate crimes bill that includes gender identity, and have been working for years to pass an inclusive employment discrimination bill.

This year we ramped up our lobby presence on the Hill, helped coordinate broad coalition efforts, and deployed our field team to more than 40 key congressional districts to mobilize unprecedented support for an inclusive ENDA. We secured the active support of corporate America, with more than 50 major companies joining our Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness. Our Religion and Faith Program was instrumental as well, giving voice to thousands of faith leaders across the country. We secured supportive editorials from a record number of newspapers, and with your help we generated hundreds of thousands of constituent contacts to members of Congress, through emails, phone calls, postcards, and thousands of hand-written letters.

However, we're facing a stark reality. The House leadership and bill sponsors are moving forward with a non-inclusive ENDA - even without the full support of our community. They view this as the best opportunity this year to get a successful vote on legislation extending protections to the largest number of people.

I want you to know we made every possible effort to avoid having a non-inclusive bill introduced and we did succeed in helping convince Congressional leaders to delay action on the new bill until later this month.

We now have a window of opportunity to try and line up the votes we need to pass a fully-inclusive ENDA.

We've delivered HRC's message to Congress, but I'm asking you today to send your own message. Your Representative must understand that supporters of equality will not rest until rights are extended to everyone in the GLBT community.

Tell your Representative you stand behind legislation that will provide the same protections to all GLBT people.

This has been a long battle. HRC first started the quest for ENDA in 1994. We've been pushing for an inclusive bill since 2004. This month, ENDA could pass the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in history.

I implore you to take action today and to forward this message to your family and friends. Working together, I am confident we can pass historic civil rights legislation.

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
President

Anti-discrimination bill re-introduced in Congress

Rod.2.0 covers the re-introduction of ENDA in Congress...