Bill Introduced to Amend Fair Housing Law to Include Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York introduced a bill yesterday that would ban housing discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or source of income. The bill would amend the Fair Housing Act to include these categories and would impact the sale and rental of housing, home financing and brokerage services.

"Transgender people urgently need protection from discrimination in housing. It is unconscionable that people are being forced out of their home and onto the streets because of prejudice," noted NCTE's Executive Director Mara Keisling.

A survey of transgender and gender non-conforming people conducted by NCTE and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force last year found that 19% of the 6,450 respondents reported having been homeless at some point in their lives because of their gender identity. People of color reported even higher rates, with an alarming 41% of African Americans and 29% of Latina/os in the study having been homeless because of bias.

Read the rest at NCTE.

New Report Finds Rampant Health Care Discrimination Against Transgender Individuals

Talk about the need for cultural competency, a new study out today finds that transgender and gender non-conforming people face rampant discrimination in health care settings, are regularly denied needed care, and experience a range of health risks because they are transgender or gender non-conforming, according to a report of over 6,450 transgender and gender non-conforming people. The National Transgender Discrimination Survey: Report on Health and Health Care was released nationally today by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Key findings include:

* Nearly 1 in 5, 19%, reported being refused care outright, because they were transgender or gender non-conforming;

* Survey participants reported very high levels of postponing medical care when sick or injured due to discrimination and disrespect (28%);

* Harassment: 28% of respondents were subjected to harassment in medical settings;

* Significant lack of provider knowledge: 50% of the sample reported having to teach their medical providers about transgender care;

* Despite barriers, the majority have accessed some form of transition-related medical care; but only a minority has had any surgery, despite the fact that a strong majority stated wanting to have it someday;
* Respondents reported over four times the national average of HIV infection, 2.64% in our sample compared to 0.6% in the general population, with rates for transgender women at 3.76%, and with those who are unemployed (4.67%) or who have engaged in sex work (15.32%) even higher;

* Over a quarter of the respondents misused drugs or alcohol specifically to cope with the discrimination they faced due to their gender identity or expression;

* A staggering 41% of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population.


Read the entire report here.

New Survey Finds Bullying Rampant Among Gender Non-Conforming Individuals

More than half of transgender and gender non-conforming people who were bullied, harassed or assaulted in school because of their gender identity have attempted suicide, according to just-released findings from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and National Center for Transgender Equality.

"From our experience working with transgender people, we had prepared ourselves for high rates of suicide attempts, but we didn't expect anything like this," says Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "Our study participants reported attempting suicide at a rate more than 25 times the national average." Forty-one percent of all respondents reported that they had attempted suicide, compared with a national estimated rate of 1.6 percent.

Read the rest at NCTE.

Hate Crimes Bill with Gender Identity Passes Senate, Obama to Sign!

(October 22, 2009, Washington, DC) In an historic move, the United States Senate joined the House of Representatives in passing The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which will be the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people. Once signed by the President, this law will add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and will allow local governments who are unable or unwilling to address hate crimes to receive assistance from the federal government. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill into law.

Read the rest at the National Center for Transgender Equality.

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.