Are You Serious About Transgender Inclusion in ENDA?
On Wednesday, September 26, the Washington Blade reported that gender identity and expression language in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) was being considered for removal from the bill.
ENDA is presently being debated by the House Committee on Education and Labor’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions. If you are a transgender person, or care about transgender people, and want the benefits of inclusion in ENDA, the time is now to contact your Congressman. The importance of this is even more extreme if your Congressman is a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, and is more vital yet if they are a member of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
Below, there is a list of Committee Members. Subcommittee Members are marked in red. It is also imperative that the Committee Staff that’s handling ENDA be contacted, as well as the House Speaker, House Majority Leader, co-authors of ENDA (Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin), and House Majority Whip. Those numbers are also included in this release.
Your message to these Members of Congress should be short and to the point. Prepare your script yourself in advance, using your own words. Emphasize that transgender people are the most discriminated against minority in the workplace today, with estimates of over 70% of transgender people having actually experienced workplace discrimination. Also mention that, without gender identity and expression language, gay and lesbian people will continue to face legal discrimination in the workplace because of their lack of congruence with societal norms of gender presentation and behavior. Telling your own story of discrimination, with brevity, is powerful. Finally, ask that the Representative insist on inclusion of gender identity and expression and that he or she vote to pass the bill.
Call, write, fax – don’t wait, contact them now!
Ask to talk with the staff member who is working with the Employment Non-Discrimination or other civil rights legislation.
Committee on Education and Labor
2181 Rayburn House Office Building | Washington, DC 20515
t: 202-225-3725
Pertinent Staff Members:
Jody Calemine, Labor Policy Deputy Director
Jeffrey Hancuff, Staff Assistant, Labor
Democrats
George Miller, Chairman, (CA-07), 225-2095 2205
Dale E. Kildee(MI-05) 225-3611 2107
Donald M. Payne (NJ-10) 225-3436 2209
Robert E. Andrews (NJ-01) 225-6501 2439
Robert C. Scott (VA-03) 225-8351 1201
Lynn C. Woolsey (CA-06) 225-5161 2263
Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) 225-2531 2463
Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04) 225-5516 106
John F. Tierney (MA-06) 225-8020 2238
Dennis J. Kucinich (OH-10) 225-5871 2445
David Wu (OR-01) 225-0855 2338
Rush D. Holt (NJ-12) 225-5801 1019
Susan A. Davis (CA-53) 225-2040 1526
Danny K. Davis (IL-07) 225-5006 2159
Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) 225-2435 1440
Timothy H. Bishop (NY-01) 225-3826 225
Linda T. Sánchez (CA-39) 225-6676 1222
John Sarbanes (MD-03) 225-4016 426
Joe Sestak (PA-07) 225-2011 1022
Dave Loebsack (IA-02) 225-6576 1513
Mazie Hirono (HI-02) 225-4906 1229
Jason Altmire (PA-04) 225-2565 1419
John Yarmuth (KY-03) 225-5401 319
Phil Hare (IL-17) 225-5905 1118
Yvette Clarke (NY-11) 225-6231 1029
Joe Courtney (CT-02) 225-2076 215
Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) 225-5456 1508
Republicans
Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, (CA-25) 225-1956 2351
Thomas E. Petri (WI-06) 225-2476 2462
Peter Hoekstra (MI-02) 225-4401 2234
Michael N. Castle (DE-At Large) 225-4165 1233
Mark E. Souder (IN-03) 225-4436 2231
Vernon J. Ehlers (MI-03) 225-3831 2182
Judy Biggert (IL-13) 225-3515 1034
Todd Russell Platts (PA-19) 225-5836 1032
Ric Keller (FL-8) 225-2176 419
Joe Wilson (SC-02) 225-2452 212
John Kline (MN-02) 225-2271 1429
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05) 225-2006 1708
Kenny Marchant (TX-24) 225-6605 1037
Tom Price (GA-06) 225-4501 424
Luis G. Fortuño (PR) 225-2615 126
Charles W. Boustany, Jr. (LA-07) 225-2031 1117
Virginia Foxx (NC-05) 225-2071 430
John R. “Randy” Kuhl, Jr. (NY-29) 225-3161 1505
Rob Bishop (UT-01) 225-0453 124
David Davis (TN-01) 225-6356 514
Timothy Walberg (MI-07) 225-6276 325
Dean Heller (NV-02) 225-6155 1023
Other Members of Congress who should be contacted:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 225-4965 235
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer 225-4131 1705
Barney Frank 225-5931 2252
Tammy Baldwin 225-2906 2446
Majority Whip James Clyburn 225-3315 2135
This is the closest we have ever been to passing a transgender-inclusive ENDA bill. Don’t let political weakness rob us of our rights once again. Call now.
Here’s a list of HRC’s Board of Governors. If you know any of them, contact them and tell them to get their shit together.
If you don’t know them personally, then call HRC at 1-800-777-4723 or email them at hrc@hrc.org and tell them to get their shit together.
Desi Bailey – Seattle, WA
Joe Barrows – Denver, CO
John Barry –Chicago, IL
Bruce Bastian – Orem, UT
Terry Bean – Portland, OR
David Beckwith – Los Angeles, CA
Ken Britt – Atlanta, GA
Marjorie Chorlins – Washington, DC
Lawrie Demorest – Atlanta, GA
Tim Downing – Beachwood, OH
Linda Elliott – Phoenix, AZ
Anne Fay – Dallas, TX
Joanne Gates – New Orleans, LA
Carolyn Hall – Dallas, TX
Sandra Hartness – Laguna Beach, CA
Mike Holloman – Houston, TX
John Isa – Washington, DC
Julie Johnson – Dallas, TX
Barry Karas – Los Angeles, CA
Marty Lieberman – Seattle, WA
Andrew Linsky – Palm Springs, CA
Joni Madison – Raleigh, NC
David Medina – Washington, DC
Lucilo Peña – Dallas, TX
Terry Penrod – Columbus, OH
Dana Perlman – Los Angeles, CA
Henry Robin – New York, NY
Henry Rosales – Denver, CO
Donna Rose – Scottsdale, AZ
Maria Salas – Nashville, TN
Judy Shepard – Casper, WY
Tom Skancke – Las Vegas, NV
Mary Snider – Washington, DC
Jill Stauffer – Jamaica Plain, MA
Rebecca Tillet – Huntington, NY
Jeff Trandahl – Washington, DC
Alan Uphold – Los Angeles, CA
Janis Verruso – Twin Cities, MN
Scott Wiener – San Francisco, CA
David Wilson – Jamaica Plain, MA
From San Francisco Supervisor (and trans man) Robert Haaland:
Dear Friends,
We need your help. Without you, we cannot prevail. Will you be on the right side of history with us? Join us Monday morning at a vigil at Pelosi’s office at 8AM. It will be a 24 hour vigil so you can stop by at any point but for sure join us at 8AM before you go to work.
Congressman Barney Frank and the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, are attempting to scuttle a trans-inclusive the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) by introducing a separate bill covering sexual orientation only, as well as a token bill on gender identity. The vote is Tuesday in the Labor Committee so act now to stop this divisive tactic.
Please bring a friend and let your friends know how important this is for all of us, not just transgender people Things You Can Do To Save Gender Identity in ENDA
1) If you are in San Francisco, Join us tomorrow morning (Monday, October 1st) for a 24 vigil. We will meet in front the Federal Building where Pelosi’s office is located. 450 Golden Gate, cross street is Polk Street. Meet at 8AM. Wear black. We are casualties of the equality battle.
2) If you can come to Washington D.C., Picket House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at HRC National Gala In Washington, DC- Oct. 6 We’ve been kicked to the curb. Join us on the curb to picket the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and demand an ENDA covering gender identity. As labor unionists we won’t sell out any part of our community. We call on all LGBT and allied organizations that support gender identity inclusion in ENDA to join us.eet at 4:15 p.m.; Picket begins at 4:30 before the Major Donors
Reception and continues through the General Reception beginning at 6 PM.
Location:
Washington Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW
(near 9th St & Mass Ave)
Washington DC
3) Call Pelosi’s office to urge her to include gender identity. Her number is (202) 225-4965.
4) Call HRC at 800/777-4723. The only major LGBT group that has not come out against this betrayal is HRC, which will be holding its 11th Annual Gala next Saturday in Washington, DC. Congresswoman Pelosi is the keynote speaker for the dinner.
Only a few weeks ago, HRC leader Joe Solomonese pledged at a major transgender conference that HRC would outright oppose any federal anti-discrimination legislation that did not include gender identity.
As you may have heard by now, on Friday the House Democratic leadership, supported by Rep. Barney Frank, removed transgendered people from the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, saying they didn’t have to votes to pass ENDA. While a dozen major LBGT organization protested this, the Human Rights Campaign (the largest, most powerful LGBT lobbying group) has sat on its hands. Instead trans people are supposed to wait quietly for our turn.
Why the rush to get ENDA, which has been stalled for some time, to a vote on Friday the 5th? I’m sure it’s unrelated to the fact that Pelosi and Frank are supposed to honored at HRC’s National Dinner on Saturday the 6th…
The thing is Bush will veto ENDA with or without trans protection, and there’s not enough votes for an over-ride. So it’s always been a symbolic vote. Not to say symbolism isn’t important—being willing to toss aside the most vulnerable members of the LBGT communities without even an attempt to line up more support sure sends a signal to the pro-bigotry side: we’re willing to cave even before things get serious. Rather than cutting loose trans people without warning, Frank and company could have said, “hey folks we need more votes, go lobby your representatives.”
This isn’t “half a loaf is better than none,” this is “You can starve as long as I get mine.”
As far as waiting politely…
Did gays and lesbians “wait their turn” when they pushed for inclusion in civil rights legislation in the ‘70s, when they were told doing so might harm efforts by racial minorities?
Did they “wait their turn” when they demanded funding for HIV/AIDS research and finding a cure for it get higher priority in the ‘80s, when established groups felt that doing so would take badly-needed money away from other fatal diseases?
Did they “wait their turn” when they demanded that their rights be acknowledged and respected in the ‘90s?
Did they “wait their turn” in 2003 when they pushed for marriage equality in the face of warnings that it could have a disastrous impact before a critical presidential election?*
And color me cynical, but “we’ll come back for you later” hasn’t had a particularly good track record.
In New York and Maryland, trans people helped pass LBG anti-discrimination laws six years after being told to wait. Six years later they’re still waiting—and left to fend for themselves while LGB organizations focus on marriage equality.
In Barney Frank’s home state, LGB anti-discrimination laws were passed 17 years ago. Trans people are still waiting.
It’s promise HRC President Joe Solmonese reiterated only two weeks ago at the Southern Comfort Conference, the nation’s largest trans gathering.
But apparently HRC isn’t willing to follow through on those promises, and instead has chosen to let trans people twist in the wind.
The only good news out of this whole debacle is the number of LGB people who’ve come forward to saw that they’re not willing to throw trans people into the volcano. One poll shows people oppose a ENDA without gender identity protection by a 10-1 margin. To those of us, willing to delay your own rights for those who are even more vulnerable, I salute you. As for the House Democratic leadership, Frank and the HRC…
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, in the long run it would be the arguments of our enemies, but rather the silence of our friends, that will be remembered.
Thanks to Monica at TransGriot for raising these points.