It’s the first time the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender communities have agreed to support one idea, according to trans-activists. In a conference call, leaders of several transgender-rights organizations announced that mainstream GLBT groups are now behind adding gender identity to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
‘This year, for the first time, Congress has heard a unified message from at least 24 national groups asking for transgender inclusion in ENDA,’ said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.
While lobbying for an inclusive ENDA may not be the most important cause for all transactivists today, Miranda Stevens-Miller from Illinois Gender Advocates said, ‘It’s very high on the radar screen …. The whole community’s behind this.’
Lori Buckwalter, executive director of It’s Time, Oregon agrees. ‘We got the impression in reviewing this proposal with transactivists around the country that this really energized the community. And it gave them an alternative to look forward to—to working in an equitable relationship with the full support, shoulder-to-shoulder, with the community. And I think that’s really a sort of monumental change within our own community with maturation and attitude,’ she said.
The seven-year-old federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has never included protections for gender identity or expression but now a coalition of organizations, including Illinois Gender Advocates, said the help of traditionally gay- and lesbian-focused organizations will make broader protections a reality.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., early organizers of the original bill, had in the recent past suggested that the bill was not passable if it included protections for gender identity, gender expression, or other broader protections beyond employment.
Now, they say, times are changing. In December, HRC formally included transgender Americans in their mission statement. And this month the board voted unanimously to include protections for transgender Americans in ENDA. Though the question of how protections will be proposed and enacted is still being debated.
Frank, the sponsor of the bill, previously voiced concerns about the viability of the bill if it included gender identity and expression protections. But, according to Jennifer Levi, an attorney with the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, Frank expressed that his practical concerns over passage of the bill were addressed by newly formulated terminology. Levi said Frank is still concerned about how lobbying for the bill will affect him politically. ‘The only outstanding concerns he has are political ones,’ she said. ‘The political reality we face is that HRC is going to continue to support some form of that [trans-exclusive] legislation. But given, now, this strong unified statement of working toward trans-inclusion, we look forward to renewed energy and renewed educational efforts on that front.’
HRC’s executive director, Elizabeth Birch, believes that two bills introduced simultaneously in Congress is the best route to winning protections for at least one group. She wrote in an Op-Ed piece, ‘The simple truth is that this is not an ideal solution, but it is the best and brightest work of a group of idealists working within an imperfect system.’ But transactivists including Keisling, Stevens-Miller, and Paisley Currah from the Transgender Law & Policy Institute say this ‘dual track’ method of bill pushing may unnecessarily dilute the message.
‘Unfortunately, it seems likely that ENDA will be introduced shortly without the addition of gender identity and expression,’ said Keisling. The new legislation has yet to be formulated, so introduction in this session of Congress seems unlikely. ‘We haven’t kind of figured out what will be the optimal timing. Two issues come into it: When we’re ready to introduce it and when’s optimal timing. So there’s some idea that some good timing would be the fall and other people maybe think we should hold off until we can introduce it with a whole raft of co-sponsors,’ said Keisling.
Stevens-Miller said that new gender-inclusive legislation might also include broader civil-rights protections that extend beyond employment discrimination. She said that because the new bill will likely provide protections more closely resembling the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, it will move forward with more zeal than the seemingly stalled ENDA.
‘We fully expect the new legislation to overtake ENDA and be the bill in the next legislature,’ she said.
Stevens-Miller said local and national grassroots efforts can be kicked off as soon as a bill is formulated. ‘As we get further into the process and are able to identify the key Congresspeople that we need to contact, we have a network of transgender activists throughout the country in just about every jurisdiction that will be contacting their own Congressperson about this legislation,’ she said.
Because legislation has yet to be drafted, there are no members of Congress officially onboard yet. But Shannon Minter, the Legal Director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said she expects organizations that endorse candidates will examine this issue.
‘What we know now is that the community is so united around transgender inclusion that I am confident that that’s a question that’s increasingly going to be asked of candidates and one they’re going to have to develop a response to,’ she said. Stevens-Miller said the nation is starting to understand we need to protect all people. ‘One-seventh of the population [of the United States] … are living in jurisdictions protected for gender identity and expression …. When cities like Chicago and New York and Philadelphia, one after another, protect their transgender people—they’re starting to realize ‘yeah, it’s possible.’ People aren’t shying away from it. We’re not the pariah’s we were once thought to be,’ she said.
http://www.genderadvocates.org