No Equali_y Without the T

No Equali_y Without the T
by Kelli Busey
Oct. 10, 2008
planetransgender

Found in a article by by Mark Gabrish Conlan/Zenger's Newsmagazine
HRC Head Does Damage
Control on Transgender Rights

"Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign — America's largest Queer-rights organization — came to San Diego July 24 to organize support for his group's campaign against Proposition 8, which would reverse the California Supreme Court's decision allowing same-sex couples to marry. But most of his 10-minute speech was damage control to repair HRC's relations with the Transgender community, strained by the group's decision last October to support a federal Queer-rights bill that doesn't protect Transgender people."
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Illustrated in that article are the tensions that have been created and maintained unchanged since HRC's withdrawal from it's previous pledge to support a gender inclusive only ENDA.

Since HRC's betrayal of trust transgender advocates and the queer nation have protested singularly and recently as a NATIONAL ENITY at HRC fund raisers where HRC insists on maintaining a public stance that it is a advocate of transgender rights when in fact it lobbied congress with threats of lower "human rights score cards" unless legislators feel in line to support a sexual inclusive ENDA only.

It is also noted with the same pragmatic view that brought about this situation, the transgender tragedy is indeed a huge selling point in inducing the wealthy to part with money.

HRC has made some small but noticed local steps in supporting of Maryland's Montgomery county effort, among others. These progressive moves are noted and as Joeso told me once regarding the current HRC position "We're Darned if we do and Darned of we don't". The Montgomery effort is a start, but the support of a National Level Gender Inclusive ENDA would signal to the transgender community that protests of HRC would not be as critical. It would signal to the Legislature that the GLB community was in fact standing in solidarity as LGBT. It would signal to potential criminals considering violence against Transgender people that the repercussions would parallel that of a straight person.

We sincerely hope that HRC is paying attention to the current political climate. The American people are growing impatient with a government that ignores it and wealthy social "rights" groups that abuses it.

No Equali_y Without the T