Are You Serious About Transgender Inclusion In Enda?

[Guest]

The Following is a press release from NTAC. Here's a chance to make a difference.

For Immediate Release: Dated September 28, 2007

From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)

Contacts: Vanessa Edwards Foster; Houston, Texas

Chair, Ethan St. Pierre, Haverhill, MA

Contact Email: [email protected]

Contact Phone: 832-483-9901

978-518-1835

Website: http://www.ntac.org

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

Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Members in Red

Pertinent Staff Members:

Jody Calemine, Labor Policy Deputy Director

Jeffrey Hancuff, Staff Assistant, Labor

Name State-Dist Phone (202)

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

Ranking Member

* 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.

– 30 –

Founded in 1999, NTAC - the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition - is a civil rights organization working to establish and maintain the right of all transgendered, intersexed, and gender-variant people to live and work without fear of violence or discrimination.

[Zufrieden]

I'm sorry to say that the NTAC website didn't impress me. There's no mention of ENDA.

The HRC is kind of a dud, too.

Actually the site that seems to care the most about this is Pride at Work, AFL-CIO

Not Working ENDA: Picket Nancy Pelosi

LGBT Movement Refuses to Support Non-Inclusive Bill

(You have to dlick on the opening picture of the guy with the megaphone if it appears)

I emailed my representative about ENDA urging every effort to make it pass and the retention of all the transgender sections.

We've been sold up the river.

Z.

[Zufrieden]

I'm been surprised and happy to say that there was apparently a ground swell that made the pols reconsider.

It's still hanging in the balance though. This link is the same (reused) address as the previous Nancy Pelosi link.

Your Voices Were Heard- Keep The Pressure Up!

Z.

[Guest Jenny]

I hope that they will consider this, because hopefully Canada will open up about it. The issue is fairly dead up here as there is not a whole lot of people that have come forward about it.

[Guest]

I'm been surprised and happy to say that there was apparently a ground swell that made the pols reconsider.

It's still hanging in the balance though. This link is the same (reused) address as the previous Nancy Pelosi link.

Your Voices Were Heard- Keep The Pressure Up!

Yes the groundswell is awesome. I've been following it for the news page and there are lots of opinions and articles both pro and con http://www.lauras-playground.com/trans_news.htm . My mailbox has been full from advocate groups I belong to. The Transgender activity is furious. A protest is planned at an HRC dinner where NAncy Pelosi will be speaking.

With 150 gay and transgender national and state organizations demanding that ENDA be inclusive of Transgender or "NO Deal" . Sadly there is only one Organization who has still not signed on completely and that is HRC. Donna Rose who was the only Transgender member of the national board resigned over this.

What is really amazing is that when you listen to Barney Frank his objections to Transgender people shows that he really doesn't understand our issues at all. The month delay in presenting the bill was Nancy Pelosi's way of giving Transgender advocates time to explain our issues to congress by lobbying them. FRank's feelings about us are not new as those who have interviewed him from the community have been predicting this since May of this year. I predicted this in an article as well. I'm not alone. Organizations felt he would change his mind once he knew the facts. His actions were taken on his own. Many feel that HRC his ally is well connected as well. I was wrong about one thing though. Except for HRC gay organizations do support us. That was a pleasant surprise for me.

Laura

[Guest angie]

Good Evening Laura,

While at my SAGA(SanAntonioGenderAssociation)support group meeting.

We had a representative from The Stonewall Democrates,a Mr.Roberto Sanchez address the group.

He stated,and gave us each a copy,that the TSD does not back EDNA...unless the T in GLBT is included."We are one entity not divided,it is all or nothing.The transgenders Will Not be left to swing in the wind.All of you are part of our family,this is the GLBT...Not The GLB."

We also have as a member one Julia DeGrace,whom is on the local board of the HRC as the lone Transwoman.

She stated that she was considering resigning her position,then she reconsidered.

"If i resign there will be no one to represent the Trangender community.And that just wont due."

Since coming out,i decided that i would not live in stealth.I am not sure exactly what role i will play

in the coming years.Activist,Support,Educator...i will not fade into the back ground...blend into society as a nameless woman.I do not think that is the path that i was meant to follow.

I am not looking to be noticed or be in the news.God put me here for a reason,and i think this is it.

Angie Erickson.

[Zufrieden]

The status of H.R. 2015 (ENDA) can be found on:

http:thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:h.r.02015:

The text of H.R. 2015 can be found on:

And when they get around to voting on it (presuming it gets a roll call vote) you can see how your representative voted in:

You can find out how to contact your representative through:

I had sent my representative a message through his contact form on his website (found through the above link).

Scratching my head over the form, I decided (for the first time in my life) that Ms. and a female version of my name was the most appropriate and honest.

I received a nice letter from my representative, Nick J. Rahall II (D), thanking me. I'll have to wait and see how he actually votes.

In any case, it was pleasing to receive a letter addressed Ms. and from the government, too. They're never wrong.

Z.