Gender-Identity Expression, Discrimination, and the Law

Thank you for enlightening me. It's comments like yours that help enlighten. In this day of freedom of speech, it also helps to say, "I might have been wrong" so may I recant my statement? Maybe I should say, "at least 8 people commented and maybe that will trun to 64 and...maybe that will...etc., etc.

From Donna Rose: ( http://www.donnarose.com/ENDABlog.htm )

I'm told that HRC had lobbyists on the hill for 2 days, actively lobbying legislators to support the SO-only version of the bill that is now primed to move. Given that fact, along with the acknowledged 'deal' that HRC made with Democratic leadership to move the SO only bill forward, some have questioned me as to whether those actions are contrary to the HRC Board's policy as outlined in their Press Release of October 2 (direct quote: "HRC will not support the newly introduced sexual orientation only bill.") It would seem so

The full story is on Donna's blog.

nelle ( http://www.nelle2nelle.org/ )

This is obviously a passionate subject for many of us. As with any subject, support does not necessarily translate into a written opinion. There are many subjects of interest to me, but I blow hot and cold, depending on mood, on actually writing on them.

HRC is doing some fast footwork now, trying to show it is committed to a full ENDA - at least that email from them in my in box states they are. Do I believe that is carrying the full force of that organisation behind it? No. But what it does suggest is they are feeling the heat, and that heat is coming from the reaction to their initial action.

That means people were talking.

nelle ( http://www.nelle2nelle.org/ )

I would like to ask you to reconsider your measurement of success and/or interest. Comments are not an indicator of either.

Almost 600 people clicked in to read the post, we don't have a measurement of how many people read the post in an RSS feedreader. Many of us discussed the post, and the topic on our own blogs, on TWitter, in email, in instant message, on SKYPE, on message boards not on BlogHer and with our own families, friends and co-workers.

Please do not judge the BlogHer community members or their commitment to personal freedoms based on blog comments, or lack of them.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High ( http://fasttimes.clubmom.com ) & Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net )

Well, I am disappointed...Only 8 people showed interest in ENDA. Only 8 people on BlogHer showed any interest. I showed interest in personal freedoms when I was a soldier in Viet Nam. Now, sometimes, people are concerned about our soldiers in Iraq. But it's not really. Interest in our soldiers in Iraq is showing an interest after they have returned home. The little yellow bows that have appeared on cars is a copout. That's the extent of their interest, a bow that cost a buck 49, nothing more...I find it's a sad day for the state America...

Maybe North Carolina and Virginia? Southern Illinois is basically the deep south, so it doesn't surprise me that it didn't pass there in the past.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://www.blogher.com/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

the remaining states got cold feet when we were so close 25 years ago was the potentially unknown scope of the ERA, and how it would grant protections to lgbt folk.

These are the states yet to ratify:

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Utah
Virginia

Illinois really surprises me, and think we could win there... but what other two states would be most promising?

nelle ( http://www.nelle2nelle.org/ )

I've never considered the ERA in such an expansive way. Excellent point, Nelle!

Suzanne Reisman ( http://www.blogher.com/member/suzanne ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://www.blogher.com/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

Hopefully some will read this and be moved to write their Representative encouraging a full ENDA bill, not separate ones.

I've emailed HRC and expressed my extreme displeasure with their once again selling us out. HRC traditionally ignored transfolk, but 3 years ago moved to inclusion. At the most critical moment, namely working for passage of a complete ENDA, they sold us out.

IMO, the real, the ultimate solution to this is not ENDA, it's the ERA. The ERA, a mere 3 states from ratification, would legally take out any discrimination based on gender, and that would extend to lgbt rights. I hope we hear more in the next two years on it, and start pressuring the remaining 13 states to get it done.

I'd be in favour of scrapping ENDA for further action on the ERA, but it doesn't even show up on Congressional radar.

I've digressed, but bottom line is a united approach to protect us all.

Thanks again...

nelle ( http://www.nelle2nelle.org/ )

I hate to state the obvious, but we cannot be fully accepted as diverse individuals until we can fully accept the diverse individuals that make our society what it is. We are all deeply different and deeply the same - as individuals and as a society.
Your point may be obvious Alyssa, but it is a good one! Thanks for the reminder
Roberta
Birdsword ( http://birdagirl.blogspot.com )

Thanks Suzanne, as always, for pointing out the prickly bits that we all shy from.

It's true that gays and lesbians have made great strides in corporate America, and, as such, ENDA is not worth rushing into passage. I think it is far more important to keep it's intent intact and pass it as the sweeping legislative statement that ti should be. Namely, what consensual adults do in their bedrooms, who they do it with, why they do it, and how they do it is not anyone's business at all, period.

What intrigues me about the "acceptance" of gays and lesbians in corporate America - and popular media - is still that we accept them as long as they fit the stereotypes that we assign them, and sometimes do better than the "straight" people who would have similar characteristics.

A woman who is "butchy" and not overly made up will be jeered, but if she were a lesbian people often say, "oh, she's a lesbian, that explains it." As if there is something wrong with those characteristics if she were straight. Conversely, a lesbian who is very girly still gets called a "lipstick lesbian" as if those traits should not exist within the lesbian identity.

When, as a society, will we realize that there is a huge spectrum of "normal" and that most of the behaviors and within that spectrum are found in every "type" of person.

And that's the point, to me, of keeping ENDA in tact. To say that transgendered people may be "different" than you and I, but they have all the same, needs, desires, fears and rights as you and I. Period.

I'm lucky, I think. I was raised by a gay dad, and never had to go through the angst of learning that people are all the same, because it was shown to me every day through the loving care of someone i trusted and respected. But I was keenly aware of, and occasionally troubled by, the fact that we were not only different, but not accepted. My daughter is even luckier, as it is all around her. I am so optimistic for the future, even if we have to wait until my daughter and her friends are running the country.

I hate to state the obvious, but we cannot be fully accepted as diverse individuals until we can fully accept the diverse individuals that make our society what it is. We are all deeply different and deeply the same - as individuals and as a society.
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com ( http://www.JustCauseIt.com )

Hi Suzanne,
Thanks for this great roundup. Just wanted to add that we have another good blog on the rolls with information about ENDA and related issues -- Dr. Jillian Todd Weiss' Transgender Workplace Diversity Blog. She notes the need to educate lawmakers:

"I heard from those in the know that part of the reason that some legislators expressed hesitancy about supporting a gender-inclusive ENDA was that they were not sure what "gender identity" meant.

"By this, I assume, they did not refer to a mere definition, as there is one in the bill and they've been hearing about this for months. Rather, I take it that they did not understand the importance and significance of including it. And this is no surprise to me, as I have spent the last several years leading full-day trainings and marathon policy meetings with corporate leaders who also had a hard time understanding this, even though on another level they surely did understand, as they were paying me to explain it to them in full. The significance of "gender identity" to the project of anti-discrimination law is much more than its definition...."

The rest of the post ( http://transworkplace.blogspot.com/2007/10/enda-so... ) explains why.

Kim

BlogHer Contributing Editor ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/kim-pearson )|Professor Kim ( http://professorkim.blogspot.com )|

for the post Suzanne. We need equal protection for all, including the Ts and LGBs!