You Say Progress, I Say Apartheid...

According to the Southern Voice, the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote Thursday on a transgender-exclusive version of the Employment Non Discrimination Act, or ENDA. This version is opposed by more than 280 state and national gay and transgender advocacy organizations, who have signed a statement demanding Congress to vote it down. The article also discusses a Human Rights Campaign (HRC) forum on the issue in Atlanta yesterday.

According to U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass), the bill's sponsors lacked the votes to pass a trans-inclusive version, falling about 30 votes short. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi promised to "fast track" an inclusive bill as soon as the votes are there. The HRC, for their part "does not support" the gay-only bill, but will also not call on members of Congress to vote against it.

As I discussed here last week, it's not an easy decision by any stretch. The bill that is all but passed already would protect millions of people who are not protected now. To oppose the trans-exclusive bill, as many gay people do, is a courageous, principled stand. Those who wish to pass it, save those 30 swing votes, undoubtedly have their hearts in the right place. However, the rhetoric is getting pretty heated, with queerty.com comparing HRC to "The good Germans", and these are the bill's supporters. As an outsider, it's tempting to think that the LGBTQ opponents of the Trans-exclusive ENDA should cut HRC some slack. Reasonable people can disagree and all that. Here's why that's not the case.

I had a long chat with my brother, Sir Jesse of Decatur, who posted a long response to my last post on this subject. He explained to me, in pretty short order, just why it is that those in the "queer" (LGBTQ) community feel such a strong sense of betrayal toward HRC and others who would leave behind such a large group of people. I hope he has time to post here again, but basically, it's not just wrong on it's face, but more so because people in the trans community have historically been way out in front of queer activism. If I understand this correctly, it's a little like Moses being denied entry to the Promised Land.

Proponents of the trans-exclusive bill in the gay community seem to be publicly framing this as a practical matter only, but Jesse tells me that a lot of trans people experience active exclusion from a pretty significant segment of the gay community. I don't want to misstate this point, so I invite Jesse and/or any of his friends to share their experiences in the comments section of this blog. It always amazes me that every group that manages to squeeze itself into the margins seems to contain members that immediately forget what life was like outside of them.

My brother was invited to sit on the panel at the HRC forum yesterday. I haven't talked to him since he sent me the invite, so I don't know if he got to do it, but hopefully, I'll get some more on this later.

If you missed my last post on ENDA, I encourage you to read it, and Jesse's response, so you can see why this issue is so important, not just to me, but to America and who America is.