For Immediate Release: Dated October 3, 2007
From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)
Contacts: Vanessa Edwards Foster; Houston, Texas
Chair, Ethan St. Pierre, Haverhill, MA
Contact Email: ntacmedia@aol.com
Contact Phone: 832-483-9901
978-518-1835
Website: http://www.ntac.org
NTAC, Transgenders and Allies To Picket Over ENDA Betrayal
The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition is issuing a call to join our members, members of other organizations and numerous individuals in protesting the lavish October 6th annual HRC National Dinner in
Washington, DC. Representative Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, will be featured as keynote speaker at the event.
Last week, after a hastily called “whip count” (where the majority party whip polls members of committees or Congress to gauge whether legislation has sufficient votes), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) stripped Gender Identity from the original bill. This action was allegedly based on the results of as yet unsubstantiated claims of not having enough supportfor trans-inclusion.
Recently, Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) authored and circulated a letter signed by more than 150 different state and national organizations and submitted to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi petitioning for a return to one inclusive bill for the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA), HR 2015 in its inclusive form.
From this effort has come a new ad-hoc campaign: United ENDA, the new collective of over 150 organizations (www.unitedenda.org) that have agreed to the principles of explicitly inclusive legislation submitted to Congress.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which claims to be the largest U.S. LGBT civil rights organization, has not signed onto an endorsement of the statement signed by the members of United ENDA, opposing the split of the proposed bill into separate legislation – one for sexual orientation and one for gender identity.
“We are very disappointed and angry that any civil rights organization claiming to advocate for our rights can turn their backs on us when the going gets tough,” said Ethan St.Pierre, Board Chair of NTAC. “It amounts to a betrayal, since HRC earlier promised to support only an inclusive ENDA.”
At the Southern Comfort Conference (SCC) in mid-September, HRC Exec. Director, Joe Solmonese made a promise as keynote speaker that HRC would not only support an inclusive ENDA bill, but would also oppose any attempt at submitting a non-inclusive bill. While at SCC, HRC culled many new memberships and donations from the transgender community. “After removing gender identity from a bill that would have protected millions of transgender Americans from discrimination in employment, the message being sent to the entire Congress and to corporate America is that it is acceptable to discriminate against transgender, intersexed, andother gender variant Americans,” NTAC Chair, St. Pierre added.
As a result of HRC’s rescission of their promise three weeks earlier, the only transgender ever seated on their Board of Directors, Donna Rose, resigned October 2, 2007 in disappointment. Additional resignations from the transgender community are continuing to come in, including Robbi Cohn resigning from HRC’s steering committee for the Carolinas.
In Rose’s resignation, she stated, “The relationship between HRC and the transgender community is one scarred by betrayal, distrust, and anger. I have become a focal point for much of that frustration,” she noted, addingshe “accepted that responsibility with the hope that I could help to change [HRC].”
“I call on other like-minded board members, steering committee leaders, donors, corporate sponsors, and volunteers to think long and hard about whether this organization still stands for your values and to take decisive action.”
All those who stand in solidarity with the transgender community, including HRC Board members wishing to make a statement, are welcome to join us on Saturday, October 6th at 4:30 p.m. before the Major Donors Reception. The picketing will continue throughout the General Reception and Banquet.
“We want to ensure people note that this is a non-violent protest, and that we should avoid working to our detriment by being profane or verbally attacking,” said NTAC Media Director, Vanessa Edwards Foster. “Icy glares and stone cold silence work well.
“Bring out your unequal signs and let HRC and Barney Frank know that we’re quite aware of what they think of us.”
The event will take place at the Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW (near 9th St & Mass Ave) Washington DC. For those coming in from outside of the city, this is on the Green Line at the Mount Vernon Square / UCC stop.
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Founded in 1999, NTAC – the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition – is a grassroots 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.