Advocate.com – By Joanne Herman
Most gay and lesbian organizations have become LGBT organizations in recent years. If their missions now include transgender people, why don?t their boards?
Late last year the media were filled with reports that ABC was adding a transgender character to its long-running daytime soap All My Children. Most of the articles I read were careful to point out that the network had prudently sought the advice of LGBT media watchdog GLAAD in advance of introducing Zarf/Zoe.
(I?m a member of the board of GLAD, an LGBT legal rights organization that is not related.)
Ironically, at about the same time, I received at home a fund-raising letter from GLAAD. After initially using the term LGBT, the letter spoke only of the concerns of gay people. The problem is that some transgender people are not gay. I?m sure GLAAD?s letter would have been worded more inclusively if they had at least one transgender person on their board. So why don?t they?