Blog migration

We've moved our blog to a new account so that our readers and staff won't have to deal with the spam that has been clogging up our comments on this blog. Visit our new blog today. You'll find our archives have migrated and so you'll be able to find all of the old and new news there.

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NY Gov. signs order protecting trans state workers

New York Governor David Paterson extended protections against job discrimination to transgender state employees today. Executive Order No. 33 protects state employees from discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression. This is an important step in bringing equality to transgender New Yorkers and Governor Paterson deserves recognition for his support and action on this important issue.

New York joins eight other states in extending protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity via an executive or administrative order (Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania). The downside about these nine states is that only public employees are protected by this type of action from their respective Governors. Twelve states and the District of Columbia currently protect both public and private employees from gender identity discrimination.

There is no comparable state law in New York for the protection of private sector employees. The Gender Expression Non Discrimination Act (GENDA) has twice passed the State Assembly but has stalled in the State Senate. We join Governor Paterson and state legislative leaders in calling for prompt action to pass GENDA. New Yorkers - and all Americans who are currently unprotected by state civil rights laws - have waited too long for these basic legal protections.

In Maryland, a big step back? Act now!

The Maryland Vehicle Administration (MVA) is currently considering an update to their policy regarding changing the gender marker on a driver’s license effective January 1, 2010.

In recent years, many states such as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Ohio and the District of Columbia have updated their policies to ensure transgender people can obtain accurate driver's licenses. But while most states are moving in the right direction, Maryland is set to take a big step in the wrong direction.

The MVA current policy states that to change the gender marker, an applicant must provide a physician or psychologist’s report to confirm that the applicant is in active treatment. The MVA requires annual re-evaluations until the applicant "meets requirements for permanent gender change.” If you are using a name other than your birth name, you must bring the document that initiated the change of name, such as a marriage certificate, divorce decree or court name change order and your current License.

The new policy would require an amended birth certificate. This requires going through the court system. Maryland code states that they will issue a birth certificate reflecting the proper gender only upon receipt of a certified copy of an order of from a court indicating that the sex of an individual born has been changed by surgical procedure and whether such individual's name has been changed. You cannot change the sex on a birth certificate simply by providing proof that you are undergoing medical treatment or procedures for gender reassignment.

Equality Maryland has been working hard along with several of our partners including the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project to resolve this matter, but at this point the MVA is prepared to move forward with this very backward and potentially dangerous policy change in the New Year.

TAKE ACTION! Contact Governor O’Malley’s office and ask them to halt the implementation of this short sighted and dangerous policy change. Click here to take action. Please pass this alert along to anyone you know who lives in Maryland. Click here for more information from Equality Maryland.

The recession won’t be over until ENDA is passed

The road to passing federal legislation can be long and arduous, and to some extent this is simply the nature of the beast – the beast, in this case, being our national legislature. We do well to remember, however, that while we are waiting and working to overcome this or that procedural hurdle in Congress, transgender Americans are facing blatant discrimination right now.

Case in point: today the New York-based Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a complaint with the Florida Human Relations Commission on behalf of Zikerria Bellamy, a young trans woman in Orlando. Zikerria applied for a job at a local McDonald’s in July, but she never got an interview. Instead, she got a vicious transphobic voice mail message from a McDonald’s manager, stating that they would never hire someone like her.

Legislation to protect transgender workers from this kind of discrimination has been proposed, but not yet passed, in both the city of Orlando and the Florida legislature. The state’s Human Relations Commission has permitted transgender workers to bring complaints under the state’s sex discrimination law in the past, and Zikerria is seeking protection under that law.

What’s unambiguously clear, however, is that Zikerria would have been protected by ENDA if it had been on the books. Right now, Congressional leaders are preparing to rush through a package of measures intended to create and preserve jobs, which they hope to pass before the end of the month. Yet whatever Congress does to address the current unemployment crisis will be incomplete so long as transgender people remain unemployed at twice the rate of the general population. Until ENDA is passed, transgender people face a kind of permanent recession. With each delay on ENDA, more LGBT people will lose or be denied jobs because of ignorance and bias. We need to mobilize for this bill like our lives, or at least our livelihoods, depend on it – because they do.

LGBT AMERICANS OUTRAGED AT DELAY IN BASIC JOB RIGHTS

In light of continuing delays in the House of Representatives, we must state clearly and unequivocally: Passing basic job protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people must happen now. At a time when our government is deeply focused on the critical issue of employment, it is inexcusable to delay action on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Each and every job lost to prejudice based on sexual orientation and gender identity needlessly compounds the unemployment challenges facing our nation. We call on Congress for the immediate passage of ENDA.

For decades now, we have called upon Congress to pass legislation to address the basic right of LGBT people to work free from discrimination at our jobs, and now Congress tells us we must wait another year. In 29 states, it remains legal to fire people based on sexual orientation and in 38 states, discrimination based on gender identity remains legal. In failing to take swift action to pass ENDA, our government allows unfettered bigotry to go unchecked, leading to the loss of jobs, fear in the workplace, economic instability, and personal hardship, while allowing employers to lose competent experienced workers. ENDA is urgently needed by our communities.

The majority of Americans consistently state their support for employment protections and voters have affirmed similar state and local measures. There is absolutely no reason for Congress to continue to delay this non-controversial bill or drop LGBT issues to the bottom of their agenda. We will not be denied basic rights any longer. Nothing is more important than protecting peoples’ jobs so ENDA must pass now. Further delays are absolutely unacceptable.

Matthew Coles & James Esseks, Co-Directors, American Civil Liberties Union LGBT Project
Terry Stone, Executive Director, CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Toni Broaddus, Executive Director, Equality Federation
Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director, Family Equality Council
Lee Swislow, Executive Director, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
Jarrett Tomás Barrios, President, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
Joe Solmonese, President, Human Rights Campaign
Rachel T. Niven, Executive Director, Immigration Equality
Earl Fowlkes, President/CEO, International Federation of Black Prides, Inc.
Kevin Cathcart, Executive Director, Lambda Legal
Christian Berle, Director, Log Cabin Republicans National Office
Sharon J. Lettman, Executive Director/CEO, National Black Justice Coalition
Kate Kendell, Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Mara Keisling, Executive Director, National Center for Transgender Equality
Rebecca Fox, Executive Director, National Coalition for LGBT Health
Rea Carey, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund
Michael Mitchell, Executive Director, National Stonewall Democrats
Gregory Varnum, Executive Director, National Youth Advocacy Coalition
Selisse Berry, Founding Executive Director, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
Jody Huckaby, Executive Director, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National
Jo Kenny, Interim Director, Pride at Work AFL-CIO
Masen Davis, Executive Director, Transgender Law Center

Additional organizations may be added.

Viewing the AIDS Quilt panels for World AIDS Day

While walking through the maze of corridors of the Executive Office Building while heading to a briefing on World AIDS Day today, I turned a corner and, in this very unfamiliar place, saw something that I had seen before: a section of the Names Project quilt. The first time I had seen a section of the quilt was physically not so far away—less than a mile up on the National Mall. But in every other way, it was light years away from where we stand now.

In 1987 I came down overnight from New England for the March on Washington; the bus left us off along a curb just as the sun was rising. Through the fog, we heard a snapping sound, which turned out to be the great panels of the quilt being unfurled in the early morning light. I so clearly remember the brilliant colors of the panels and how they came alive as the sun rose and yet everything seemed so drenched in sorrow, in frustration at our inability to treat the disease, and in our anger at a government that was doing next to nothing. That day I discovered that someone I knew had died when I saw his panel—the first of many, many losses to AIDS. My image of that day—of our solidarity, tears, determination, beauty—formed a significant part of how I see who we are as GLBT people. You can view the history of the quilt on the Names Project website, including pictures of what I’ve described here.

That year, AZT was first introduced to treat AIDS, President Reagan delivered the first major address about AIDS, the activist group ACT UP began and successfully demanded a shorter approval process for drugs to treat HIV and the US instituted a ban on travelers with HIV entering the country.

In the years between then and now, so much has changed. I’ve lost a number of friends; I still feel guilty that somewhere between 50 and 60, I lost count of the number of funerals as they spiraled upwards steadily from there. Some of the people I am closest to are living with HIV/AIDS, some having narrowly made it until the advent of anti-retroviral drugs.

On this rainy day on the eve of World AIDS Day, seeing the panels displayed respectfully in the corridors that house the Executive branch of our government made me think literally that we have come inside. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton drew a strong positive reaction from those gathered (the first of only two times the audience responded with applause) when she talked about the commitment to stand against the marginalization of LGBT people anywhere it happens; she also emphasized the safeguard women and girls and recognize that while AIDS disproportionally impacts the marginalized, it spares no one.

Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, spoke personally about how fulfilling it was to sign the papers that lifted the HIV travel ban and the extremely negative impact that ban had on our work around the world to combat AIDS.

Over and over, the speakers address the ways in which the most vulnerable populations must be cared for and how the underserved must be addressed. They spoke of the specific needs of people of color, of gay and bisexual men, of Africa and, as Secretary Clinton said, “the ravages and complexities” of HIV.

Ambassador Eric Goosby, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, shared about the differences he has witnessed in Africa and other parts of the world before and after President Bush’s implementation of the PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) program. Elly Katabira, the President-Elect of the International AIDS Society announced that the International AIDS Conference would be held in DC in 2012, returning final to the US now that the travel ban has been lifted.

The speakers concluded by talking about the work done by so many in our country and around the world to ease suffering, heal illness, promote prevention efforts and reduce stigma—and that we are working towards the day when HIV will be a thing of the past. While there is so much more work still to be done, being a part of those conversations, those commitments and those actions is a very different place to be.

Getting inside isn't enough ... it's what you do when you are there. But, it is better than being left out in the cold. May the words of the administration that we heard today translate into even more saved lives and progress towards a world where AIDS is no more.

We Remember: The 2009 Day of Remembrance

On this, the eleventh annual Day of Remembrance, we are part of a global movement to honor those who have died. We mourn our fallen sisters and brothers who have become the victims of hatred and prejudice and we commit ourselves to doing what it takes to prevent others from joining their ranks.

Read NCTE's statement on the Day of Remembrance 2009.

Name changes and forced outing: a small victory

Governments force transgender people to disclose that they are transgender all the time. They make us carry around little pieces of paper and plastic with our birth-assigned sex listed on them, just begging any police officer, bank teller, customs official, airline agent or the like to ask just what are you anyway? They keep that old sex designation in computer files – your driving record, your Social Security record, Medicare record – that get shared here and there. They make us appear in open court, or take out an ad in the newspaper, to announce that we’re changing out name from Kate to Kevin, or from Kevin to Kate. They say this is necessary for “accuracy” and “fraud prevention.” These government systems very seldom recognize the very real dangers of the official outing of trans people in so many areas of our lives – the dangers not only of embarrassment, discrimination and harassment, but the very real danger of violence when we are outed against our will to untold numbers of strangers. So it was refreshing recently to see one government body – namely a court in Westchester County, New York – show a genuine recognition of these dangers.

State courts hear thousands upon thousands of petitions each year from individuals seeking to change their names. These petitions are usually granted perfunctorily, and very rarely result in written opinions, let alone published ones. Except, it seems, when they are filed in New York, and by a transgender person. Since 1968, I’m aware of at least at least seven New York published court opinions dealing solely with a transgender person’s name-change petition. Over the years transgender New Yorkers have fought to get courts to apply the name-change statute fairly to them. In 2003 a trans woman won a decision that, contrary to earlier opinions, proof of a surgical procedure was not required for her name change. Earlier this year a young trans man won his case on appeal, repudiating dozens of cases in which judges had required clinical documentation of a person’s gender identity for a name change.

Make that eight, with a ruling from the Supreme Court in Westchester County on November 10. In this case, another young trans man petitioned for an exception to the standard New York practice of publishing a notice of the name change in an area newspaper. Many jurisdictions have such a requirement, and only some of them provide for a discretionary exception. Past petitioners in New York had gotten such an exception because they were victims of domestic violence. In this case, the court pointed to numerous reports indicating the high rates of bias-motivated violence against transgender people, and to the recently passed Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The judge concluded that “while petitioner did not, and hopefully could not, cite a personal experience of violence or crime against him based on his gender identity, he has made a compelling argument as to why, at the age of twenty, he has a right to feel threatened for his personal safety in the event his transgender status is made public.” Accordingly, the judge granted the exemption, made the name change immediately, and ordered that the court records be sealed. The case is In re E.P.L., --- N.Y.S.2d ----, 11/16/2009 N.Y. L.J. 40, 2009 WL 3764453 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Westchester Co. Nov. 10, 2009).

This is not a binding legal precedent, and it doesn’t speak directly to trans people’s issues with passports, Social Security records, and on and on. But it does reflect a rare official recognition that government-mandated outing is dangerous for trans people. And that’s a start.

ENDA Markup Postponed

Chairman George Miller of the House Education and Labor Committee temporarily postponed Wednesday’s mark up on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in order to finalize some legal and technical issues with the bill. A new date will be set after the Thanksgiving recess.

Attorneys and advocates from NCTE and other the LGBT organizations have been working closely with committee staff on the legal aspects of the bill; in fact, we’re talking with them daily. There are still a few technicalities that do need to be finalized before a successful mark up can be held. Those supporting the bill, including Chairman Miller, want to ensure that, once passed, ENDA will absolutely stand up in a court of law, and be as airtight as possible, so that even conservative anti-LGBT judges won’t find it easy to whittle away at ENDA.

Some of the questions that are being discussed are:

• Double recovery, so people cannot recover damages under two different provisions of federal law at the same time, which is never allowed;
• Attorneys fees;
• Disparate impact (You can read more about the legalese of disparate impact in Harper Jean’s September blog entry: The Disparate Impact Non-Issue.)

Welcome to the world of Congressional scheduling. The flexibility to deal with scheduling issues like this is part of our work as is making sure that this is the best possible bill to protect LGBT people. Stay tuned for the new date for committee mark up.

We need to keep up the great work calling members of Congress. Wednesday is our national call-in day, so call the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask to speak to your Representative (have your zip code handy and they'll help identify your member of the U.S. House).

When you are connected with your Representative's office, give your name and your city and then let them know: "I am calling in support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H. R. 3017/S. 1584), which will protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from job discrimination. No one deserves to be fired from their job because of who they are. Please vote yes for ENDA."

Thanks!

What is a Committee Markup? It’s Next For ENDA.

As we have noted, ENDA will finally see committee action in the House of Representative this next Tuesday, November 18. This action is called a markup. So what is that?

A markup is a session in which a Congressional committee does its work. It is called a markup because, basically, the committee takes a proposed piece of legislation and marks it up, thus amending it. (Marking up used to mean that they actually wrote the amendments on it—they don’t do that anymore.) Members of the particular Committee make statements, consider and vote on amendments and then refer the bill to the full House for debate and a final vote.

I’ll walk you through what that means, using ENDA and the House Education and Labor Committee as examples. Here is what to expect.

Next Tuesday at 10 AM in Room 2175 in the Rayburn House Office Building, The Ed & Labor Committee will mark up ENDA (HR3017). To watch a live webcast of the markup, go here. I doubt it will be shown on C-SPAN, but we do not know.

Chairman George Miller (D-CA), who is a very strong LGBT supporter from the Northern East Bay in California, will chair the meeting. He will be joined by a shifting group of between 10 and 40 other members of Congress who sit on the Ed and Labor Committee. A list of Committee members is available here. I say “shifting” because, these days, members come and go during markups and hearings and meetings and probably lunches. Because they have Blackberrys, they can move between meetings, coming to markup when they must or can, but leaving for other business. Many of them will be there most of the time, but others will just fly in to vote and leave.

There will also be quite a few staffers who sit or stand behind the members. There will also be tables off to the side for staffers and sometimes a table for media.

The committee has 30 Democrats and 19 Republicans. It is actually a pretty good committee for equality legislation. Chairman Miller and most of the committee are very supportive of ENDA. In fact three Republicans on the committee (Reps. Judy Biggert (R-IL), Michael Castle (R-DE) and Todd Platts(R-PA)) are co-sponsors of ENDA, and all but three Democrats are co-sponsors, except for Reps. Jason Altmire (D-PA), Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and Dina Titus (D-NV). Jared Polis (D-CO) is the only openly LGBT member of the committee, but there are many other really strong supporters including fourteen members of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus. There is one Independent on the Committee, Delegate Gregorio Sablan from the Mariana Islands. He is a co-sponsor and supporter of ENDA and caucuses with the Democrats.

Here is an interesting sidenote: there are two delegates (representing non-states) on the Ed & Labor Committee. In addition to Mr. Sablan (I-MP), the Puerto Rican Delegate, Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR), sits on the Committee and is also a co-sponsor of ENDA. Though they Delegates from non-states do not have a vote in the full House, they are treated as pretty much full members of committees for speaking and voting in committee. Mr. Pierluisi is technically called, not a Delegate, but the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico. The rest of them are Delegates, though.

Another interesting sidenote is that five of the six delegates from non-states are ENDA co-sponsors. Only the Delegate from Guam, Madeleine Bordallo (R-GU), is not (yet?). But we have DC, American Samoa, U.S Virgin Islands, Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico. These Delegates do not get to vote on the final passage of ENDA in the full House, but Sablan and Pieriluisi do get to vote in the Ed and Labor Committee next Wednesday. To see a full list of 189 ENDA co-sponsors, go here.

Once Mr. Miller convenes the markup, he will make an opening statement and then allow an opening statement from the ranking member (most senior Republican on the committee) John Kline (R-MN). Kline will talk about how ENDA is not necessary and it is vague and it violates religious organizations’ rights to discriminate against LGBT people. If you have read ENDA, you will wonder if he has. He will likely use the phrase “chilling effect.” Other members will make short opening statements. In committee, statements, voting and even seating is all done by seniority and party.

All the Democrats will sit on one side of the room and the Republicans on the other. These days, though, there are so many more Democrats than Republicans (30-19) that some of the more junior Democrats need to sit on the Republican side.

The committee will consider amendments and there are likely to be quite a few. Some are likely to be useful and will make the bill better, either substantively or politically; others are likely to be bad ideas that are either offered in good faith or as a way to obstruct the process. For instance, opponents of ENDA are likely to propose quite a few amendments that they say will make ENDA better and then admit that they won’t vote for ENDA even if the changes are made. There will also be typical opposition amendments designed only to make a political statement, such as unborn, undocumented transgender immigrant children are allowed to possess automatic weapons while they are drilling for oil in national parks as long as they don’t send text messages while voting.

Each amendment that is called is briefly debated and voted on. When a vote is called on an amendment, at first there will be a lot of absent members, but they will quickly show up, say how they vote and then leave for other business. I stay away from doors during votes. Sometimes they vote on amendments one by one, other times they debate in batches and then vote in batches. Each time there will be a voice vote (“All in favor say aye . . . ” ), and then each time equality opponents will insist on a rollcall vote in order to waste time and to say in a hypothetical later campaign that the ENDA supporter voted 17 trillion times to support LGBT people—except they won’t call us LGBT people.

It is possible that the committee will consider every offered amendment; it is also possible that opponents will offer so many obstructionist and redundant amendments that eventually the Committee will decide to stop hearing amendments.

I should note here that the markup in the House Judiciary Committee Hate Crime bill earlier this year was spread over two days because there were so many amendments. I’m not saying that will or even can happen with ENDA, but don’t be surprised.

Finally, a vote will be held on whether to send the bill with amendments to the full House of Representatives for a vote. We are very optimistic that there will be sufficient votes in the committee. Generally, on a bill like ENDA, committee chairs will not schedule markup until they are pretty certain the bill can at least pass out of committee.

NCTE staff will be attending the hearing and will be Twittering as @transequality and as @marakeisling. If you do not twitter, you can follow our twitter posts on our main webpage at www.transequality.org.

I hope this was informative and interesting. If you really want to learn more, here is a Congressional Research Service document that describes the markup process in gripping detail.

Please keep up the contacts with your members of Congress. It’s ENDA time.