June 1, 2007
VICTORY IN VERMONT
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GENDA needs a kick forward in Albany |
It took more than a decade of grassroots organizing, but last week Vermont's Republican governor, Jim Douglas, signed a bill prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment, public accommodations, housing, and insurance and credit services. The overwhelming victory — the bill passed 27 to 1 in the Senate and 118 to 28 in the House —makes Vermont the 13th state to include gender identity in its antidiscrimination laws. "This is going to make such a big difference in people's lives," said Kara DeLeonardis, executive director of RU12, which helped lead Vermont TransAction, the grassroots coalition that fought for the new legislation. "It's just a great feeling to finally have these important legal protections for transgender people that everyone else takes for granted."
Vermont's victory has New York's trans community and its advocates wondering when Albany lawmakers will follow suit and pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act . "Everybody around us is passing these laws and New York is acting like one of those red states," said Lynn Walker, program director of the Housing Works Transgender Transitional Housing Program. "Why is New York so slow?"
Parallel politicsAs in New York, Vermont already had a law on the books prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation that made passing a separate law protecting trans people difficult. "There's so much transphobia, it's difficult to get people to see the importance of this," DeLeonardis said. She said that sustained advocacy was key to their success, particularly after Douglas vetoed an earlier bill because he had problems with the language.
And as in New York, Vermont transgender advocates had to show state politicians that an antidiscrimination law affected their constituents. "We did a lot of work educating legislators," said Jeff Kraus, an employment lawyer who is transgender and involved in Vermont TransAction. "If you're a representative, it might not mean anything if you get 100 different chain e-mails, but it means something if one of your constituents meets with you and says, ‘I live in your district and I'm trans.'"
Walker couldn't agree more. "We have a number of allies in the State Senate. The task at the local level is to reach out to those not yet decided and assure them that GENDA really is a matter of equal rights and equal protection under the law," she said. In May, Housing Works clients and staff were in Albany with allies from around the state to educate lawmakers about GENDA and other LGBT issues.
With only three weeks left in the legislative session, GENDA has moved through one of the three committees it needs to pass in the Assembly. If the bill can get through those hoops, 94 out of 150 Assembly members say they will support it. Should the bill pass in the Assemble, it will be sent ot the Senate. Joe Tarver of the Empire State Pride Agenda believes the Democrat-controlled Assembly will pass GENDA. One potential snag is that, just as Vermont's civil union debate in 1999 overshadowed an earlier antidiscrimination bill, the Spitzer-endorsed Marriage Equality Act could put GENDA on the backburner.
"There should be no reason the legislature can't act on a number of our community's priorities," Tarver said. "The LGBT community isn't a box that should be checked each year by passing one bill. Increasingly, in our neighborhood of states we're behind. New York should be a leader, not a follower."