December 7, 2007
NEW YORK WELCOME
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Hunter didn't turn the other cheek to HRC |
The Human Rights Campaign's announcement for its town hall meeting on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) at Manhattan's LGBT Center on Wednesday sounded innocuous. HRC invited people to "discuss strategies to pass a fully inclusive employment non-discrimination bill, protecting the entire GLBT community." But the event wasn't so much a discussion as it was a public flaying of the HRC representatives who came up from Washington, D.C.
Despite an outcry from some 300 LGBT groups, the HRC teamed with Massachusetts representative Barney Frank to engineer a version of ENDA that did not include gender identity and expression, which recently passed the House. (For a little history, click here). Housing Works case manager Lourdes Hunter set the tone for the Q and A when she angrily asked HRC's Vice President of Programs David Smith, Regional Field Director Sultan Shakir and former board of directors' member Emily Giske, "How can you sit there and expect us to believe you support us? How can we trust you?"
Pauline Park of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy accused HRC of deliberately skewing a recent poll it did to show that the gay community supported a non-trans-inclusive version of ENDA. She also called for the firing of HRC President Joe Solmonese for reneging on a prior public promise to support a trans-inclusive ENDA. "Your actions show that you value your relations with people in power more than your solidarity with our community," Park said.
Steven Goldstein, CEO of New Jersey's Garden State Equality, asked how HRC could have the "chutzpah" to mark down GLBT stalwarts like Representatives Jerrold Nadler, Anthony Weiner, Nydia Velázquez and others on HRC's upcoming annual Congressional Scorecards because they refused to vote for a non-trans-inclusive ENDA. Goldstein said doing so was like "giving MLK a 90 on civil rights" and warned Smith that HRC was about to "step on a land mine."
There wasn't much that the HRC folks could do but take the heat. Smith, who was repeatedly interrupted by the crowd, tried to reassure New York's trans community that HRC had and would continue working diligently on behalf of trans rights and a trans-inclusive ENDA. He said several times that HRC simply had a "disagreement over strategy" with the trans community about how to get that done and cited the incremental gains in the civil rights movement. Shakir reminded the crowd that HRC had been instrumental in getting transgender people in front of lawmakers in their home districts.
None of this seemed to wash with the 60-some folks who turned out for the raucous gathering—every single one of the dozen or so questions asked was hostile to the HRC.
The day after the meeting Smith told the Update that the event had been "difficult" but that he had expected it to be so. Asked how HRC could win back the goodwill of the transgender community, he replied, "By delivering results that make this a safer and more equitable country for transgender people."
Daryl J. Cochrane,a former member of the board of governors of HRC and current assistant director of government relations at Gay Men's Health Crisis, which opposed non-trans-inclusive ENDA, told the Update, "I hope the HRC takes to heart and reflects on what they heard."
While attendees loudly lamented HRC's position, trans activist Melissa Sklarz, who bravely sat on the panel with the HRC folks, reminded the crowd that in New York City they are protected against discrimination on the basis of gender expression—and not to forget to fight for the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), the New York State version of ENDA.
Goldstein also had a suggestion: That everyone move to New Jersey, where employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity is illegal. "Come on in," he said. "The water's fine."