The Bilerico Project

NY Times to LGBT Community: 'That Will Be All There Is From Us'

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:30:00 -0500

Imagine for a moment, that tragedy has struck your family or friends. A suspicious late night fire broke out, and although many people were saved, your family member, your friend, died in the fire. You read this in the newspaper as the first sentence in the story:

She was 25 and curvaceous, and she often drew admiring glances in the gritty Brooklyn neighborhood where she was known to invite men for visits to her apartment, her neighbors and the authorities said.

Curvaceous? Gritty neighborhood? Inviting men for visits? She is dead, for God's sake, a young woman burned to death in a suspicious fire. Ah, but this is a transgender young woman of color, and the headline screams "Woman In Group Of Transgender Performers Dies On Brooklyn Fire."

At least they acknowledged that her gender identity was that of "woman." So then why these quotes?

"Called Lorena, she brought two men to her apartment..."

"According to neighbors, she was born male..."

"For a man, he was gorgeous..."

"Ms. Escalera had worked as an escort and that he regularly saw her advertising her service on an adult Web site..."

"Still, she was a nice person."

"A debris pile outside the apartment, which is above a funeral home, contained many colorful items. Among them were wigs, women's shoes, coins from around the world, makeup, hair spray, handbags, a shopping bag from Spandex House, a red feather boa and a pamphlet on how to quit smoking."

"Human interest," you say? A journalist merely reporting what was said, you say?

I think not. This story is shot through with transphobia. The issue has been raised with the New York Times by a number of journalists and GLAAD. The Times acknowledged a deficit in their "choice of words, but refused to make any corrections to the article, or indicate that their journalists will be given any information or training on how to report such stories, and their further response is in the title to this article: "That will be all there is from us."

But that is not all there will be from us. There is a petition to sign at the end of this post.

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Why I Joined The Board of Lambda Legal

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:00:00 -0500

This past weekend, I was elected to the Board of Directors of Lambda Legal, a national legal organization dedicated to achieving full equality for LGBT people. I thought carefully before I agreed to begin the process as a potential Board candidate about the state of our fight for civil rights, and I would like to share my thoughts.

It is a critical time for our civil rights movement. We have made great strides towards social, political and legal equality, in ways that were practically unthinkable when I was growing up. I remember being a young person a half century or so ago, thinking that I must be mentally ill because of who I was, hoping that I could hide myself forever and ever, and praying to God for a cure. The idea that I, as a transgender person, could be entitled to respect for my gender identity and sexual orientation, that I could be protected from discrimination under the Constitution and laws of our country, that I could marry a person I love regardless of our sexes, that I could serve in the military or be safe from having my son being taken away by a court, and a million other degradations to which we have been subjected - these were not thoughts that I could have had. But I did not know, when I was ten years old, that Lambda Legal was being formed in a small New York City apartment in 1971, and that it would one day come to champion respect under the law for me and mine in the highest courts in the land.

In fact, even the idea of such an organization was repugnant to the State of New York, and the attempt of William J. Thom to incorporate the organization was rejected, his application unanimously denied by the New York State Appellate Division court on the grounds that its proposed activities did not fulfill the requirements of law in that they were neither "benevolent" nor "charitable.". It took two years of litigation for the decision to be overturned by the highest court in New York State.

We have come a long way. We also have a long way to go. Lambda is going to be a crucial component of future progress.

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Transgender Legal Defense And Education Fund Marks Seven Years

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:00:00 -0500

TLDEF, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, is celebrating its seventh year. It will hold its seventh year celebration and fundraiser this year on Wednesday, May 30, 2012, 6:30 to 8:30 pm, at the Art Directors Club Gallery, 106 West 29th Street, NYC. I am proud to have been a supporter of TLDEF every year for the past three years, and this year is no exception. I will be there, and I hope you will too.

TLDEF provides strong and competent legal representation to transgender people facing an unfriendly medical and legal system. When Beth Scott was denied insurance coverage for a mammogram to detect cancer, TLDEF won a victory for her. When Lina Kok requested time off for her facial feminization surgery, prescribed by her doctor as necessary for her wellbeing, and her disability insurer refused to cover her time off, calling it merely cosmetic, TLDEF achieved victory. In fact, just recently, her insurer agreed to change their policy across the board, so in the future no transgender policyholder will have to face the chance of being denied breast cancer screening or, even worse, care in the event they have breast cancer. Sam Berkeley, one of the plaintiff's in TLDEF's groundbreaking lawsuit challenging New York City's practice of requiring transgender people to undergo surgery before it will issue them birth certificates with corrected sex designations, appeared in a spread in the New Republic about the transgender civil rights movement, bringing our cause to the magazine's readers, many of whom are policymakers.

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Death & the Maiden

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:00:00 -0500

A crowd of rowdy, jeering, older white men in night-time Minneapolis, including a vicious racist with a swastika tattooed on his chest, closely surrounded the slight, feminine 23-year old Black trans woman. Shouts of "faggot" and "nigger" and "I'll take you bitches on" echoed in the air as they moved in on her. They punctured her cheek open, all the way through to the salivary gland, with broken glass.

Her blood spurted down her face and splashed onto the ground.

Dozens of times every year, trans women die, particularly trans women of color, bloodied and battered, as victims of transphobic assaults. The police rarely bother to find their torturers. Working class and poor trans women of color are street garbage to many police officers, and there is little glory or reward in tracking down their killers. They die as they lived, considered non-humans by a cruel society, forced to fight for scraps in order to survive, doing the dirtiest and most menial of jobs or fending for themselves in the shadow economy of the night, not worth shedding a tear over, while the rest of us go about our days.

But this is not the story of CeCe McDonald. No, Cece McDonald was a fighter. She was not going to be another victim. She fought for her life, as hard as she could, and instead of going down in a pool of blood and seeing, with her last dying vision, a gleeful crowd of haters stabbing and punching the life out of her. She moved fast, as fast as she could.

She became a victim nonetheless.

Continue reading "Death & the Maiden"...

GetEqual Gets New Board Chair

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Tue, 01 May 2012 14:00:00 -0500

The GetEqual Board of Directors has elected a new Chair, and I am stepping down as Board Chair, though I will continue on the Board. Our new chair is Tanya Domi, a seasoned activist with excellent qualifications.

I am pleased to strongly support Ms. Domi's ascension, effective today. After two years of working with GetEqual, we have moved the organization from a small but dedicated group to a much larger group of trained activists around the country, who have played a major role in both national and local efforts to secure full equality now. While we have many organizations dedicated to LGBT civil rights, thank goodness, only GetEqual is dedicated to the "outside" strategy, working to put pressure on reluctant politicians and to hold accountable those who stand in the way. Now, it will be in Ms. Domi's qualified hands to help us move to the next stage of the outside strategy in this important election season.

Tanya is an Adjunct Assistant Professor for International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, as well as the Senior Public Affairs Officer for International Affairs, Economics and Politics at Columbia University's Office of Communications and Public Affairs. Prior to joining Columbia in 2006, she worked internationally for more than a decade on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, gender issues, sex trafficking, human rights and media freedom. Among the countries where Ms. Domi has worked includes: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Georgia, The Gambia, Kosovo, Nepal, The Philippines, The Republic of Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia. Her previous work in Bosnia-Herzegovina implementing the Dayton Peace Accords, 1996-2000, included stints as the chairperson for the OSCE Media Experts Commission during the 1998 general elections; counselor to Amb. Robert Barry and executive assistant to the late Robert Frowick, and she later served as Spokesperson and Director of Press and Public Information under Amb. Barry from 1999-2000. Prior to working abroad, Ms. Domi served as a congressional aide to the late Frank X. McCloskey, chief of staff to Hawaii State Senator Anthony Chang and served 15 years in the U.S. Army as an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer.

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EEOC Ruling: Trans Discrimination Violates Title VII

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:30:00 -0500

Starting in 1975, federal sex discrimination complaints by transgender employees were routinely dismissed by the courts on the basis that their discrimination was based on "sex change," rather than "sex." Since 2001, however, federal courts have increasingly recognized that discrimination against employees based on transgender identity can, in certain circumstances, violate Title VII, the federal statute that prohibits workplace discrimination based on sex.

However, until now, the United States Equal Employment Commission, the federal agency that oversees all federal discrimination complaints, has not specifically made a ruling that transgender discrimination is per se sex discrimination.

In Mia Macy v. Holder, released yesterday, the EEOC Commissioners voted 5-0 that discrimination against a person based on their transgender identity is sex discrimination. The California-based Transgender Law Center represented Ms. Macy. Kudos to TLC and Ms. Macy.

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Jim Collins Foundation Grants For Trans Gender-Confirming Surgery

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0500

One of the most pressing medical needs for some transgender and transsexual people is the need for surgical intervention that helps confirm their gender identity. The Jim Collins Foundation was started to provide grants to trans people for this purpose.

"The need is immense," said Tony Ferraiolo, co-founder of the organization and a transgender youth advocate. "Many transgender people are not able to access the health care that they need, and this can lead to extremely unfortunate circumstances. These surgeries are life-saving."

I agree that they are life-saving, because some transgender people attempt suicide when they are unable to access surgical care. Others who can't access surgical care have their lives negatively affected in very serious ways. Some people feel continual anxiety, find going out of the house difficult, or find themselves subject to ridicule or assault. The world of romance and partnership is also made well-nigh impossible. Since the culture considers our lives a ridiculous joke, the idea of providing appropriate health-care if you aren't rich is dismissed with a laugh. This is where the Jim Collins Foundation comes in.

The Foundation has announced its latest grantees.

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Melissa Harris-Perry MSNBC Show: Trans Politics & Funny Business

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Yesterday, the Melissa Harris-Perry show, a delightful new addition to MSNBC's weekend morning offerings, spent an hour talking about transgender political issues. That's a first for MSNBC (outside of a few documentaries about transgender children), and frankly, it's a first for national television. So kudos to Melissa Harris-Perry, whose show I enjoy a lot, and to her guests.

In the second half-hour, there was a discussion of the Administration's decision to announce that it's not going to sign the so-called ENDA Executive Order, which would prohibit discrimination by federal contractors based on sexual orientation and gender identity. That topic is a favorite of mine in the last week, as I've blogged about the problems with the Administration's illogical reasons for not signing the order. A clip of the discussion can be found after the jump.

Ms. Harris-Perry noted that Candidate Obama had said in writing that he would sign such an order. She said that the main question to be addressed was, given that the Obama Administration had previously issued Executive Orders prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity for federal employees and for those receiving federal housing grants, but had just refused to do so for federal contractors, how do we assess the Obama Administration's record on transgender rights?

Excellent question.You can't say it's horrible, because he's done more for the trans community than any previous President. On the other hand, we're so far down the totem pole that even mentioning the word "transgender" is more than any previous President has done.

Her guests for that section were Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, journalist and author Kai Wright, Joy-Ann Reid, Managing Director of The Grio, and Allison Kilkenny of Citizen Radio. It was a fascinating discussion, but I was surprised by Joy-Ann Reid, who gave a talking-to to the LGBT community, saying that "the LGBT community was a bit unfair to this Administration from the get-go," and implying that the LGBT community is being unfair in asking the Obama Administration to sign the federal contractor executive order.

Oh, is that so?

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White House Whopper on ENDA Executive Order

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0500

As I explained yesterday, the White House has a lot of reasons not to sign the ENDA Executive Order. They're now saying that the reason they're not signing the ENDA Executive Order is because they are passionately and fiercely dedicated to passage of a much more comprehensive LGBT rights bill -- the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

White House spokesperson Jay Carney said this yesterday:

And I think, again, the approach that we took in bringing about the repeal -- working with Congress to bring about the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" is instructive here. And as it did then, our approach to this piece of legislation demonstrates the President's very firm and strong commitment to non-discrimination and to securing equal rights for all Americans...We are, however -- in another demonstration of the President's firm commitment to securing equal rights for the LGBT community -- aggressively pursuing passage of ENDA."

What?! Someone's pants are on fire, and they're not mine.

The White House's approach on the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell was not "working with Congress to bring about the repeal." It was waiting and watching until those GetEqual people chained themselves to the White House fence, and once repeal seemed inevitable, the White House weighed in.

On ENDA, the White House never weighed in, despite the fact that there only a few votes needed to pass it, and, in fact, declared they wouldn't, as it wasn't their place to do so.

This is a shell game -- watch the pea under the shell and see if you can figure out where it is this time. The Democrats have successfully played a shell game with LGBT rights for quite a long time.

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Yes We Can Wait

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:00:00 -0500

Dear LGBT Advocates:

We have called you to the White House to let you know that President Obama won't be signing the ENDA Executive Order any time soon. You think those federal contractors who are giving us tons of campaign cash are just going to roll over? Get over yourselves.

After all, as your great leader Joe Solmonese once pointed out, it's not 2017 yet. The President has finally found himself 5 points up in the polls against Governor Romney, are you trying to stifle our rainbow? Look, we support you, we really do, but we've already given you the Hate Crimes law and the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell -- you guys are insatiable. You've got to stop with the petitions and people infiltrating the Easter Egg Roll and whatnot. Whose side are you on? You want to give the Republicans more ammunition?

Continue reading "Yes We Can Wait"...

MSNBC's Morning Joe Big Yucks About "A Transgender" In Miss Universe

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:30:00 -0500

Imagine my surprise this morning when listening to MSNBC's Morning Joe, when Joe started yukking it up about "a transgender" participating in the Miss Universe pageant. I think beauty pageants are problematic, but it's equally problematic when people on national television think that it's funny to suggest that a transgender woman entering the pageant is "a big day for males," and the equivalent of a balding man with a beard. Which is exactly what happened.

So sad, when just yesterday, MSNBC's Thomas Roberts featured a moving interview with a gay couple seeking to have the President sign non-discrimination protections for federal contractors.

I'm sure Joe Scarborough thinks it's a big joke, and I realize it was segment with comedian Jim Gaffigan, but when I look at the horrific statistics showing the high level of violence and discrimination against transgender people, my sense of humor just isn't what it used to be. And Mika -- you were right there -- I would have expected you to speak up. Instead, we get this.

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MSNBC's Roberts Hosts GetEqual White House Easter Egg Couple On ENDA Exec Order

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:00:00 -0500

This past Sunday, New Mexicans Jarrod Scarbrough and Les Sewell attended the White House Easter Egg Roll with their eight year old daughter. GetEqual, which has declined offers of tickets to the event in the past, accepted this year and provided them to Mr. Scarbrough, who is GetEqual's New Mexico state lead. They planned to ask the President to sign the ENDA Executive Order, which would protect employees of federal contractors from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Jarrod, who works for a federal contractor, is protected in New Mexico by a law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. But he's transferring to Florida next year with the family. There's no protection against discrimination in Florida.

The couple was interviewed on Thomas Robert's MSNBC show. The issue was also covered by USA Today, the Washington Times and the New York Daily News. An NBC reporter asked the White House press secretary about it at a press briefing yesterday.

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GLAAD I Am: Educating the Public About The Trans Community

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Bil heralded last month the launch of the trans educational video project being co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Campaign (MTPC) and GLAAD. You can see their roll out video featuring Laverne Cox, Kit Yan, Noah Lewis and Isis King.

I'm glad to see that this isn't a feature production of GLAAD alone, much as I think the organization does important and needed work. Rather, the project uses the substantive expertise of MTPC, a trans organization that has the most political savvy of any trans organization in the country, which originally started the video project last year, and combines with it the media savvy of GLAAD, which although it's wonderful in a number of ways, doesn't always show the highest understanding of trans politics.

I don't think it's an overstatement to say that this is one of the most important projects to impact trans civil rights in the country. Trans people can submit their own stories, and I urge you to do it.

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Action Alert: Urge Your Congressmember to Sign the ENDA Executive Order Letter

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:00:00 -0500

President Obama is being urged by LGBT advocates and allies to sign an Executive Order to prohibit job discrimination by federal contractors based on sexual orientation or gender identity, the case for which I explained in detail last week.

In MetroWeekly, Chris Geidner reported this week that Candidate Obama said he fully supported and would sign such an order. And now, a letter has been issued by Members of the House of Representatives urging President Obama to sign the ENDA Executive Order. The text of the letter is after the jump.

Please contact your friendly U.S. Representative -- in other words, no need to ask die-hard conservatives -- and ask them to sign the letter . You can find your U.S. House Representative and contact info here. It's particularly important that we get full participation from members of the LGBT Caucus, so I've put their names at the end of this post, along with a link to find their phone numbers

Bilerico readers: Help us get as many members of the House as possible to put their name on that letter to the President.

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President Obama: Sign The ENDA Executive Order

Dr. Jillian T. Weiss — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:30:00 -0500

President Obama has scored great success with his slogan of "We Can't Wait!" He has moved forward with over 20 regulatory and executive measures designed to address the important issues facing our country that can't be addressed legislatively because of our "Just Say No" Congress.

One of the measures now being contemplated is an "ENDA Executive Order" barring discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity among federal contractors. It would require organizations doing business with the federal government to have a non-discrimination policy, and to enforce it, and violations would be prosecuted by the Labor Department's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), headed by Patricia Shiu.

ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill first introduced in 1994, and in every Congress since, that would have created a non-discrimination policy for the whole country, prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, died an early death back in November 2009, despite the fact that it had enough votes in the House, and the Senate was off by just a few votes that could have benefited from the White House stepping in.

But the White House didn't step in, and ENDA died. The White House has a chance to step in now with an Executive Order that would cover over $300 billion in federal contracting, 22% of the US workforce, and 26 million employees, and many major US employers in construction and manufacturing, Big Pharma, and the service sector, including all the non-ENDA states like Texas, Florida, and Alabama. There are many reasons to do this, not the least of which are the political rewards of showing your mojo. Here's a petition with over 100,000 signatories that you can sign, noting that over 70% of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, support this order. You should also take a look at the "Freedom To Work" website, an organization which has been effectively championing this campaign.

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