The DonnaBlog

One thing clearly evident everywhere in San Francisco for PRIDE this past weekend: In many ways, it is a world unto itself.  From the moment I landed at the airport (when someone greeted his boyfriend with a big hug and a deep kiss) to the moment I left (sitting next to two gals with PRIDE stickers all over themselves on the flight home) it was never more apparent to me than it was this past weekend.

Unlike many other parts of the country that remain uncomfortable even saying the word “queer” anywhere near city hall, queer politics there actually has a history.  It is a force.  It has a personality. 

Contrary to those who may have hoped otherwise, time has not dulled the memory of last fall’s ENDA debacle.  If anything, the passage of time (and, perhaps, the failure to do anything substantive to heal the wounds) has made things particularly acute in and around the Bay area.  The resentment, anger, frustration, and betrayal that many of us felt and continue to experience seems compounded there – not simply in the trans community but across the entire GLBT spectrum and allies. 

At the Board meeting early last October where we made the decision that prompted me to resign I had an opportunity to speak to the entire board.  Joe Solmonese had already explained that he felt a middle-ground strategy of neither supporting nor opposing the non-inclusive version of ENDA was the strategy that would most quickly lead to passage of a fully-inclusive version of the bill.  While I respected his opinion, I could not disagree more.  I explained that we had worked very hard over the past several years to build the organization into something that was relevant to GLBT lives in ways that far exceeded mere politics.  All of the Foundation programs (Workplace, Religion and Faith, Coming Out, Youth, etc.)  had transformed the organization into something more, and the decision that we were facing wasn’t simply about political strategy – it was to confirm whether we were in fact something more or whether we were simply a political organization with lots of showy extra clothes.  This wasn’t about “staying at the table” (Joe’s rhetoric) – it was about staying relevant in the hearts and minds of the GLBT community.

I explained to my fellow board members that the community had aligned solidly behind a message of solidarity indicating that we would not allow ourselves to be divided, and that if we considered ourselves leaders we absolutely needed to lead.  As a Human Rights organization we would be held to higher ideals, and to support anything less than full inclusion would inflict a wound in the community that WE caused and for which the entire organization would be held accountable.  Although there was considerable support on that board for taking the high ground, the ultimate decision was a disappointing one. 

In the final entry on my ENDABlog last November I wrote the following:

In a very short span of time, HRC has become drunk on its perception of it’s own power.  The problem with getting drunk is that there will eventually be a time to become sober again.  I think that time is right around the corner.  Hate Crimes is stalled and faces an uncertain future.  ENDA passed in the House but hasn’t even been submitted in the Senate and looks to go nowhere fast.  Don’t ask Don’t Tell could just as well be a slogan for the state of ending that sorry piece of legislation as it is for the government policy on Gays in the Military.  Marriage?  With a presidential election around the corner?  Are you kidding me?

So, very soon, all the promise of a year ago may very likely hit the wall of reality and turn to dust.  And where does that leave HRC?  No legislation.  No credibility.  Embattled staff.  No other GLBT organization wants to work with them.  Transgender community considers them a pariah, abandoning ship faster than you can say “Betrayal”.  Hopefully, there will be a financial cost to all of this as well.  That said, it gives me no joy to say that I hope they’re enjoying the sweet taste of “Victory” on ENDA.  It could turn out to be very bitter very quickly – there are often consequences for burning bridges.  Just wait until people who were cheering yesterday start turning tomorrow.  Success is fleeting like that…

The part I find saddest is that it didn’t have to happen this way.  But then again, maybe it did.  Maybe this is all part of some big plan somewhere and this is just how things were supposed to unfold.  I guess only time will tell.  Either way, I’m feeling as though I’m that watchman of the Titanic slowly floating away in a life raft.  The ship has hit the iceberg although most of the passengers don’t know it yet. They’re doomed; it’s only a matter of time before the massive hull slips below the icy water.  “The Titanic is Unsinkable,” they said.  If we don’t learn from history we’re doomed to repeat it.  All I can say is get ready.  Here comes the past all over again.

The political power in San Francisco certainly has reason to celebrate right now.  Marriage Equality is a reality in CA.  However, that political base and the considerable community spirit that it represents have now cast their gaze on the upcoming HRC gala dinner there, scheduled for July 26.  It represents an opportunity to truly send a loud, clear, very public message to HRC and to anyone who doubts that we are, in fact, one single community.  We will not allow ourselves to be divided.

The growing boycott/protest being planned for the HRC gala later this month was on people’s minds everywhere I went this PRIDE weekend.  People and organizations made an effort to specifically distance themselves from the organization (the sign at the left is from the PRIDE Parade). Several political leaders held a press conference last week to discuss it (read There’s No ENDA To The Cowardice).  The “Left Out Party” being planned for across the street will eventually grow to thousands of people – mark my words.  It’ll be larger than the event itself.

As you might imagine, the HRC/ENDA situation was featured prominently at the Transmarch on Friday.  An article in today’s Bay Area Reporter titled, Trans March Rallies around Inclusion explains:

On Friday, June 27, United ENDA California – a coalition organized around securing a federal non-discrimination act that includes protections based on gender identity – hosted a lunch at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center with transgender activist and former Human Rights Campaign board member Donna Rose.

Rose, who resigned from HRC after the organization supported a version of ENDA that did not include gender identity, mingled with activists and community members at the center before receiving a proclamation from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s office that expressed support for her work.

Alex Randolph, Newsom’s LGBTQ liaison, presented the proclamation, which recognized Rose “for her many years of educating and advocacy on transgender and transsexual issues” and for her “strong commitment to national corporate diversity efforts.”

At the Trans March later that day, Rose was one of many speakers to highlight the need for an inclusive ENDA. Last year, hundreds of LGBT groups nationwide refused to support ENDA once it was stripped of its gender identity protections, and the theme of this year’s march – “Marching for a Gender Inclusive ENDA” – celebrated this act of solidarity.

“When we offered a state law that was an inclusive ENDA, people said we couldn’t do it, but we got that signed into law,” said Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) from the Trans March stage. “And we won’t stop fighting until we get a federal ENDA that is inclusive.”

San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty echoed this sentiment.

“When Congress meets under President Barack Obama, ENDA must be gender identity-inclusive,” said Dufty. The Trans March crowd cheered when he added that on Saturday, July 26 he would be hosting a dinner at his home for activists protesting the HRC dinner taking place that evening.

Comedian Margaret Cho also was on hand, calling the Trans March “the best part of the whole fucking weekend” and applauding the transgender community for being “the most important part of the LGBT community.”

There’s a petition going around of people and groups who are boycotting the event: See It here.  The petition of entries grew from 18 to 40 in the few hours between when I first saw it and last night.  It’s over 50 signatures now and growing.  I expect it will grow to monstrous lengths by the 26th.  There will be speakers, entertainment, and lots of people.  It’s going to be historic.

At this point, I don’t know what will make it better.  Part of me wants to watch it play out and see what happens, although there is certainly no satisfaction of “I told you so”.  I believe that a transgender speaker at the dinner could be an important gesture if it’s more than simply a symbolic move to quell the revolt - someone who could gain support from those outside to come in and articulate why all of our brothers and sisters are feeling “Left Out” and are outside instead of inside.  The question yet to be answered, however, is whether there will be anyone in the room to hear it.  What if they threw a fundraiser gala and nobody came?  

Feeble excuses and politalk don’t go over well in San Francisco.  Talk needs action and, finally, the organization is being publicy held accountable.  Thanks for whatever role the organization played in last week’s hearings can only go so far, but that doesn’t even begin to let the organization off the hook for what it has done.  One friend used the particularly brutal analogy that it was like pushing an elderly woman down a flight of stairs and then going down and trying to help her stand up.   As I say – lots of emotion here.

The HRC board meeting will be in Washington DC next week.  It’s the second face-to-face meeting since ENDA.  I sincerely hope all of this is a topic of discussion.  If not, there are bigger problems internally than any of us realize.  I’d even like to be part of that discussion, although my intvitation to these kinds of things expired last fall.

As with same-sex marriage, what happens in CA affects the rest of the country.  Watch how this plays out. 

It’s more than a shame that we have to spend time and energy fighting in our community.  Our real enemies have been busy over the past several days.  The American Family Association is not happy with the progress we’re making on a variety of fronts:

• American Family Association – Transgenderism–Purely Psychological?
  07.03.08 – The American Family Association condemns the American Medical Association for asking insurance companies to cover costs for transgender people: “The Bible does tell us very clearly that mutilation of the body is wrong.”
• American Family Association – Pro-Homosexuals Hijack Anti-Discrimination Forum
  07.03.08 – The American Family Association claims that participants in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were “caught off guard” when discussions about discrimination against gay and transgender people arose.
• American Family Association – AFA Calls for McDonald’s Boycott
  07.03.08 – The American Family Association urges its supporters to boycott McDonald’s because the corporation joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. [Note: I am on the board of the NGLCC and couldn't be prouder of the way that they and McDonald's have handled this]

The way I look at things, if the American Family Association is against something then I can safely say it’s probably a good thing.

In case anyone forgot, Thomas Beattie is scheduled to have a baby this week.  There’s an article on much-respected Salon.com today titled, “What the Pregnant Man didn’t deliver” that provides an excellent overview.  Here’s a couple of snippets:

The transgender community has often been caught in the shadow of its gay and lesbian brethren, and Beatie’s story offered an opportunity for some much-needed attention. But with the spotlight hopelessly focused on such salacious details as Beatie’s genitalia, and the story becoming little more than a punch line, it has left many transgender activists wishing the Thomas Beatie media circus would simply go away.

Unfortunately, that’s unlikely to happen. Beatie is due to give birth Thursday, July 3, via Caesarean section, an event likely to ignite a new wave of media coverage and unfortunate puns, and once again raise some prickly questions: What does the media’s treatment of Thomas Beatie tell us about the way America thinks about the transgender community? Why do we even care about him? And what, if anything, can the pregnant man teach us about the changing nature of gender in America?

The pregnancy also points to the way that perspectives on gender are changing within the transgender community itself. An increasingly visible minority of transgendered people — primarily in large urban centers — are becoming comfortable living outside of either gender. ” I definitely think there’s been an increased visibility of that kind of fluidity,” says Green. Some are using hormones without surgery, or surgery without hormones to create the body in which they feel most comfortable, or going by gender-neutral pronouns like “ze” and “zir.”

For the vast majority of transgendered people, however, who are content to live their life “passing” in their new gender, there are far more pressing issues than a pregnant man — like keeping their jobs. Last year, a heated debate about the inclusion of “gender identity” in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (a bill prohibiting job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation) created widespread rancor between some transgender and gay and lesbian activists. The bill eventually passed the house without a gender identity clause, but the transgender rights movement has had other successes in past years, often in smaller jurisdictions. In New York, for example, it’s now legal for a transgendered person to change the gender on his or her birth certificate.

Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, resents the way that the Thomas Beatie flap has overshadowed more important developments. “The media hasn’t gotten a message yet that they ought to get a life,” she snaps. Last week, Congress held its first-ever hearing on discrimination against transgender employees, and on June 17, the American Medical Association passed a resolution stating that it “supports public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder,” but these items have received nowhere near Beatie’s media attention.

An additional area of visibility at the moment is the work at revising GID in the next version of the DSM.  Kelly Winters has written an excellent article titled, “Diagnosis vs. Treatment: The Horns of a False Dilemma“:

The transgender community has been divided by fear that we must chose between access to corrective hormonal and surgical procedures to support transition and the stigma of mental illness imposed by the current diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder(GID)[1] This schism has allowed little dialogue and no progress on GID reform in nearly three decades. However, the GID diagnosis has failed our community on both points. Transsexual individuals are poorly served by a diagnosis that both stigmatizes us as mentally deficient and sexually deviant and at the same time undermines the legitimacy of social transition and medical procedures that are often dismissed as “elective,””cosmetic,” or as reinforcing mental disorder.

Gender Identity Disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders[2] has imposed stigma of mental illness and sexual deviance upon people who meet no scientific definition of mental disorder[3]. It does not acknowledge the existence of many healthy, well-adjusted transsexual and gender variant people or justify why we are labeled as mentally ill.

This is a critical discussion and is very well articulated here.

Lastly for this morning, Kate Bornstein wrote something earlier this week in response to furor over the news that transgender youth in the NY penal system can now be treated with some level of dignity.  Rather than explain what happened, simply read Kate’s article: Transgender Rights, Transgender Perks.  She says it all.