Mara Kiesling, director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said Thursday’s House hearing on trans issues is being viewed as a stepping stone toward future pro-trans legislation. No legislative action is expected this year, she said. (File photo)
Transgender
issues
took
center
stage
in
Congress
this
week
as
lawmakers
—
for
the
first
time
ever
—
heard
the
stories
of
transgender
people
who
faced
discrimination.
Gay
and
transgender
activists
described
Thursday’s
hearing
as
historic
and
were
hopeful
that
members
of
Congress
would
be
spurred
to
act
by
the
testimony
they
heard.
“This
is
a
really
serious
problem
that
needs
to
be
addressed,”
said
Mara
Keisling
of
National
Center
for
Transgender
Equality.
“It’s
that
simple.”
Set
to
occur
after
Blade
deadline,
Thursday’s
hearing
was
not
keyed
to
any
pending
congressional
proposal,
such
as
the
Employment
Non-Discrimination
Act
(ENDA),
which
aims
to
bar
workplace
discrimination
against
gays.
It
also
was
not
tied
to
legislation
introduced
last
year
by
Rep.
Barney
Frank
(D-Mass.)
to
bar
workplace
discrimination
against
transgender
people.
“Nothing’s
going
to
happen
with
any
of
these
bills
this
year,”
Keisling
said.
“It
just
isn’t.”
Keisling
said
the
hearing
instead
was
intended
to
give
an
overview
of
transgender
workplace
discrimination
issues.
“It’s
about
the
societal
problem
of
transgender
employment
discrimination,”
she
said.
“It’s
not
about
ENDA.”
Expected
speakers
for
the
House
hearing
included
gay
Reps.
Frank
and
Tammy
Baldwin
(D-Wisc.),
plus
Shannon
Minter,
legal
director
of
the
National
Center
for
Lesbian
Rights.
Minter,
who
is
transgender,
was
a
lead
attorney
in
California’s
same-sex
marriage
case.
“We
are
laying
a
foundation
for
2009
when
we
hope
and
believe
there
will
be
actual
legislation
to
consider,”
Minter
said.
“The
goal
is
full
equality
for
transgender
workers
in
the
workplace.”
Other
expected
speakers
included
Diane
Schroer,
who
has
alleged
that
she
lost
a
job
offer
from
the
Library
of
Congress
after
revealing
her
plans
to
transition
from
male
to
female,
and
Sabrina
Marcus
Taraboletti,
a
former
aerospace
engineer
who
said
she
was
dismissed
after
announcing
plans
to
transition
from
male
to
female.
“It’s
mostly
about
members
of
Congress
hearing
from
real
people
who
need
real
solutions,”
Keisling
said.
“This
is
a
really
serious,
life
or
death
issue.”
Thursday’s
hearing
came
seven
months
after
House
members
voted
235-184
to
pass
a
version
of
ENDA
that
omitted
trans
provisions.
The
vote
followed
weeks
of
intense
debate
among
activists
regarding
the
bill.
A
companion
bill
has
not
been
introduced
in
the
Senate.
Sen.
Edward
Kennedy
(D-Mass.),
the
chamber’s
lead
backer
of
ENDA
in
past
years,
supports
the
House
bill,
but
has
been
discouraged
from
pushing
it.
“We’ve
made
it
clear
to
Sen.
Kennedy’s
office
that
we
don’t
believe
they
should
move
the
broken
ENDA,”
Keisling
said.
“There
would
be
really
no
advantage
to
it.”
President
Bush’s
advisers
have
urged
him
to
veto
ENDA
and
it
did
not
pass
the
House
with
enough
support
to
override
a
veto.
If
a
vote
is
held
this
year
in
the
Senate,
lawmakers
in
that
chamber
also
are
expected
to
fall
short
of
achieving
a
veto-proof
margin.
Senate
discussions
of
ENDA
have
been
further
hindered
by
Kennedy’s
cancer
diagnosis,
threats
by
Republican
leaders
to
stage
a
filibuster
and
a
shrinking
congressional
calendar.
The
separate
proposal
to
bar
workplace
discrimination
against
transgender
people,
introduced
last
year
in
the
House,
is
before
two
House
subcommittees,
including
the
one
that
hosted
Thursday’s
hearing,
but
no
major
actions
regarding
the
bill
are
pending
in
either
subcommittee.
Keisling
said
Thursday’s
hearing
was
intended
to
lay
the
groundwork
for
future
legislative
proposals
and
win
new
allies.
“There
are
a
lot
of
really
good
members
of
Congress
who
want
to
do
the
right
thing,”
Keisling
said.
“And
this
is
a
really
important
step
in
getting
to
that
point.”
She
said
Thursday’s
hearing
also
gave
lawmakers
the
opportunity
to
“see
transgender
people
as
real
people,
with
real
families,
who
live
in
real
communities.
And
they
need
to
work.”
Speaking
to
reporters
before
the
hearing,
witnesses
said
they
hoped
their
testimony
would
cause
lawmakers
to
take
new
interest
in
barring
employers
from
firing
anyone
who
transitions
between
genders.
“Many
of
us
face
that
kind
of
discrimination,”
Marcus
Taraboletti
said,
“and
we
really
need
it
to
end.”
The
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Michaellgooch on 6/30/084:32 AM:
“There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28. Sad to say, this ancient truth is nowhere to be seen in the modern American arena. Do we discriminate against people that are ‘different’ from us? What a strange world that we still have issues regarding discrimination. Like sexual harassment, the true victims rarely report it while the abused suffer in silence. This is a problem. Huge Problem. In my book, Wingtips with Spurs, http://www.amazon.com/Wingtips-Spurs-Michael-L-Gooch/dp/1897326882/
I devote a chapter to discrimination and how it is often over-looked or swept into a dark corner. And yes, it still exists in modern America. While we pour more stupid laws into the books to prevent such painful actions, we fail to fix the real problem, that is, the root. In addition, we have been conditioned by lawyers to believe that legal and moral are the same thing. So sad. Whenever a human is treated differently than the masses, we should take a cold, hard look at the situation. A hard look indeed. Maybe even the mirror. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR Author of Wingtips with Spurs: Cowboy Wisdom for Today’s Business Leaders http://www.michaellgooch.com
