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GWEN SMITH
Friday, July 25, 2008
WITH ONLY A few months to go until the November election, I find myself with little to explore regarding the views of the two major party candidates on transgender issues. I can engage in some guesswork, but actual “on the record” statements are slim.
For Sen. John McCain, I can look at his stance on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and the Matthew Shepard Act. He does not support either. Of course, I should note that he does not support them in either a transgender-inclusive form or a gay-only form. He is also opposed to gays and lesbians serving openly in the military as well as same-sex marriage. So while I cannot find a single solid statement from McCain regarding transgender rights, it seems pretty clear that you won’t find a friend of the community in the senator from Arizona.
On the other hand, Sen. Barack Obama was one of the more pro-trans candidates among the Democratic field during the primary. When he was asked directly about inclusion in the Matthew Shepard Act, he was clear.
“The transgender community has to be protected,” Obama said. “I just don’t have any tolerance for that sort of intolerance. And I think we need to legislate aggressively to protect them.” His campaign also went on the record about transgender inclusion within ENDA.
Of course, much of this was said some time ago, long before he was the presumptive nominee for his party. It is likely, given this change, that he would be a lot less direct on the issue of transgender rights today. Such is the nature of politics.
NEITHER OBAMA NOR McCain has picked a running mate — that we know of — so it’s hard to see what influence their vice president might have on transgender rights. Again, we can surmise that the Democratic choices are trans-friendly — both Edwards and Clinton have made statements about transgender rights, though the latter’s tended to be a bit on the vague side — while the GOP choices are less so.
In 2004 and previous presidential elections, it broke down about the same, with Kerry, and before him Gore, appearing much more transgender friendly than George W. Bush. Unfortunately, what I’ve felt in practice is that we simply cannot win either way: while the GOP candidate is definitely against us, even hostile at times, the Democratic candidate is often willing to support us only as long as it is politically expedient and will jettison us at the first moment of resistance.
We’ve certainly seen this on the struggle for transgender inclusion on the Matthew Shepard Act and ENDA, as well as in broader GLBT rights issues like “Don’t Ask Don’t tell” — signed into law by a Democrat — and the fight over same-gender marriage.
It’s the frustrating nature of baby steps that we are still having to look at a choice of enmity versus opportunity, and still deal with an argument over incremental rights from a party that is supposedly more progressive than the other.
In 2000, with the contested victory of George W. Bush who, at the earliest stages of his presidency was viewed as a weak, ineffective president, there were still hopes of continuing some of the strides we made during the Clinton years. While many knew there would be an uphill battle, the assumption was that we had momentum on our side. Sept. 11, 2001, was one of many events that showed us that would simply not be the case. There were too many fires to be put out to focus on forward motion.
BY THE TIME of the 2004 election, getting much federal support for transgender rights became even more difficult. Not only were we assured a defeat from the Republican Congress and president, even leading Democrats were unwilling to take a step in support of trans rights.
And there remains a great deal to do.
We as a community simply need to continue to do more to address our needs in Washington. We need to continue to press on, if not individually, then through the National Center for Transgender Equality and other transgender groups, as well as via transgender-supportive groups like the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. As long as the Human Rights Campaign remains willing to throw transgender people under the bus, being there to actively express the need to keep transgender rights as part of the total package remains important.
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