One thing that often gets lost in the debates about "do we compromise about such-and-such" is the people who get thrown under the bus when our leaders prove themselves to be spineless. I'm sure many of you have met Monica Helms by now, but I want to put a human face on what Barney Frank did when he and our leadership decided transgender people didn't need ENDA protection:
Monica made an impassioned plea this Saturday at the Cobb breakfast: Tell our House leadership that it wasn't OK to deprive her and other transgendered people (PEOPLE, with the same rights as everyone else) the right to have a job, earn a living, and just live their fracking lives like everyone else. It's pretty tough when someone like Barney Frank, someone who has been a champion of rights for everyone, decides to forsake his principles and go for a compromise. Who is going to stand up for Monica and people like her, if even her supposed allies aren't willing to speak up? You want to tell transgendered people they're a political liability, you tell it to Monica, as committed a Democrat and possessed of as much simple human dignity as anyone else. There are real people that Congressman Frank and our friends in Washington hurt, and there are real people who will continue to die if they aren't granted the protections the rest of us take for granted.
3 Responses to “Barney Frank threw Monica under the bus”
I couldn't disagree more.
As Juliana stated in the previous post, a transgender inclusive ENDA is 50 votes short of passage. That is why gender identity was taken out, not because Barney Frank "decided transgender people didn't need ENDA protection."
Congress, after more than 10 years of delay, is finally ready to pass ENDA to protect gays and lesbians from employment discrimination. But they are not ready to protect transgendered people. In any event, many forms of discrimination against transgendered individuals are already protected against (on the basis of sex under current federal law). On the other hand, the courts have explicitly said that sexual orientation is not protected.
Do I think that transgendered people should be protected against employment discrimination? Yes. But at the expense of not getting a bill passed just to feel good about it? Hell no.
Sometimes you just have to get a bill passed. When Title VII was passed in 1964, it did not include everybody. Would you have opposed passage of that bill because it did not prohibit discrimination against gays or people with disabilities? If you had, then it might still be legal to discriminate on the basis of race or sex today.
The way I look at this is that it's exactly like the Iraq war funding debates. We can't get a bill with withdrawal deadlines passed, but if our leadership hadn't at least put the bill to a vote, we all would have been very angry. I think we owe the 'T' people at least a real fight for their interests before we "compromise" by leaving them behind.
FYI-From my inbox via Monica...
Friends,
I don't have very good news. I received the following from Dave Nobel, NGLTF. Please read all of this.
Monica
************************
A team of us just returned from a meeting with leadership staff. I wish I had better news to report. Here’s the rundown:
They intend to move forward with a non-inclusive bill. They intend to schedule the sexual orientation-only bill for next Thursday in the House Education and Labor Committee.
While they have offered to keep HR2015 (the fully inclusive bill) on the table for consideration, it was clear to everyone at the meeting that with this proposed strategy, it would be much more difficult to have a vote on a united bill anytime soon. HR2015 is the bill we must continue to fight for.
This weekend, we are preparing new action alerts and press statements so that we can come out swinging against this new strategy on Monday. We must ramp up our communication with every member of Congress and especially members of the House Education and Labor Committee. We must express how much we disagree advancing a bill that leaves some in our community behind, and we must be clear about how we only support a fully inclusive ENDA (HR2015), and oppose anything else.
You can find a list of the House Education and Labor Committee members here:
http://edlabor.house.gov/about/members.shtml
We will send more information out over the weekend, but I wanted to get this update out to you right away. And, if you can find your Representative at a public event this weekend, please try to deliver this message to him/her in person.
In Unity,
Dave
Dave Noble
Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
1325 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202.639.6309
Fax: 202.393.2241
DNoble@TheTaskForce.org
http://www.thetaskforce.org
*****************************
The "leadership staff" mentioned included Speaker Nancy Peposi, Congressman Barney Frank and Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin. Congresswoman Baldwin does not support this strategy. Neither does the nearly 300 national and local GLBT organizations across the country. The following is the list of the Democratic members on the Education and Labor Committee. The future of an inclusive ENDA is in their hands. I implore you that on Monday, you call as many of those members of this Committee and urge them to send only a fully inclusuve ENDA to the floor. If you are in their district, then please make an effore to call them. Thank you. - MFH -
Education and Labor Committee: Democrats:
1. George Miller, Chairman - CA-7 - 202-225-2095 - George.Miller@mail.house.gov
2. Dale E. Kildee, MI-5 - 202-225-3611
3. Donald M. Payne, NJ-10 - 202-225-3436
4. Robert E. Andrews, NJ-1 - 202-225-6501
5. Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott, VA-3 - 202-225-8351
6. Lynn C. Woolsey, CA-6 - 202-225-5161
7. Rubén Hinojosa, TX-15 - 202-225-2531
8. Carolyn McCarthy, NY-4 - 202-225-5516
9. John F. Tierney, MA-6 - 202-225-8020
10. Dennis J. Kucinich, OH-10 - 202-225-5871
11. David Wu, OR-1 - 202-225-0855
12. Rush D. Holt, NJ-12 - 202-225-5801
13. Susan A. Davis, CA-53 - 202-225-2040
14. Danny K. Davis, IL-7 – 202-225-5006
15. Ra√∫l M. Grijalva, AZ-7 - 202-225-2435
16. Timothy H. Bishop, NY-1 - 202-225-3826
17. Linda T. S√°nchez, CA-59 - 202-225-6676
18. John P. Sarbanes, MD-3 - 202-225-4016
19. Joe Sestak, PA-7 - 202-225-2011
20. David Loebsack, IA-2 - 202-225-6576
21. Mazie K. Hirono, HI-2 - 202-225-4906
22. Jason Altmire, PA-4 - 202-225-2565
23. John A. Yarmuth, KY-3 - 202-225-5401
24. Phil Hare, IL-17 - 202-225-5905
25. Yvette D. Clarke, NY-11 - 202-225-6231
26. Joe Courtney, CT-2 - 202-225-2076
27. Carol Shea-Porter, NH-1 - 202-225-5456
If any of you have any further question, please contact info@UnitedENDA.org or go to http://www.unitedenda.org