News Flash … News Flash … A resolution was introduced in the U.S. Senate early in March that would amend the Senate rules to prohibit employment discrimination in senatorial offices on the basis of sexual orientation. The measure was introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and is similar to the failed resolution that she introduced last year when the Democrats held a majority in the Senate. It is not expected to pass this year in the much more conservative Senate.
While we should be applauding Sen. Feinstein for introducing such a necessary and reasonable resolution, one can't help but wonder why she didn't go just a little bit further to assure that the entire LGBT community was included.
Oh sure, you can say to me, 'Oh Miranda, cut her some slack. She went out on a limb for the gay community and she innocently forgot about transgenders.' But that's just not the case. There is more than meets the eye going on here. Turns out that Sen. Feinstein was asked repeatedly by national LGBT lobbying organizations, including HRC, to add the words 'gender identity' to the resolution, and she refused to do so.
Why would she refuse to add the words 'gender identity ' to a resolution that has no chance of passing anyway? Is it because she is unaware of the transgender community? I don't think so … as former mayor of San Francisco, she cannot help being not only aware, of but also perhaps familiar with, the transgender community.
Is it because she is oblivious to the movement that has grown over the last decade to a point where it is considered 'uncool' to leave out the T on LGBT? I don't think so … even HRC has expanded its congressional nondiscrimination pledge to include not only sexual orientation but also gender identity or expression. And HRC used that argument on Sen. Feinstein, but it fell on deaf ears.
So what's the deal here? Why would a progressive Senator from arguably the most LGBT friendly state in the nation, and certainly from the most LGBT friendly city, refuse to acknowledge that we have the same rights as any other member of the LGBT community? Why wouldn't she take a chance even on a relatively inconsequential and doomed resolution?
I don't know the answer, but she's not the only one who is having trouble with including us. Rumor has it that the Hate Crimes Prevention Act (a.k.a. the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act or LLEEA) will be introduced by Sen. Kennedy without explicit coverage of transgender people. And chances are that ENDA will be introduced without mention of gender identity and expression.
And did you ever notice that whenever the straight press reports on SB101, the LGBT anti-discrimination bill pending in Springfield, they always refer to it as the gay-rights bill? And did you notice how many times the gay media talks about SB101 and sexual orientation, forgetting that gender identity is also included in it? And have you ever gone to events that are sponsored by LGBT organizations just to find that those very same organizations often forget to mention transgender? Or they fail to provide support for the transgender people in their organizations?
We worked long and hard to make sure that transgender people are recognized as part of the LGBT community. But right now there are only a few dozen transgender activists scattered across the United States. We've made a big difference in the cities and counties that have passed gender-identity inclusive laws. But at the federal level, it's not working. If we can't get agreement from the most enlightened and progressive senators that it is not acceptable to fire us, or even kill us, what chance do we have to ever get these measures passed into federal law?
Well folks, that's the price you pay for invisibility. If they don't see you, you're not there. If you're not there, your vote doesn't count. It's all that simple. It's a political equation.
And it's all well and good to have a few spokes-trans out there representing the transgender community, but a few loud people does not a political voice create.
If you want recognition, you have to be visible.
If you want rights, you have to work for them.
Miranda Stevens-Miller welcomes your comments at MirandaSt1@aol.com