From Bay Windows:
The House Committee on Education and Labor is tentatively scheduled to hold a hearing on employment discrimination against transgender people on June 26 — the first congressional hearing to focus primarily on transgender issues. The committee’s subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) will hear testimony on the issue.
Don’t start gettin’ yer hopes up.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), said the historic hearing will give Congress its first serious look at discrimination around gender identity and expression. She credited subcommittee chairman Rep. Robert Andrews (D-New Jersey) and Congressman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) with pushing for the hearing.
“I think for years [Congress] thought about gender identity as sexual orientation’s little brother, and I think Congressman Andrews and Congressman Frank are right in wanting to focus more on transgender people,” said Keisling.
Mother Mara and St. Barney.
A winning combination the likes of McGovern and Shriver?
Well, the mix gets oilier.
Alison Herwitt, legislative director for HRC, said the hearing is designed to help educate Congress in the hopes of passing a fully inclusive ENDA bill next year.
The Scampaign?
Who’da thunk that the Scampaign would be in there trying to look like it gives a damn about whether trans people live or die?
“The hearing, while not on any piece of legislation, is part of the education process to move us forward,” said Herwitt.
Hmmmmm….
Why is it that whenever I see the word “education” in conjunction with the Scampaign and trans issues my stomach wants to crawl up out through my mouth, grab a pair of pinking shears and poke my eyes out?
Herwitt said a coalition of LGBT and civil rights organizations, including HRC, NCTE, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the ACLU and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, have been coordinating strategy for the hearing and have been meeting and talking regularly. She said HRC’s differences with those organizations over ENDA have not impeded that collaboration.
Gee Alison. howza ’bout apportioning percentages of usefulness among that lot?
And apportioning blame for the pain trans people suffer?
When asked to characterize the relationship between HRC and the other LGBT groups in preparing for the hearing Keisling responded, “I don’t think I would characterize it. I don’t think it’s particularly relevant to the hearing.”
That says volumes - not about the Scampaign (we already know what it really is), but about Mother Mara’s relevance…
to anything.
June 19, 2008 at 4:46 am
Lucy, hold that football real tight now and promise not to pull it away (for the thousandth time) when I run in for that field goal kick.
I still say that Charlie Brown needs to aim for the ball and kick Lucy instead.
ANY organization who collaborates with HRC is not only validating those scumbags but also screwing the community.
If the organizations that we hand money to so freely at conferences were doing their job to begin with, a hearing to educate Congress wouldn’t be necessary.
Speaking of accountability, why don’t we take a little gander at http://www.guidestar.org and see who isn’t filing their taxes. Someone needs to start collaborating with the IRS.