Trans activist
Melissa Sklarz reflects on lobby days past and the trans
community's new message to the Senate on ENDA: just
wait!
Last week, I went
to Washington DC to lobby Congress as part of the
National Center for Trans Equality annual lobby effort.
My first lobbying
of Congress was in the mid 1990s with GENDERPAC. But
once the Republicans took over Congress and set a new agenda
and George Bush got elected, my lobbying presence in
D.C. seemed irrelevant.
But last year,
what is politely called a “fair-minded
majority” took over in Congress and there
seemed to be a place for progressive, urban, trans New
Yorkers to speak out.
Back in the 20th
century, most legislation at the Federal level was
written as gay and lesbian only. A unified empowered trans
community is a newish idea and so lobbying on behalf
of that community is also new. After years of
activists working to change gay and lesbian community to
LGBT Community -- that is, to include trans people in
the mosaic of queer life -- it became imperative
that legislation be written to include gender identity
and gender expression.
At first, the
journey to change minds was difficult, as with all new
ideas. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the lead gay and
lesbian lobby group in D.C., was hesitant about
the place of trans within their purview, and so work
began to educate and inform. Finally, in 2004, HRC
agreed that a unified LGBT community empowers us all and
recommended to Congress that the two pro-equality
bills in Congress -- Hate Crimes and the employment
protection bill called ENDA -- have language changed
to include gender identity and expression.
And so off we
went, with a powerful message for inclusion and a new
vision. The Democratic caucus agreed with our new ideas but
were still the minority in 2004 and 2005. Progressive
leaders and Rep. Barney Frank eventually changed the
language to be trans inclusive and, when Congress
changed hands in 2006, we were ready to go.
Lobby Day 2007
was glorious. We arrived with an upbeat message for
the LGBT community, including trans people. But the
climate on the Hill changed because of fear and lack
of education and trans language was deleted again in
October. Trans people hoped for an amendment for gender
identity, but it never made it to the floor of Congress
and ENDA passed the House without gender-identity
protection.
The winter of
2007/08 was difficult as blame was assigned, new strategies
died on arrival and the LGBT Community figured out where to
go, with gays and lesbians moving forward and
trans people talking about “the ick
factor” of perceived trans realities.
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Melissa Sklarz is the director of NYTRO (New York
Trans Rights Organization).