Friday, October 05, 2007
Mistreatment of my family makes me angry
ENDA, oy. Time out.
I used to think I got a lot of email. then came ENDA (or as my friend Sara prefers, EDNA). "Fuggedaboutit" New Yorkers say... More email than one can deal with. Lots of good stuff. Lots of people who know little about inside the Beltway politics. Lots of hateful things.
Despite the rhetoric of some, there are legitimate opinions on both sides of the issue. That being said, my take is simple: When ENDA includes us all, we all move forward together. I could never look members of my family like Mara Kiesling of the National Center for Transgender Equality and Melissa Sklarz of National Stonewall Democrats again if I supported taking gender identity out of ENDA merely to get it passed.
While 'inclusion or nothing' is my take on it, I am also smart enough to know that HRC is not going to allow themselves to be put in a position of punishing House members for voting for any version of ENDA. If ENDA hits the floor -- with or without gender identity protections -- it's unthinkable that HRC would oppose it. It's just not going to happen. It's not how Capital Hill works. (To be clear, I'm not trying to tell people what to think about it, but my friends on the Hill tell me I am right on the money about how it works.)
Fortunately, the votes, if they happen, are at least a week away. With the postponement, we're given some space to push the issue, to have meetings, to lobby, and to work on what will be best for all of us. At times like this, speculation is rarely helpful; it's much better for the same energy to go toward working from our current position to get where we all want to be.
You may not agree with every tactic of our movement's leaders, but I can attest that everyone of them -- whether it's big operations like NGLTF and HRC or smaller ones like PFLAG and Pride At Work -- are working tirelessly on our behalf. Regardless of how this all pans out, we owe them all a debt of gratitude. Are we perfect little ducks lined up in a row? Nah. If we were we'd be more like the opposition.
I'm not saying people should not be passionate and if I had a representative in Congress -- don't get me started on that -- I would personally ask her or him to vote against any ENDA that did not include protections based on gender identity. But, regardless of the vibrant discussion/debate, some people have gone overboard. when people start slamming our community organizations for no other reason than to score political points -- especially the ones I've worked for and believe in -- I'm going to stand up and say something.
So far the hard right, conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan seems to be the only one who has endorsed Aravosis's broad, and unnecessary, attack on NGLTF and his decision to throw the transgender community under the bus.
Trust me, I get it. For our organizations -- all of them -- it really does suck to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. At the same time, folks like Aravosis hurling words like stones from a keyboard does not help. It's like lighter fluid on an already fiery bar-b-que; it may look neat, but it makes the food taste gross. If the proverbial stones get tossed around, lets target the cadre of anti-gay closet cases piling up in my inbox.
The blogger, whose last big story was Gannon in '05, writes:
In his rambling post, Aravosis gives us a revisionist history web lesson on LGBT lingo. He suggests googling "glb community" and that we will "see that the phrase, while not used any more, was in popular use a while back..." Well, if 644 hits on Google means "popular" I guess it's true. (Incidentally, entering "lgbt community" returns over one million hits on the same search engine.)
If anything, I would tell my transgender brothers and sisters to be aware of who this messaging is coming from. From his bio:
Perhaps it's Aravosis' own perceptions how how people will perceive him if his cause is aligned with the transgender community that worry him. Of course, my blogfather looks just fine playing gender-bender with pearls to me:
Girls in glass dressing rooms
shouldn't throw pearls.
Any questions?
If others disagree, fine, but don't insult my family. It makes me angry and I might just call them out on it.
I used to think I got a lot of email. then came ENDA (or as my friend Sara prefers, EDNA). "Fuggedaboutit" New Yorkers say... More email than one can deal with. Lots of good stuff. Lots of people who know little about inside the Beltway politics. Lots of hateful things.
Despite the rhetoric of some, there are legitimate opinions on both sides of the issue. That being said, my take is simple: When ENDA includes us all, we all move forward together. I could never look members of my family like Mara Kiesling of the National Center for Transgender Equality and Melissa Sklarz of National Stonewall Democrats again if I supported taking gender identity out of ENDA merely to get it passed.
While 'inclusion or nothing' is my take on it, I am also smart enough to know that HRC is not going to allow themselves to be put in a position of punishing House members for voting for any version of ENDA. If ENDA hits the floor -- with or without gender identity protections -- it's unthinkable that HRC would oppose it. It's just not going to happen. It's not how Capital Hill works. (To be clear, I'm not trying to tell people what to think about it, but my friends on the Hill tell me I am right on the money about how it works.)
Fortunately, the votes, if they happen, are at least a week away. With the postponement, we're given some space to push the issue, to have meetings, to lobby, and to work on what will be best for all of us. At times like this, speculation is rarely helpful; it's much better for the same energy to go toward working from our current position to get where we all want to be.
You may not agree with every tactic of our movement's leaders, but I can attest that everyone of them -- whether it's big operations like NGLTF and HRC or smaller ones like PFLAG and Pride At Work -- are working tirelessly on our behalf. Regardless of how this all pans out, we owe them all a debt of gratitude. Are we perfect little ducks lined up in a row? Nah. If we were we'd be more like the opposition.
I'm not saying people should not be passionate and if I had a representative in Congress -- don't get me started on that -- I would personally ask her or him to vote against any ENDA that did not include protections based on gender identity. But, regardless of the vibrant discussion/debate, some people have gone overboard. when people start slamming our community organizations for no other reason than to score political points -- especially the ones I've worked for and believe in -- I'm going to stand up and say something.
So far the hard right, conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan seems to be the only one who has endorsed Aravosis's broad, and unnecessary, attack on NGLTF and his decision to throw the transgender community under the bus.
Trust me, I get it. For our organizations -- all of them -- it really does suck to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. At the same time, folks like Aravosis hurling words like stones from a keyboard does not help. It's like lighter fluid on an already fiery bar-b-que; it may look neat, but it makes the food taste gross. If the proverbial stones get tossed around, lets target the cadre of anti-gay closet cases piling up in my inbox.
The blogger, whose last big story was Gannon in '05, writes:
As little as 14 years ago, the phrase "lesbian and gay community" was used by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force back in 1993 (while NGLTF is now leadingAs "little as 14 years ago"? Huh. Give me a break. It's not like the statement was as "little as two months ago." And by the way, who says "as little as"? People say "as recently as," but "as recently as 14 years ago would have looked pretty funny, eh?
the charge for transgender inclusion in the "LGBT" community).
In his rambling post, Aravosis gives us a revisionist history web lesson on LGBT lingo. He suggests googling "glb community" and that we will "see that the phrase, while not used any more, was in popular use a while back..." Well, if 644 hits on Google means "popular" I guess it's true. (Incidentally, entering "lgbt community" returns over one million hits on the same search engine.)
If anything, I would tell my transgender brothers and sisters to be aware of who this messaging is coming from. From his bio:
...Aravosis has significant political experience, having served five years as a legislative attorney for US Senator Ted Stevens.On another section of the same site:
US Senator Ted Stevens - Foreign Affairs AdviserFrankly, I am getting a little sick and tired of people who got us into this damned mess thinking they are the ones that get to tell us how to get out: Ted Stevens. Five years. Enough said. (Incidentally, on his blog the reference to this in the bio is quite truncated: "John's policy experience includes stints in the US Senate, the World Bank...")
Perhaps it's Aravosis' own perceptions how how people will perceive him if his cause is aligned with the transgender community that worry him. Of course, my blogfather looks just fine playing gender-bender with pearls to me:
Girls in glass dressing rooms
shouldn't throw pearls.
Any questions?
* * * *
It's really easy to stand with your friends when the road is smooth. It's the true friends who stick by you when the road is rough. Right now, for the LGBT community it's a rough road. I'm going to stick with my friends and press on with the struggle.If others disagree, fine, but don't insult my family. It makes me angry and I might just call them out on it.
By: Michael Rogers
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