I've been following the progress on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in Congress. I, like all of us, have friends who are part of the LGBT community. Much of what the opposition says about this bill is incorrect. It does not give special rights or protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, but simply ensures they have fair and equal access and protection in their employment.
I have presented essays on my thoughts on gender, and think that while as the saying goes, "Sometimes, something is better than nothing.", this time I think that nothing is better than something. I am disappointed with Rep. Barney Frank. While I respect him, I think is decision to exclude gender identity in the initial version of the ENDA is wrong.
I don't know all the politics around the exclusion of transpeople in the ENDA, it seems unreasonable they were included in the Hate Crime Bill but not in ENDA. And delaying inclusion in a later amendment is simply political-speak for avoiding the real answer, they won't be included because if the initial version wouldn't pass with their inclusion, a separate amendment won't even get out of committee.
I'm angered that Representative Frank would go against the majority in the LGBT community. Some in the gay community don't mind the exclusion of transpeople in the ENDA because it's viewed as the factor for the delay in the passage over the years. And some in the feminist community have longer argued against transwomen based on illogical reasons. But when Rep. Tammy Baldwin sides with the trans community in her anger with Rep. Frank, it's clear to me he considers transpeople politically expendable people.
I think it's time the truth be told to the trans community. It seems to me that the conservative and religious middle and right fear the consequences of accepting transpeople. It's easy to accept LGB people because they're usually not obvious and go about life like everyone else. But many transpeople challenge the view of gender and gender presentation, and "real" transpeople have no choice but just be who they are and hope for public understanding and acceptance.
In my view, and in the view of ENDA and the medical community with transpeople, transpeople aren't about transvestites, drag queens, or even cross dressers. None of them are transgender except in their presentation. A transsexual is someone with the mind-body conflict of their gender, and under the standards of care, transistion into the sex and gender they are. It's not a mind issue, but a body one, and when changed they live very normal and productive lives.
Once someone has transistioned and become physically and legally their sex and gender, they are no longer identified as transpeople, but one with a transsxual past. And there are many successful public transwomen and thousands more live in silence unknown to all but a few friends and family. All of these people need the assurances of our government that their past and present can't be grounds for discrimination.
While Congress gives the rights and protections to lesbians, gays and bisexual people, leaving out transpeople is not what this country is about. Rep. Frank should remove the ENDA from consideration until everyone is covered. I can hope for the best if he follows this path, but I'm not holding my breath. Rep. should listen to the constituency and leave the result to the other repesentatives' decision, and ultimate fate at the ballot box.
You can get more information from the HRC and sign a petition in support of all-inclusive ENDA.
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You write: "In my view, and in the view of ENDA and the medical community with transpeople, transpeople aren't about transvestites, drag queens, or even cross dressers. None of them are transgender except in their presentation. A transsexual is someone with the mind-body conflict of their gender, and under the standards of care, transistion into the sex and gender they are. It's not a mind issue, but a body one, and when changed they live very normal and productive lives."
ReplyDeleteYeah, sure. If you actually pay attention to transgender people and their lives, that idea falls apart real fast. Everyone who's tried to draw a line between transsexuals, transvestites, drag queens and cross-dressers has failed. Everyone in those categories is transgendered in some way, and we all deserve protection.
I appreciate your desire to not throw transgender people under the bus. While you're at it, can you please not throw us transvestites under the bus either?
Ok, and in response, some comments. I'm not throwing transvestites, drag queens and cross-dressers under the bus, and they are, as everyone is to some degree, identified as transgender. My view is that very few identify as transpeople and go through the HBIGDA standards to transistion into the sex they see themselves (gender) as.
ReplyDeleteTV, DQ, and CD's don't have and express the conflict between their sex and gender. Most of them present themselves in life and work as their birth sex. And whether straight or gay, they don't identify as transsexual under the medical definition. I know so may later in their life, but then that changes their identity.
ENDA should be for transpeople those who do transistion and live and work openly in their gender, and face the legal problems of discrimination trying to make a (new) life. This is something TV, DQ and CD's don't have to experience.
Only transpeople have to go through the physical changes under therapy and medical supervision, go through irreversible GRS/SRS, and go through the legal process to change their birth certificate, state and federal documents, credit/employment records, etc. And then face a lifetime of the reality of their past with the present.
TV, DQ and CD's are already covered by existing laws. And while they are the subject of open personal discrimination, it's far less than transsexuals who lives 24/7 to become and then be the gender they want to be.
I understand the interest to bring all transgender people under ENDA. I just don't see it personally from my experience with friends, especially when I've seen the LGB community and many TV, DQ and CD's in the past throw transpeople under the bus to preserve their own agenda.
I know that's not true now as many are calling for not passing ENDA unless transpeople are included. I applaud and support that. I want transpeople to have their own identity because of their unique situation and circumstances different than the rest of the transgender community.
Thanks for the comment and perspective. We mostly agree, and just differ by personal experience. So while we're sitting here conversing on the subject, the waitress at the tavern asks, "Can I get ya'll another pitcher? Which microbrew this time?"
I forgot to add another point. Being a TV, DQ or CD isn't a medical condition defined in the DSM-IVTR which requires medical intervention for the patient to complete a transistion. Being a TV, DQ or CD is a considered an expression, a presentation, a hobby or a fetish. It's against medical ethics to treat these groups of people, meaning there's nothing wrong with you. A TV, DQ or CD doesn't have to go through an expensive process and accept the label of a medical condition or disease, meaning you have a mental problem.
ReplyDeleteA TV, DQ or CD doesn't have to come out as the opposite gender and express the lifelong desire to change and live in that gender, and then go through the entire process to become physically and legally that sex. A TV, DQ or CD doesn't face the open public discrimination daily for who they are and want to be. And it folllows them throughout the rest of their life.
I'm not arguing some TV, DQ or CD's later identify as a transperson, and then go into and through the transistion. And many transpeople live for periods in their transistion in the TV, DQ or CD community to find a personal comfort level in their transistion. But there is a difference between someone who wakes up Monday to go back to their normal life in their birth sex than someone who wakes up in their transistion to be their gender than the birth sex.
For these factors alone, transpeople are separate and unique from the rest of the transgender community. They are deserving to be in ENDA. I'm not against TV, DQ and CD's in ENDA, but separate because their life and work circumstances are different. Or are they ready to fight for that, or simply use the "transgender" umbrella label?
"Waitress, Can I get a menu? The microbrew sure could use a sidedish."