Babs at 76 passed away in 2019. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee, Deputy Vice Chair of the NJ Democratic State Committee and Political Director of the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of NJ. She served on the Executive Committee of Trans United 4 Obama. She has served as Vice Chair of the DNC Eastern Caucus, was President of NJ Stonewall Democrats, Co-Chair of National Stonewall Democrats Federal PAC Board, Vice-Chair of Garden State Equality, Executive Board member of National Stonewall Democrats as Chair of the DNC Relations Committee and a member of the NJ Civil Unions Review Commission.
With all the negative news about anti-trans laws keeping us out of public restrooms of our choice it’s important to know that we have big guns on our side — from major corporations to rock stars — many powerful people have got our backs. Babs Casbar Siperstein today presents an in-depth look at the blow back North Carolina is experiencing since they passed HB 2, and she looks at Target’s restroom policy. Babs believes that the Jedi Nights will win.
Our political reporter, Babs Casbar Siperstein, has the latest on the legislation being used as ammunition by the conservative right in the Restroom Wars. She has tales of victories and defeats, and offers some tactics that the trans community should implement in order to achieve the right to go to the restroom whenever we need to, wherever we need to.
Babs Casbar Siperstein reports on three things that just might get your riled up. She looks at why the first trans person to ever be nominated for an Oscar decided to boycott the ceremony. She discusses the startling fact that the Republican National Committee has issued an official statement urging Republican legislators to vote in favor of bills to restrict trans restroom rights. And she gets you riled up in a positive way over a new trans movement to support Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Democratic Party nominee.
Babs writes about the differences between the two main political parties when it comes to how they view the trans community. One party works diligently to add protections for the rights of LGBT people and the other party puts even more effort into trying to suppress LBGT rights. Even when that party tries to be more inclusive they just can’t seem to go all the way. Babs has all the info on where they stand.
Babs is a bit upset that a convicted traitor to the United States is getting her thoughts on trans matters featured in the media. Babs feels that Chelsea Manning is not the person who should be representing the trans community and she has a number of far better suited people who deserve recognition for all they have done on behalf of the community. Let the media print what they have to say.
Babs Casbar Siperstien helped to get anti-discrimination legislation passed in New Jersey in 2006. That passage took a full court press and featured testimony from trans people and their families, a television ad and a lot of time spent walking the halls of the state capital. Babs feels that the efforts in Houston to get the HERO bill passed fell short in reaching many of the demographics that needed to be won over. See what she believes went wrong in Houston and how it could have been handled better.
A close look at the Republican candidates for president shows that the only one of them who has been at all sympathetic to trans people is Donald Trump. He let a trans woman compete in the beauty pageant that he owned. As for the rest? They are not so good on trans rights. Find out how they all stand and how the Democratic candidates stand in our political contributor Babs Casbar Siperstein’s latest blog.
On Tuesday September 22, 2015, Mayor Steven Fulop announced that “Jersey City would be expanding the health care it offers city employees to include coverage for transgender medical care and related procedures, such as gender affirmation surgery.” Jersey City will be one of only a handful of large cities across the country offering such benefits […]
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) held its Summer meeting from August 27 -29 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since next year is a presidential election year, this meeting featured a “meet the candidates” session, as four of the announced candidates. Our political correspondent Babs Casbar Siperstein was there and reports on the meeting from and LGBT perspective.
We get closer every day to the time when trans people can serve openly in the military. The Defense Department has now authorized conducting a study to determine the affect openly trans soldiers will have on the various branches of the service. Today Babs Casbar Seperstein runs through some of the important steps that lead to the start of the study and mentions some of the trans advocated who played a large role in moving open trans service along.
Babs Casbar Siperstein wrote a response to an op-ed by Elinor Burkett titled “What Makes a Woman?” that ran in The New York Times on June 6. Burkett stated that trans women could be undermining women’s identities. The Times did not choose to run Babs’ response so we bring it to you on TGF.
On Saturday May 30, Joseph Robinette “Beau” Biden III, the eldest son of Vice President Joe Biden died after battling brain cancer for several years. Beau Biden was a vibrant supporter of marriage equality and transgender civil rights when he was the state Attorney General of Delaware. Beau Biden was the rising star of a […]
Be a part of the political process in 2016! That’s what Babs Casbar Siperstein tells you to do in this post. Don’t whine about people trying to keep you out of the restroom of your choice. Get involved in the political process and become a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Babs tells you how to do it. And how to get involved on your local level. Visibility means greater acceptance!
Last Thursday night the American Conference on Diversity (ACoD) presented our own Babs Casbar Siperstein with their 2015 Advocacy Humanitarian Award during a spectacular 20th Anniversary Statewide Fundraising Gala in West Orange, NJ. What prompted this honor? Bab’s dedication to the ongoing fight for transgender rights. We present her acceptance speech today.
“Religious fascists outflank and out gun LGBT activists.” That’s what Babs Casbar Siperstein believes happened in Charlotte, NC when they tried to pass an anti-discrimination ordinance. The anti-LGBT groups descended on the City Council and intimidated its members while trans people were harassed in the hallways and restrooms. Babs asks some important questions about what happened in Charlotte.
The woman who won the chairmanship of the North Carolina Democratic Party was in a tough race with a trans woman candidate for that job. She even made a transphobic remark during the campaign but won the election. She apologized for what she said but it seems that most of the North Carolina Democrats were okay with it. Today Babs writes about the situation and some of the good that came from the trans candidate’s run.
2014 was on balance a very good year for transgender people in America. As a trans activist there was much to celebrate for our movement and even the most negative happenings had a silver lining and gave hope for future progress. In Part 1 of this year end summary I reviewed the many positive things that occurred on a national level, mostly thanks to actions by the Obama Administration with input from our trans activists and policy people.
Links in this post will open in the same window. Use your browser Back button to return to this post. 2014 was on balance a very good year for transgender people in America. As a trans activist there was much to celebrate for our movement and even the most negative happenings gave hope for a […]
Recent changes in the military have given some hope that the estimated 15,000 plus trans soldiers will be able to serve openly in the near future. Is it reasonable to assume that since a few signs of progress have been seen that the services will quickly change their transgender policy? Babs Casbar Siperstein takes a look at the progress made.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance is this coming Thursday and Babs Casbar Siperstein blogs about the event and the its significance to the transgender community as a whole. It’s not just about hate crimes against trans people. The violence we suffer is indicative of a pervasive atmosphere of discrimination against trans people in employment, housing and civil rights. Read what Babs has to say about the progress we’ve made and the progress that is still needed.
Some time in the early nineties when I was living a stealth female life and exploring my true gender with my late wife, and with other middle age middle class couples in which the husband was transgender, I became aware of a controversy that was occurring in the summer wilds and woods of Michigan. The Michigan […]
The last full week in July was an incredible week for transpeople in America. On Monday July 21, 2014 President Obama signed an executive order doing 2 things. First, it added “gender identity” to an existing executive order protecting gay and lesbian federal workers from discrimination thus protecting transgender federal workers. (It institutionalized and strengthened […]
Our Babs had, as you might expect, a negative reaction to The Wall Street Journal publishing Paul McHugh’s op-ed in which he said being trans is a mental disorder. She quickly sat down and dashed off a letter to the editor of the WSJ to give them a piece of her mind but for some reason they did not chose to print her letter, so we bring it to you here.
Stormé DeLarverie, an acknowledged hero of the Stonewall Riots and a pioneer LGBT activist, died on May 24, 2014. DeLaverie was 93 years old. She was called the “Rosa Parks” of the gay rights movement. DeLarverie was born in New Orleans on December 24, 1920, and is well known for having a role in the […]
