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Category: Transgender Politics
Our TG politics correspondent Babs Casbar Siperstein thinks that the timing might just be right for the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. After languishing for years and years could this be the right time? Without Federal protections in employment transgendered people can be fired just for being transgendered. In 33 states TGs have no protection under the law if their employer fires them for being TG or if someone refuses to hire them for that reason. With the election of Cory Booker to the Senate Babs feels his positive voice for ENDA will tip the scales and we will see movement in the Senate.
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Babs Casbar Siperstein has been reappointed to the Democratic National Committee and was re-elected to the DNC Executive Committee. She reports today on other transgendered people who are involved in politics and touches on the history of TGs working for change through the political process. She also discusses how things have changed since the time when Democratic Party felt that adding TG rights to the Party platform would scare people away. Trans-inclusive language was added to the Democratic Party platform for the 2008 convention.
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Dr. Danielle Kaufman has some thoughts on the new law in California which allows students to use the restroom and locker room facilities appropriate for their gender identity. Dr. Kaufman, author of Untying the Knot, has just recently come out as a transgendered woman and from that perspective she comments on the reason the law was needed and deflates the ludicrous fears of those who oppose the law. This is Dr. Kaufman’s first contribution to TGForum and we welcome her thoughts and insights.
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Now that the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has opened the military to openly gay service members where does that leave TGs who want to serve their country? Babs Casbar-Siperstein runs down the advances transgendered people have made in regard to military service and speculates on what will happen next. Citing the results of surveys and personal experience with trans soldiers Babs postulates that it won’t be long before TGs can proudly, openly server their country.
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For all of our gains in recognition and rights there we still often face transphobia. As Babs points out in this post some of the transphobia isn’t coming from the straight world. It’s coming from the gay, lesbian and bisexual parts of the community. Is there a resurgence of gay and lesbian transphobia menacing the T in GLBT? Babs looks a a few examples, like the firing of Allyson Robinson, after only 9 months on the job at Outserve-SLDN. And what about Janice Covington being told it would be better for her to join her state’s Democratic men’s auxiliary rather than the women’s. It’s enough to make you wonder. See what else Babs has to say about G&L transphobia.
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A big part of activism is being prepared to answer questions that will come your way. TransJen is glad she was prepared to provide the information a transgendered person in Africa needed. She could quickly provide the information that would help the TG because she had already done the research.
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Dee’s dad, a heterosexual man, fought alongside gays and drag queens at Stonewall because he believed everyone should be treated equally. Dee learned that you can’t stand by while other’s rights are being infringed. Today she tells us about her stand against a religious cousin who is not so openminded.
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Babs Casbar Siperstein tells us TGs will descend on the capital this month to lobby members of congress for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Why is ENDA important? TGs have no protections at the federal level and can be fired, denied promotions and be harassed. Support Lobby Days!
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Babs Casbar Siperstein outlines how a small group of activists got the words “gender identity and expression” added to anti-bullying legislation in New Jersey. It took a lot of hard work and an understanding of the political process. Find out how they did it.
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Babs Casbar found herself tossed into an unsettling reality. Her comfortable life, or double life, was shaken away in a moment and she was left a transwoman alone. But her heart said she should find a community and be active. That led her to politics and TG activism.
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Does the LGBT community have its priorities askew when it comes to the quest for gay marriage. As a TG who has had two husbands she wasn’t legally “married” to The Artist D feels qualified to discuss why pushing for marriage rights my be a distraction from a more urgent goal.
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Barbra Casbar Siperstein will be posting columns about the fight for transgender rights across the United States. Today she writes about the importance of the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women act with the inclusion of “gender identity.”
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Sophie Lynne loves art and literature, and movies with a message. She’s a big fan of Shakespeare. What’s that got to do with being transgendered? Sophie finds that it has everything to do with being transgendered. And today she explains the connection in What’s a Meta For?
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Sophie Lynne is a proud Progressive and she has definite views on which political party is the one that’s doing positive things for LGBT people. In her TGF post today she takes look at President Obama’s inaugural speech and how he expressed support for GLBT people.
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Our correspondent in Thailand asks the question many in the TG community voice: What are we doing being allies of the LGBs? LGBT rights are advancing but does the alliance benefit or hurt TGs? And what rights do TGs really want? See what Christine Burr thinks in: So — what’s the real story?
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I was looking at TGForum archives when I ran across these two reports of the first Transgender Lobby Day which took place in October of 1995. I thought it might be educational to review what happened that day and compare that to where we are today 17 years later. — JoAnn Roberts
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Dallas Denny wants you to know the facts of the Obama Administration’s favorable attitude toward LBGT people. All she has to do is list the actions of the Administration in the area of LGBT rights and protections. It’s quite a list.
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