Why I Support Hillary

From A Hillary Superdelegate: An open letter to my grandson and other respectful Bernie supporters

Thank you for contacting me to express your honest feelings about this 2016 Democratic primary election and . I appreciate your passion and concern about the future of not only the Democratic Party, but of America, our country.

I actually like Bernie, I like his style, his framing, blunt and to the point. Most Democrats seem to sound too wonky, try to be too exact, use too many syllables. Republicans keep it simple, making words, phrases easy to remember and easy to catch on to whether they have real meaning or not. Coming from Jersey City and Bernie from Brooklyn, growing up in the same era (I’m only a year younger than Bernie) and in a working class neighborhood, I can relate personally to his style … I like it and I get it!

I agree with some of his signature issues, Single payer, i.e. Medicare for all, as opposed to Obamacare which we have now. Obamacare, yes, light years in comparison to what we had under Bush and the Republicans then, and what they want to drag us back to. Obamacare is based on Romneycare and the child of the reactionary Heritage Foundation that started trying to kill that “child” as soon as it was adopted by Obama and the Democrats!

I love the idea of a political revolution! Seeing the intransigence in Washington and certainly here in New Jersey with a Governor who from the very beginning had his own political future solely guiding his actions, enforced by his seeming bi-polar style of being likable when he wanted and a bullying despot when that was appropriate. We have the tea party funded by the Kochs who are other billionaires who do not believe in government and want government to fail! No wonder we must have change.

I grew up with the Beatles, and although my favorite song was, Hey Jude!, it was the other side of that single, Revolution that is most appropriate here.

“You say you want a revolution

Well, you know

We all want to change the world

You tell me that it’s evolution

Well, you know

We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction

Don’t you know that you can count me out

Don’t you know it’s gonna be all right

All right, all right

You say you got a real solution

Well, you know

We’d all love to see the plan

You ask me for a contribution

Well, you know

We’re doing what we can

But when you want money

For people with minds that hate

All I can tell is brother you have to wait”

Yes we need “CHANGE”, that is simple and clear. To directly address income inequality we must devolve from the current trajectory that is shrinking the middle class and making the rich richer and more powerful and leaving the poor with a smaller piece of the pie.

Greed is not good. In the sense that Glass-Steagall must come back, banks should be broken up and de-levered. But it is not that simple. Banks should not be in competition with the Casino industry.

There must be a balance of rights and responsibility on all levels. . .  Corporations who have limited liability and privacy through their corporate veil must not have more rights than human citizens, that is nuts!

We all must be part of the solution to make that change and it cannot be every 4 years, nor even every 2 years. Its more than just voting, it is working to get a seat at the table and it is our responsibility to step up. Look what happened to the Republican party! How did it become a party of people who did not want government to work, who did not want women to have control over their own bodies, who were more concerned about what people did in their bedrooms, or what people had between their legs, rather than people being honest and open about who they actually were or who they loved.

When I first got involved politically it was out of fear for myself and my own survival. There was this societal stigma that shook me to my very core and drove me to fight to get a seat at the table to make positive change. It was more unnerving than my father relating his story during WWII of a young soldier in his squad walking around his bunk and staring at him looking for his horns and tail because he had heard that my Dad was Jewish!

This was about educated progressive lawmakers and attorneys who honestly wanted to help transgender people but believed that the societal stigma was too much of a burden and would not give us the opportunity to take a giant step forward to help ourselves and that we would fail. We learned the rules, we worked the system and we won! We went back for more and more and kept winning until a Republican, Chris Christie, became Governor and progress came essentially to a halt.

In 2004 transgender people were not included in the Democratic Party’s Convention (DNCC) platform and an organized attempt to include our basic recognition was rebuffed. Gay and lesbian leaders would not even say the word, “transgender.” It was very disappointing. By early 2005 after Kerry’s loss, allies within the DNC gave us the opportunity to engage, to stick a foot in the door and we did. We engaged boldly and constructively and in a timely manner because we “showed up” and engaged, to earn respect.

Hillary Clinton

In 2007 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign reached out to transgender leaders for support. We asked for a positive statement of support for transgender rights, not just gay rights, we wanted it on her website for all to see and when she did that we signed on to her LGBT Steering Committee and, within a week both the Obama and Edwards campaigns put up comparable statements on their respective websites. The 2008 DNCC platform had fully inclusive LGBT non-discrimination language and the Convention rules called for a fully inclusive equal opportunity clause.

In 2008 I was elected as a Hillary Delegate to the DNCC and although she lost a very close and bitter primary to Senator Obama, I recognized a couple of things: 1) Obama was aggressive in working the rules to win the most delegates and 2) As Obama and his people reached out to us it was crystal clear that we shared so many values it was obvious that sooner or later it was in our best interest to come together. Besides the thought of Sarah Palin being a heartbeat away from the Presidency was a huuuge wakeup call!

Working together for victory brought us together for the fruits of victory. So much happened relatively quickly. As sitting President, Obama became leader of the Democratic Party and named Governor Tim Kaine as DNC Chair. In late August of 2009 Chairman Kaine appointed me as the first openly transgender member of the DNC. Literally 5 minutes before that the DNC added Gender identity to its Charter and By-Laws as a category of non-discrimination and inclusion. When Hillary Clinton became Obama’s Secretary of State she proactively reformed America’s passport policy so that trans people were no longer forced to have surgery to change their gender marker! Proactively! Embassies and Consulates throughout the world began recognizing LGBT hate crimes and observing Transgender Day of Remembrance.

The culture within the Obama Administration, the culture within the Clinton State Dept. and the Clinton campaign, and with the DNC, is trans inclusive and I would assume that because of the more overt trans inclusive rules of the 2016 Convention, the Sanders Campaign should reflect those rules.

When I look back to when I was a delegate in 2004 and reflect on the frustration with the Kerry campaign, and follow the opportunities that were given and sometimes aggressively yet respectfully and responsibly taken with the DNC under Howard Dean, Tim Kaine and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, I realize how much progress has been made for transgender rights. In 2004 the Chair of the DNC Gay and Lesbian Caucus (and most everyone else) would not say the word “transgender.” In 2011 I jumped at an opportunity to run for the DNC Executive Committee and won! Really inclusive, and now in 2016 the DNC is active fighting for our rights. When Hillary Clinton’s Primary Victory video features a trans activist woman of color and uses the voice of a second trans woman — when she boldly and confidently talks about having our back — with her proactive record of not only talking the talk, but actually “walking the walk,” how could I not support Hillary Clinton to be our next President?

Tags: Bernie Sanders, featured, Hillary Clinton, opinion, politics

Category: Transgender Politics