The Human Rights Campaign's Work on Transgender Issues
National
A new HRC website, Fight Hate Now, calls for the passage of an inclusive hate crimes bill and highlights the stories of transgender victims of hate crimes. - HRC supports the efforts of the transgender community and their allies who are calling for the reform of gender identity related diagnoses in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
- HRC worked with our allies on Capitol Hill to secure the introduction this spring of an inclusive hate crimes bill and an inclusive ENDA.
- HRC is lobbying new members of Congress to educate them on the need for an inclusive ENDA.
- In a December 2008 meeting between lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community leaders and top Obama advisers, HRC President Joe Solmonese spoke out forcefully on the importance of fully inclusive hate crimes and ENDA bills. Video from that meeting featuring Solmonese’s remarks was later posted on the Obama transition team website.
- HRC supports state lobby days across the nation by sending Action Alerts and save-the-dates to our members and supporters and encouraging them to contact their legislators in support of legislation protecting the transgender community.
- HRC is lobbying the Obama administration to issue executive orders prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in federal employment and by federal contractors.
New York
- HRC participated in Equality and Justice Day in Albany, hosted by Empire State Pride Agenda in April. Members and supporters spoke to their legislators about crucial pieces of legislation, including the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA). The state Assembly again voted in support of the bill.
Montgomery County, Md.
- In 2008, HRC worked closely with Basic Rights Montgomery in a successful effort to prevent an initiative that would have placed a measure seeking to repeal a new anti-discrimination law in Montgomery County, Md., on the November 2008 ballot.
Gainesville, Fla.
- HRC provided nearly $30,000 in in-kind contributions to help defeat a proposed charter amendment in the city that would have eliminated protections against discrimination and made it legal to fire someone from their job or deny them housing because they are LGBT. There was an HRC field director and a field organizer on the ground in Gainesville working with state and local LGBT groups.
- Over inauguration weekend 2009, HRC donated space for a fundraising event to Equality is Gainesville’s Business (EIGB), a local group formed to oppose the effort to repeal the city’s anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity in a March 24th city election. Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan, as well as city commissioners Jeanna Mastrodicasa, Lauren Poe and Thomas Hawkins all attended the event, as did Bob Karp and Michelle Ott of Equality is Gainesville's Business. HRC Board of Governors member Dana Beyer, who was active in the successful effort to defeat a similar measure in Montgomery County last year, also attended, as did former HRC Business Council member Diego Sanchez, who recently joined Rep. Barney Frank's staff as the first openly transgender person to work on Capitol Hill. In addition, Kim Coco Iwamoto, a member of the Hawaii Board of Education and the first openly transgender person elected to statewide office in the U.S., also attended.
- HRC sent alerts to its 700 members and supporters in Gainesville to educate them about the ballot measure and encourage them to volunteer to help the effort to defeat the repeal by phone banking, raising money, organizing and getting out the vote. Alerts were also sent to members in supporters in Alachua County. Respondents were connected with EIGB.
- The HRC Foundation’s Religion and Faith program has reached out to progressive faith leaders in the Gainesville area in an effort to convene discussions on transgender issues in local congregations.
- HRC has also assisted in campus organizing around the issue.
New Hampshire
- In February 2009, HRC Associate Director of Diversity Allyson Robinson testified before a state House committee in support of legislation to add gender identity and gender expression protections to the state’s anti-discrimination statute. The measure would have also updated state hate crimes law to ensure that perpetrators of hate crimes against transgender people are subject to the same extended sentencing terms as perpetrators of hate crimes based on other prohibited bases, such as race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. HRC also activated members to contact their legislators, asking them to support this legislation.
- HRC is working with legislative leaders, with whom we have longstanding relationships as a result of our electoral work in New Hampshire, to highlight the importance of fully inclusive anti-discrimination laws.
- HRC continues to work with its coalition partners to advance this legislation.
Massachusetts
- HRC is part of a coalition working to advance legislation that would add gender identity and expression to the state’s existing hate crimes and anti-discrimination laws.
- In 2008, HRC gave $25,000 to the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) to hasten efforts to enact policies protecting the transgender community. This contribution allowed MTPC to hire its first full-time staffer.
Connecticut
- Associate Director of Diversity Allyson Robinson was in Hartford, Conn., in early 2009 to testify in favor of House Bill 6452, which would add gender identity and expression to the state’s existing anti-discrimination laws.
- HRC is working to support our coalition partners in Connecticut to pass legislation protecting the transgender community.
Religion and Faith
- More than 200 clergy from each of the 50 states attended HRC’s 2009 Clergy Call for Justice and Equality in May in Washington, D.C. During the two-day event, the clergy members met with their U.S. Senate and House congressional representatives to lobby on behalf of expanded hate crimes legislation and federal employment protections for LGBT people. They also participated in workshops and small-group discussions on transgender education in our communities and LGBT advocacy in the local and state contexts.
- Because of the commitment to justice and the tenets of loving hospitality at the core of faith traditions, the HRC Foundation’s Religion and Faith Program knows that faith communities are the ideal site for empowering new allies and advocates for transgender rights. Sadly, though, we also know that some of the harshest discrimination against transgender people has come from people of faith cloaking prejudice in religious discourse. By exploring a wide range of religious experiences and offering thoughtful biblical analysis and commentary, the Religion and Faith team aims to embolden people of faith to see in their faith a plea for understanding and a revitalized call for equality.
- The HRC Foundation’s Religion and Faith Program has produced and promoted Gender Identity and Our Faith Communities: A Congregational Guide for Transgender Advocacy, based on the contributions of transgender people, their families and clergy. Drawing on a wide array of personal experiences, religious and cultural analysis and diverse faith journeys, it empowers people of faith with the knowledge and skills necessary to transform their communities and congregations into welcoming environments. It also aims to turn participants into advocates for transgender rights. Workshops based on this curriculum are occurring in a variety of cities across the country where we see the greatest need for community education in advance of congressional votes on a fully inclusive version of the hate crimes and ENDA bills.
- The guide is divided into three parts: "The Stories" explores the varied experiences of transgender people, probes the complexity of gender identity, and helps participants develop a vocabulary around transgender concepts; "Gender Identity and Faith" gives participants a choice of three different exercises that will encourage them to have deeper conversation about religion and transgender people; and "A Call for Justice" provides a step-by-step training to move people of faith from acceptance to public advocacy.
- The Religion and Faith Program has already received excellent response from clergy and lay leaders who see this curriculum as a vital tool for meeting the social justice and ministry needs of their congregation. There were 37 workshops held nationwide.
- Regarding Third Way’s recommendations to President Obama:
- From U.S. News and World Report, “On Abortion and Gay Rights, Evangelicals and Liberals Join to Advise Obama,” Jan. 15th, 2009: “Though the drafters were in contact with the Human Rights Campaign, the biggest gay rights group, in crafting the language on workforce discrimination, HRC withheld its endorsement because transgender people are not included on the call for a prohibition against workplace discrimination. ‘We really honor and take very seriously the work that went into the document,’ says Harry Knox, director of the group's faith and religion program. ‘We just regret that there was not enough time to do the education we thought would get them to a place where they could include transgender people in the document.’”
- The Religion and Faith Program has also created a free online resource, Out in Season, which explores the seasons of the Church Year from a wide range of transgender experiences. The resource includes videos and written commentary developed from a faithful dialogue between 11 transgender religious scholars, pastors and pastoral counselors.
Publications
- A new guide called Transgender Visibility: A Guide to Being You was designed to provide practical guidance to transgender people and their loved ones through that process. It acknowledges that the experience of coming out or disclosure covers the full spectrum of human emotion — from paralyzing fear to unbounded euphoria. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation hopes this guide helps transgender people meet the challenges and opportunities that living as authentically as possible can offer to each of us
- The Spring 2009 issue of Equality magazine featured an interview with Kim Coco Iwamoto, the country’s highest-ranking transgender elected official. She talks about everything from school bullying to racism to the reaction of her father, a well-known businessman in Hawaii, when he found out she was running for public office there.
- The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association released the 2009 Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) this spring. The HEI project was started three years ago to educate healthcare policymakers and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender healthcare consumers to get rid of barriers and biases that keep us from taking care of ourselves and each other. A key finding in the 2009 report is the dramatic disparity between the number of patient non-discrimination policies inclusive of sexual orientation and those inclusive of gender identity. Less than 7 percent of participating facilities protect patients from discrimination based on gender identity, while nearly three-quarters of participants provide these protections based on sexual orientation. This finding is symptomatic of the healthcare discrimination faced by transgender Americans every day, from the explicit denial of healthcare services to insensitive remarks by medical staff.
