NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Chris Crain is executive editor of the Washington Blade and can be reached at ccrain@washblade.com.
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ENDA gets trans-jacked
HRC says it won’t support workplace protection for gays unless trans rights are included. That mind-boggling decision is wrong politically, legally and morally.

HOME > VIEWPOINT > EDITORIAL

Aug 13, 2004  |  By: CHRIS CRAIN  | COMMENTS      Printer Friendly Version



continued...

And existing federal hate crime laws based on race and religion shouldn’t have been passed until they could be amended to add protections based on gender, handicapped status, sexual orientation and (of course) gender identity and expression.

Transgendered people in opposite-sex relationships can marry under the existing laws of many states. Should they be denied that freedom until same-sex couples can do likewise? Should heterosexual couples be prevented from marrying until same-sex couples can?

It would be wrong and immoral for us to expect others to be treated unfairly until we are treated equally. And it is just as wrong and just as immoral for transgendered people and their P.C. allies in gay rights groups to expect the same.

HRC and these other groups say that trans-jacking ENDA will bring us together, “uniting us as a community.” For most gay Americans, who live outside the Beltway and the P.C. ether that permeates these activist organizations, holding our civil rights hostage will have the opposite effect.

The only silver lining here is that HRC has proven itself — over many years, countless black-tie dinners, and the christening of its glittering new headquarters — incapable of passing even basic federal civil rights for gays.

Perhaps ENDA will finally stand a chance when it’s controlled not by HRC but by congressional sponsors, like Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, who actually has a track record of getting things done.

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Transactivist
Tampa, Fl
0
Can somebody explain to me why I should accept that I am not worthy of civil rights? I am a transwoman, retired counselor and activist. I helped found the only tranfriendly shelter in Tampa. My clients faced blatant discrimination. I will fight anybody, gay or straight who tries to send me to the "back of the bus"

Posted 4/6/09 - 9:41 AM


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