Notice that it does not say that they will *oppose* a non-inclusive ENDA, which is what they originally promised in 2004.

I’ll believe that the HRC has actually found its balls when I see them.

In regards to those who think ENDA and HRC should be trans-exclusive, I am reminded of the words I heard spoken by one of the march marshals at the 1993 March On Washington. He was asked by another march marshal why the transgender contingent was being removed from the march. (We were not allowed to finish the march and were turned away at the point the march returned to the Mall to pass the reviewing stand and all the television and other media reps.) The answer was, “We don’t want to confuse people about our purpose here.” Gee, how naive of me, I thought the purpose of the march was equality for everyone, not just the GLB folks.

Ah well, only time will tell if the HRC has really evolved into an organization which lives up to its self-image and hype. Unfortunately, while I hope for the best, I expect the worse. As the old saying goes, “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Why won’t they just wither and die and let some competent folks lobby for us…? Whhhhhyyyy?

Look at what HRC actually said. They will “only support” an inclusive ENDA. They say nothing about opposing an exclusive one, and this would be their position if one was before the House. Like it was last time, only then they made a “1-off” decision to support it under those circumstances.

As they would do again?

They still haven’t adjusted the ratings of the Congresscritters that voted against an exclusive ENDA because it was exclusive. Look at their actions, not their words. Because the latter are meaningless sounds.

- Obama announces ENDA support with big fanfare

- The House votes to pass ENDA

- Pelosi declares victory and goes home

- Republicans in the Senate filibuster it

- Reid declares he doesn’t have 60 votes

- Kennedy tries to attach it to budget legislation to bypass the filibuster

- Reid says no and enlists the conserva-dems to block such a move

- Pelosi comes back to offer some token condolences to HRC

- Obama says he’ll bring it back after the mid-terms

And that, boys and girls, is how America… ummmm….”works.”

I am absolutely disgusted by gay men and women who follow this hetero-normative political approach and quite frankly I think Barney Frank and the HRC are the two biggest obstructionists. Not the Republicans, not the religious fascists, no no no it is these two.

If LGBT Americans TRULY seek equality, the first step is to shut down the HRC. They have failed us miserably and they need to be kicked out on their ass to the curb with full force!

Joe Solmonese should be publicly tarred and feathered. He is an embarrassment to LGBT (not LGB) equality. He is just as much an obstructionist as the do-nothing Democrats who believe we’re good for money but not good for giving equal rights to.

I removed my membership from the HRC long ago and I think everyone else should do the same. In fact, I think the HRC wanted Prop 8 to pass so that millions more naive gays would give their money to them so they could brag about “what a great job we did” at NOT DOING SHIT!

That’s right! On the night of the election HRC sent out a letter saying what a great night November 4th 2008 was for LGBT Americans because Democrats won more offices. WHO CARES? If the Dems aren’t doing shit for us then how is it a victory?

The best advice ever given for following politics is “Follow the money.”

Forget political platforms and candidates promises. Follow the money and you’ll find the bus treads of betrayal.

Who had an interest in raping ENDA? Who would have been hurt if ENDA was inclusive, if its massive expansion of the ability of people from all groups with a protected status to sue for redress became law? Part of the answer lies in the fact that the Chamber of Commerce and the NAM went berserk when ENDA was introduced. But with the Democrats in power they couldn’t call on the Republicans to stop it. So they called on Pelosi and Barney Frank on most Republicans and on bigoted Democrats, of whom there a not a few.

Frank, acting for the Democrat majority, and with the support of HRC, accepted every amendment offered by the Republicans to eviscerate ENDA, including one that forbade the use of ENDA to undercut DOMA. That’s the precedent we have and it was set by HRC and the Democrats. It’ll weigh heavily in what ever bill comes up next.

The point is that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and other minorities need an inclusive ENDA as much as transfolks do. Opposing an inclusive ENDA, for whatever right wing delusional reason is opposing your own equality.

Some form of UnitedENDA, hopefully a grassroots form is going to have to be rebuilt and will have to put out the word that with a recession threatening to become a depression we need an inclusive ENDA and a tough hate crimes bill more than ever. And it’ll have to launch mass demonstrations to do what it takes to convince Congress that the social climate will reach the boiling point if they continue to fuck with us. And it’ll have to put out the word that we never forgot who our enemies are.

Pardon me, I meant that passing a law with no teeth is pointless. I should probably be paying attention in class rather than chatting on Queerty! :)

I understand that argument, but I don’t think that passing a law with no teeth is pointless. Aside from that, it sells people out. No one would even consider it if Barney Frank popped up and said, “People find lesbians less threatening because people don’t take women’s sexuality seriously, so we’re going to start with an ENDA that just protects lesbians but not gay men.” People would go BERSERK!

You are dead-on regarding the need for a new march. And not just a march that is about merchandising and a bunch of fucking circuit parties either. I mean a real political march where people are pissed the hell off and demanding what is rightfully theirs.

I stand by my transgendered brothers and sisters: I will fight for your rights as I fight for my own. You are not alone.

It’s not the straight community that’s kvetching over minor details. It’s people within the LGBT community.

Internecine conflict is divisive and serves no one but our enemies. But it’s enlightening to realize that the cause of this conflict appears to be the adoption of values we proscribe to the anti-gay rights folks by some in the leadership of the Lesbian and Gay community, most recently the HRC.

Why has our community not done a march on Washington for equal rights for all? Not the new President, Congress, or Senate is going to do anything for us unless we force their hands to act. There is no silver platter coming our way with equal rights, it must be fought for! No one seems like they are interested in fighting for our equal rights so we must take what we get! We are making all of this too easy for Washington by being so passive. Unless we are in the mainstream media news cycle every night, we do not exist!

However, my experience with HRC national has pretty much been this. They don’t contribute much of anything to our community. Other than the “Decline to Sign” campaign to stop Prop H8 before it started (which didn’t work), I’ve never seen them in action here.

This argument would be true if it weren’t for the fact that the non-inclusive ENDA has holes so big you could drive a truck through them. Most legal experts believe that without gender identity, any gay or lesbian person could be fired for anything that does not conform to gender norms.

That said, I actually hate using the argument that a non-inclusive ENDA is bad for gay folks too because it implies that the only reason to support a fully-formed ENDA is to protect ourselves. Trans people have been working alongside us in this fight for years, and it would be unconscionable to sell them out for ourselves.

Yes, of course I would support it, and so would most gay men. We would continue our fight, and when people realized that ENDA for LBT was successful and not the end of the world, it would help us win an ENDA for gay men.

That would be interesting.

Ask yourself how many times you actually see an HRC STAFF – not BOARD person involved in your local community rallying the troops. You usually see a fundraiser – a dinner,bowling event or a comedy night – hell our local group event did a FLORAL ARRANGING EVENT! Come on that’s pathetic. This is how we’re going to achieve equal treatment?

Beyond just the fires they have stoked with the trans community, they repeatedly will insert themselves haphazardly into state or local issues and then claim victory on their own. Gainsville is a perfect example of this. If you look at their “backstory” blog, you only have a sense of HRC – no reference to other organizations heavily involved in the effort like Equality Florida.

Here’s another beef – They boast a staff of nearly 150 (at least as of a couple of years ago). They claim to have ID’s of over 600,000 and a budget of $60 Million –but look at the staff listing on their website:

http://www.hrc.org/about_us/25...

33 staff listed. Want to know why? Most of the rest of that staff are ALL FUNDRAISERS of some kind – event managers, major gift officers, annual appeal, Federal Club…..

I know it takes a lot of money to run an organization especially on a national level, but come on – when will we stop just giving to this charade? They have not secured a single win at the federal level and are simply set to ride the coat tails of the current administration and then fundraise, fundraise, fundraise….

Their testing of the waters is duly noted and duly dismissed. They’ve made statements like this before and then reversed themselves. Again, the battle led by Barney Frank to eviscerate ENDA is the best example. They’ll do it again because they represent the interests of the Democratic Party and front for them in the LGBT communities.

They’ll never be leaders of our movements or communities because they represent the rich political insiders and movement hustlers who won’t work for equality unless they’re well paid to do so. Our first order of business is to create a leftwing LGBT leadership independent of the right wing Democrats and for the interests of working class GLBT folks.

Even if the plight of the homosexual is different than that of the transgender person, this is a HUMAN rights issue, so it shouldn’t matter.

Dear trans Queerty readers: Please ignore SPB’s sad, ignorant comment above. It is not representative of this site or its readers.

Now, *should* ENDA include protections for the transgendered? I believe so, but at least admit that the arguments and issues are different. When it comes to the law, the transgendered occupy an entirely different plane of existece. Probably the most important issue for them is health care reform and insurance coverage for transition, although “gender identity” is a broad enough category to include people who have no intention of physical transition.

Realistically, I think that the transgendered stand to benefit the most from this legislation. I mean, let’s face it: enough people are comfortable with gays that workplace discrimination is not a huge issue for us. With the transgendered it is pretty much the polar opposite; a huge issue, even where they enjoy equality as a matter of formal law in more jurisdictions than gays do (or at least, theoretically; the law in this area is very confusing, to say the least).

More thought should be given to this strategy. I’m inclined to support an inclusive ENDA simply because I think it might be next to impossble for one to pass if it isn’t attached to sexual orientation legislation.