I am here today, at Southern Comfort, to deliver a message. I deliver it on behalf of HRC, and I say it here in the hopes that it will eventually be heard by everyone who is willing to hear it.
HRC has done wrong by the transgender community in the past, and I am here to formally apologize.
I am sorry for the times when we stood apart when we should have been standing together. Even more than that, I am sorry for the times you have been underrepresented or unrepresented by this organization. What happens to trans people is absolutely central to the LGBT struggle. And as the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization, HRC has a responsibility to do that struggle justice, or else we are failing at our fundamental mission.
I came here today in the hopes that we can begin a new chapter together. But I also came here to tell you the truth. We’re an organization that is evolving. We may make mistakes. We may stumble. But what we do promise is to work with you sincerely, diligently, with a grand sense of urgency, listening and learning every step of the way.
And I also want to be clear that I’m not asking you to be the ones to take the first leap of faith. That’s our job. My mom taught me that respect isn’t given, it’s earned.”
— Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin in a keynote address this afternoon to the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta
Cam
How about he Apologize to Eddie Windsor for consistently trying to rewrite history claiming that Marriage Equality started with him, and ignoring the fact that multiple states already had Marriage Equality, that the major case that is now driving the decisions in Marriage Equality’s favor were based upon the Eddie Windsor Case, and not the Prop 8 Case, AND the fact that it was the couples and the two lawyers who drove the Prop 8 case and not some publicist because P.R. had nothing to do with the Supreme Court arguments.
But on the bright side, your donations to HRC are going to pay his salary of over half a million. I”m sure he will organize some wonderful parties.
Jacob23
I love Chad Griffin and think he is the best thing to happen to HRC in a long time.
But this is a double mistake. First, HRC should not be expected to “represent” Ts. It is an organization founded and funded and run by LGBs and it has focused on LGB rights for 34 years. There’s nothing wrong with that. He shouldn’t apologize for that. Focusing on gay civil rights as a priority is a good thing. HRC can be an ally to Ts. It can work with them on specific issues. But it isn’t a T organization. Similarly, Ts have national T-only groups and no one expects them to “represent” LGBs. The only reason Griffin apologizes is because he accepts the concept of LGBT. But that concept does not describe reality. It is a sham, and people will be routinely made unhappy when reality doesn’t conform to the sham.
Second, he shouldn’t have apologized because apologizing to trans activists never works. On the contrary, it incentivizes more attacks. Trans activists attack LGB individuals and groups and “cis” progressives because they enjoy standing in judgment of others and forcing them to grovel as they seek forgiveness. There is nothing these targets can do that will end the attacks. The attacks will only end when the targets stop caring and stop apologizing. That is why trans activists never attack the Mormon Church, the Pope, the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, or other rightwing bigots. Because none of those people would care and none of those people would grovel. Only LGBs and progressive “cis scum” do that. So all the attacks are lobbed at folks like HRC, feminists, pro-choice activists, women’s shelters, Piers Morgan, Katie Couric, Roseanne, and Jared Leto.
Cam
@Jacob23:
When RuPaul and Logo apologized and changed Drag Race removing the terms that the Trans Activist “Parker Molloy” said were offensive, it didn’t stop Molloy from attacking RuPaul in fact it seemed to encourage it. Molloy’s real goal seemed to be to continually try to drive somebody gay off TV.
Xzamilio
Here’s some advice for people in the future: If you stand by what you said that pissed some people off and you are not sorry, don’t apologize; it is disingenuous and people deserve a real apology, not some contrived BS. But, if you’re demanding an apology with no intentions of accepting it, don’t ask for one. Parker Molloy had no intentions of accepting any apology and only used it to gain some kind of proverbial superiority over
Xzamilio
Here’s some advice for people in the future: If you stand by what you said that pissed some people off and you are not sorry, don’t apologize; it is disingenuous and people deserve a real apology, not some contrived BS. But, if you’re demanding an apology with no intentions of accepting it, don’t ask for one. Parker Molloy had no intentions of accepting any apology and only used it to gain some kind of proverbial superiority over him.
Ronbo
@Cam: So very, very true! HRC is being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. They are a corporate-slush fund that works against the GLBT community … achieving equality would result in reducing their bottom line.
Cynthialee
This speech does not do anything to address the many insults and slights trans* people have suffered from HRC over the years.
Chad approaches this very sensitive topic by merely glossing over the very real issues with a nebulous apology.
Instead of directly addressing the issues he seems to think a simple ‘sorry’ is going to cut it.
Instead of asking trans* people how HRC can help, he makes statements that attempt to place HRC as the only logical leader for the advancement of trans* rights. This is not going to work. HRC has thrown us under the bus and discounted us way too many times for them to be afforded the lead. They can help by taking a back seat and making donations to those organizations doing the work in the trenches.
jar
If HRC is making apologies, it’s got a lot more to come. This is nothing more than an attempt to retain its position in a world in which it is increasingly more irrelevant. HRC also has a history of promoting any republican it can find in order to avoid the appearance of actually standing for principles. The sooner HRC becomes a footnote, the better.
Harry R. Freeman-Jones
THIS IS TOO DAMNED LITTLE AND TOO DAMNED LATE! The damage that HRC and like minded organizations (such as the local Stonewall Committee) did to exclude transpeople from the LGBT movement has been a tragic and shameful blot on our history. Around the nation the HRC model leaders and groups were (and are) all too willing to distance themselves from anyone judged to be too queer! Locally we heard lesbian and gay leaders who certainly knew better make public statements about transpeople like “Who ARE these people?!!”, “Their issues are not OUR issues!”, “Why haven’t they participated in the lobbying and shown up to do the work?” and “WE cannot risk including transgender people in a Fair Practices Law..or including mention of transpeople in ANY legislative effort or even Pride Proclamations because the politicians will not give us their votes! HRC and associated groups thus created the “big lie” to “disappear” and demonize transpeople and their supporters in the hopes that the “good queers” could achieve some bit of “progress” for themselves…never mind the fact that trans people were abused for attempting to be themselves before the Stonewall Rebellion yet were in fact the major and most vulnerable “rebels” suffering the traditional abuse by the tactical police force on those late June nights. They and all the diverse people who fought at Stonewall and all the battles since, have been part of the action and the political and cultural progress we have achieved so far. The history of HRC’s exclusionary tactics and the impact it had in undermining the achievement of justice for those in our FAMILY who deserve it the most must not be forgotten. Mr. Griffin’s eloquent apology simply cannot be received without suspicion, grave doubts, and a sense of history’s lessons. “Evolving” cannot be a viable excuse for the deliberate decisions that were made by the “assimilationist” HRC to throw transpeople under the bus. The historic “stumble” was a disaster. The persecution and pain and damage to the movement has left scars that endure from year to year. Thanks for the apology Mr. Griffin, now DO as your MOM taught you.
inbama
In other words, once again ENDA is thrown under the bus because we’re holding out for the perfect bill while women overwhelmingly don’t want to see penises in the ladies room.
LynneaofHeaven
An HRC apology needs to come with some substantive action to show for it, otherwise it’s just another wad of fluff full of hot air. I won’t hold my breath for it to happen.
Teeth
As we learned with the word-policing, which Queerty 110% fell for, what the trans community is interested in is their right to claim victim-status, and not much else. apologizing to malcontents just encourages them.
vive
It is not just trans people. The HRC has consistently marginalized all kinds of gay people who don’t fit their conservative upper middle class white brand. It is continuing to do so.
Cam
@vive:
Well to a certain extent they marginalized anybody who didn’t work for them. Attacking people for pushing for rights, attacking spokespeople like Dan Choi because he was getting attention. Attacking groups like Get Equal becuase they were getting attention. Attacking the couples that filed Marriage Lawsuits or DADT lawsuits because they said nobody should worry about them because they were working on ENDA. Attacking anybody who dared to pressure democrats to get off their rear’s about gay rights and defending Democrats who were anti-gay saying that they understood it and we needed them.
Basically they used 50 million a year to do nothing and then got FURIOUS when the gay rights fight moved without their permission.
vive
@Cam, exactly. Not to mention their support of predatory companies like Goldman Sachs (who are basically financially raping us all) and their hiring of Lloyd Blankfein, of Goldman Sachs.