Social Justice

“An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes” has been re-introduced for the 2009 legislative session in the House by Representative Carl Sciortino and Representative Byron Rushing (HB 1728) and in the Senate by Senator Benjamin Downing (S.1687).

The hearing date July 14, 2009 and you can submit your testimony by July 10th by clicking to MTPC’s site here.  But alot has been going on to get us to this point and let’s hear from just three of our community on this.

Back on April 7th, 2009 MTPC led a lobby day that had large attendance and many key speakers. To say it was a moving experience is an understatement. While the facts of the story have been covered at Pam’s House Blend, on a post at MTPC, on a post at the Interfaith Coalitions Website, and finally at Boston’s Bay Window article here, what about putting another face to the story? Well, that’s just what Michelle, Paula and Rebecca did, while enjoying salad and calzone together after the lobby day. Let’s listen in to their discussion; the results may enlighten you to a more human side of this story:

- One question we have to ask each other (queue diet cokes being sipped) is, why did we attend the lobby days in the first place?

• Michelle: While I’m not particularly politically active, I find myself very motivated to do what little bit I can to help fight for trans rights. I’ve been fortunate enough so far that my path has gone pretty smoothly, but I realize that this could turn in an instant, and with our current laws could leave me without much recourse. I have so many wonderful friends in the trans community that I am happy to do this one small thing to help.
• Paula: I attended Transgender Lobby day for the first time in April because as a transgendered person I am always concerned about my safety when I go out alone as well as for the safety of my friends in the transgender community when we go out in a group.a
• Rebecca: Like Michelle, I’m not really politically active. I’m a conservative really. But for me, this whole topic hit close to home when I lost a mid-level management position due to discrimination for bring transgender. Suddenly, my eyes were open that even in high tech, transgender people were at risk regardless of if they were doing a great job or not. That really angered me.

- I think we all had different expectations going into this, but, what did you hope to accomplish?

• Michelle: I wanted to make the issue real for my state representative by spending some time with her in person.
• Paula: Because of the stigma out there in society we transgendered persons have to be very careful. There are many persons who accept and respect us for who we are but there are others who do not and would think nothing of using violence against us because of simply who we are.  Ask a gay person about hate and violence. They will concur with what I am talking about. Gays and lesbians are now covered under hate crimes legislation. It took a long time for this to happen but society finally realized gays and lesbians are people like you and me and deserve protection under the law like anyone else. We transgendered persons only ask for the same protection everyone should have under the law. Violence against anyone for no reason should not be tolerated.
• Rebecca: My reps have all signed on, so at one level, I just wanted to thank them. So I made little gift bags filled with chocolates and a cute card that said, “thanks for supporting us”. It’s a small gesture but one that I hope let them know their support meant alot to us.But, my other hope in attending was to have dialogue with my reps and others who may have never met a transperson. To show them we weren’t all that different.

- [between bites of wonderful Ceaser Salad comes another question] Was this your first time at this or had you attended before?

• Michelle: This was my second time. I participated in the first Mass Transgender Lobby Day in 2007.
• Paula: This was my maiden voyage in this.
• Rebecca: This was my second time as well. I attended in 2007 too. I think at that point in my life I was still trying to figure out how to latch my bra correctly but I knew this was important so I went.

- So, what were your first impressions?

• Michelle: I’m just perpetually impressed by Gunner’s leadership, and what he is able to accomplish. I found the first lobby day to be an incredible event, but this one topped it in every way. It was great to be sitting right in the center of the State House, with so many inspiring speakers addressing the challenges that we all face.I forget his name - the African American co-sponsor of the legislation. He blew me away. First, he melted my heart with his warm smile and warm welcome to the crowd. Then he got me riled up as he drew comparisons between our current struggle for protection of our rights with that of African Americans in the 60s.
• Paula: [quietly munching on her calzone, deep in thought]
• Rebecca: I was completely surprised and delighted at the support we received. Particularly from the faith community. What a great group of preachers; unafraid of being men and women of faith, and unashamed to stand up to say that discrimination of transgender people is wrong. That really had a big impact on me.

- What were the results of some of your conversations with our representatives and senators?

• Michelle: I was thrilled with how our conversation went with Representative Polito. She seemed to show sincere interest in starting to understand who we are and the challenges we face. She mentioned that we were the first trans people she had ever (knowingly) met. This is why I pushed so hard to get face-to-face communication with her - I figured that without knowing the human side of the transgendered rights issues, it would be just too easy for her to dismiss it as some left-wing issue. It will be a long effort to get support from reps such as her, but it seems totally worth our time to at least help her understand our interests. Probably the best part of our chat was being joined by Becki and Paula, who are both Republican (as is Rep. Polito). They were able to help make a connection that I could never make with her, since my political views are so different from hers.I was disappointed that I was the only constituent who visited my rep on the lobby day. While she listened openly, I realized that as far as she is concerned right now, this is an issue that only effects one member of her constituency. I really hope that we can get more residents of her district to reach out to her.
• Paula: My first and only encounter with a representative was with one who was a Republican. I don’t remember her name [ed: Representative Polito] but my friends Michelle, Becki and I had a lengthy conversation with her. She listened to us intently. I think for this representative it was her first look into the life of a transgendered person. I watched the expressions on her face closely.  When Becki and I told her we were married and had children and were Evangelical Christians there was a look of surprise on her face.  Michelle told this representative of her life as a transgendered person being married with a young child and a professional business person in the community.  I don’t think this representative ever met a transgendered person before our visit or at least one she was aware of.  I could see her eyes open wide because now maybe for the first time in her life she got to see what transgender is.  She saw the faces of three real people who live, work, pray and love just like everyone else.I don’t know how she will vote on the Hate Crimes Bill but I bet the next time she is out in public she will see people in a new light.
• Rebecca: One result that almost moved me to tears was the response from Senator Karen Spilka’s staff. When they heard my story about issues I had faced their immediate response was, “call us next time, we will help you”.   That was so empowering.The other result was the conversation with Representative Polito that Michelle, Paula and I had. I loved the look on her face when she said, “Well, I don’t really know much about your world, I’m just working here at the state, taking care of the kids and so on”. When we told her about ourselves she was truly surprised. I’m not sure what she thought of us before, but afterwards, I can say we gave her a new perspective!

As we finished up our chat, slipped our dirty dishes into the garbage and got ready to head home, Paula had one last thing to say to finish up our roundtable discussion, Paula capped our discussion by saying, “Even though we are transgendered we are people too!  That is all we ask is to be treated like people and be protected under the law as all citizens are entitled to”.

Amen sister!

Now this is nice news. Having personally faced discrimination twice in my life, on the job for being transgender (and this in high tech heaven no less) I was really happy to see this news from our hard workin’ crew at MTPC, 104 Legislators Co-sponsoring An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination & Hate Crimes!

So now the work begins to actually get the bill passed so now we can all join in the fun of lobbying

I remember being at The Neighborhood one time and I saw Gunner there. We were chatting about the whole ENDA fiasco. And I said to Gunner, “You know, I think we have to do this at the local level” and he agreed.

Of course MTPC has been making the grassroots local level work happen for years like no one’s business. He and the entire MTPC team have done a great job rallying all of us to do something locally to improve our lot. So how can you get involved?

There’s a lobby day planned on April 7 and some training planned too ahead of time. So you don’t sit like I did in front of my State Rep saying, “yeah this is good you should support this”. I eventually got my message down and actually on message thanks to MTPC’s coaching. You can too! Rummage on over to MTPC’s web site to learn how you can help: MTPC Ways To Help

Many thanks to the anonymous donor who plunked in $20 for our Salvation Army Kettle! Only $105.00 to go!

Come help our team of plucky, oh so gorgeous and quite friendly Barrista’s make Christmas a bit more fun for your neighbors.   Beck’s Cafe has teamed up with the Salvation Army in their On-Line Red Kettle program.

Our collective goal (on-line kettles and those kettles at establishments in your neighborhood) is $1M for Christmas.  Beck’s Cafe’s little part is $125.00   So click on our kettle off in the right hand column of Beck’s Cafe and donate something small or large.  All donations go right to the Salvation Army.  Beck’s Cafe is not reimbursed, we are just happy to provide some space and spread the word

First, the good news. As reported at the CCH Internet Research Network,

A federal district court in the District of Columbia concluded that a male-to-female- transsexual job applicant could proceed with her Title VII sex bias claim against the Library of Congress, which allegedly withdrew its job offer for a terrorism research analyst position with the Congressional Research Service after the applicant disclosed that she was under a doctor’s treatment for gender dysphoria and would be transitioning to a female before beginning work with the agency.

That is great news as it helps to shore up job protections for transgender people.

Now the not so good news. Earlier we had posted alot about ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. This act was to have employment protections for all of us in the GLBTIQ alphabet. However, the trasngender piece was pulled out in order to create a bill that had better chances of passing in Congress. That made alot of us pretty unhappy. But it appears that removing the transgender protections from ENDA may have even more far reaching consequences. Again, as reported in the same article at CCH Internet Research Network,

the court also noted that the House recently passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 3685), which would ban discrimination only on the basis of sexual orientation, not gender identity, suggesting that as a result, the applicant’s definition of sex under Title VII might be too expansive.

The result may be that Title VII cannot be used in a way that allows protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender because ENDA had the transgender portion removed.

Mon/Tues call you congressional rep ask them to SUPPORT THE BALDWIN AMENDMENT TO ENDA (H.R. 3685)

The Vote will be this Wednesday.

This is our last effort to include gender identity in ENDA. As of now, it looks like there will be a vote on the Amendment and then on the overall ENDA bill next Wednesday, October 24. Please call your congressional legislator and ask them if they are supporting HR 3685 and if they will support the Baldwin amendment.

We need a big push on Monday and Tuesday!

We need to convey a specific, very targeted message that we want our Congressional representatives to vote YES on the Baldwin Amendment to put gender identity back into ENDA.

You can call your Representative right now at 202-224-3121, even if you have already called him/her already about this issue. Tell him/her to support the Baldwin Amendment to H.R. 3685.

You can learn more about House Bill 3685 at:

• The U.S. Government via Thomas’s Register HERE.
• GovTrack.us. H.R. 3685–110th Congress (2007): Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007, GovTrack.us (database of federal legislation) HERE
• The Baldwin announcement is at Representative Baldwin’s press release at her site here.

Call 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representative. You can find your Congress Contact at this link at the United States House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/writerep/

If your in Massachusetts, please click on over to the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition to let them know you called and what the outcome was. This will help them report in how Massachusetts is voting. Click to MTPC and their report HERE.

(notice courtesy of Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition )

October 11, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release -Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin
Wisconsin’s Second District

Statement on ENDA

“Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize”

I have always been a strong supporter of guaranteeing full civil rights for all in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
community. My work on this issue will continue until these protections become law.

I strongly support H.R. 2015, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007. For many years, I have worked closely and tirelessly with people in the LGBT community and our allies to build support for this important legislation. I have personally spoken with well over one hundred Congressional colleagues, explaining the importance of this particular bill, listening to their concerns, and answering their questions. As a result of all of our work, and that of Congressional supporters, 171 Members of Congress have co-sponsored thelegislation, authored by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), which protects not only gays, lesbians and bisexuals, but also provides equally strong prohibitions against discrimination based on gender identity.

Last weekend, Speaker Pelosi, in remarks before the Human RightsCampaign National Dinner, said: “I strongly believe that transgender individuals deserve the same rights and the same protections as any other Americans and will work to see that ENDA also protects their rights.” I share her sentiments.

Soon, I expect the House Committee on Education and Labor to consider this issue. It is my hope that the Committee will take up H.R. 2015 and pass it. I further hope for, and continue to work towards, passage of legislation by the full House, banning employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

All of the Democratic leaders involved in this discussion are committed to employment non-discrimination protections for
transgender Americans. We share a common goal, but disagree over process and strategy. Yet these procedural and strategic decisions are important because they affect the ultimate question of how and when we can most quickly pass protections that include transgender people. This is how a democracy works.

I am under no illusions about the challenges of achieving our goal. But, the quest for advancement of civil rights in our nation has never been easy. It is precisely because of the discrimination these groups experience that this legislation is needed.

As is the case with all legislation, there is no guarantee of success. Everyone pressing for this legislation knows that. We know that opponents of workplace protections may offer any number of amendments designed to derail the bill, including, perhaps, an effort to remove protections based upon gender identity. I believe we must boldly face these challenges.

Perhaps some of these hostile efforts will be successful. That should not deter our work. We must bring the strongest possible bill to the floor of the House for a vote. If our adversaries wish to erode protections in the bill, we must be prepared to face that challenge and make our case.

However, I believe it is a mistake to concede defeat on any issue, before our opponents even raise it.

In recent weeks there have been many efforts which have had the effect of distracting allies from the work at hand.

The House leadership afforded supporters of the fully inclusive bill two weeks to demonstrate that sufficient support exists to withstand worst-case scenario assaults on the bill. My work whipping Members on passage of a fully inclusive bill continues. I hope that the effort will culminate in sufficient evidence that the votes exist to withstand attacks and pass a fully inclusive bill.

Toward that end, I encourage all advocates to focus their efforts on building Congressional support for H.R. 2015. There will be ample time to consider distracting issues later. For now, let us keep our eyes on the prize.

# # #

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin
Wisconsin’s Second District
2446 Rayburn H.O.B. 10 E. Doty St.
#405 400 E. Grand Ave. #402
Washington, DC 20515 Madison , WI
53703 Beloit , WI 53511

Phone: 202-225-2906
Phone: 608-258-9800
Phone: 608-362-2800

Contact:
Jerilyn Goodman
608-251-8737
Cell: 608-347-6557
jerilyn.goodman@mail.house.gov

In late breaking news on ENDA, Beck’s Cafe has just learned, via an email from MTPC cancelling a planned vigil at Barney Frank’s office regarding ENDA, that Barney Frank will not split ENDA and it is going to include both sexual orientation and gender identity as the original bill was designed. As many of our coffee swilling readers will remember from our post, “Transgender Rights Hailstorm“, Barney Frank had stated he was going to remove support for transgender rights from ENDA (see his news release on that topic by visiting his site HERE). But now, Barney Frank is going to support the full bill and is not going split ENDA and is going to be including both sexual orientation and gender identity.

Barney Frank’s change of heart is a great thing to see and Beck’s Cafe is brewing a fresh pot up for him!

Also, The Human Rights Campaign, which had issued this public response regarding the removal of the transgender piece of ENDA, has now signed onto a petition publicly stating that:

Our organizations support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act as introduced (H.R. 2015). Although we believe that the bill’s sponsor, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), and the House Democratic Leadership have a sincere desire to protect the LGBT community from discrimination, we believe the process and strategy that has been adopted is a mistake. That mistake is compounded by moving forward with a markup tomorrow.

You can read the HRC statement by visiting their site at this link HERE.

Finally, according to a National Center for Transgender Eqality (NCTE) ENDA email update statement, on 10/1/08 around 8PM EST by Mara Keisling and a phone update from NJ Congressman Russ Holt (as posted at Pam’s House Blend), it appears time has been bought on the side of proponents of ENDA to get congress and other allies on board. The meeting on the bill for Tuesday October 2nd, 2007, has been postponed until the end of October.

Talk about a fast changing bill! But everyone reading Beck’s Cafe’s coverage and who had a chance to call or write your congressmen and women all were a part of this small victory. So THANK YOU!! There is a much work to be done in the next few weeks!

(For past coverage of ENDA at Beck’s Cafe, please visit these stories, “Enda - Time to make some phone calls“, “Continued Coverage on ENDA - Sean Hannity, ADA and James Byrd“, “Continued Coverage on ENDA - Robyn’s Story“, “Petition Drive to Support a Complete ENDA“, “Transgender Rights Hail Storm“ )

Last night a friend and I were talking on the phone about ENDA. Realizing we might be among those at risk we wondered if GLAD was going to weigh in on this issue? It was encouraging to see that they too felt that removal of support for the transgender in ENDA was wrong…..It was nice getting this in my email late today….

	Dear Rebecca, GLAD is concerned about a recent step taken by Congressional leaders that threatens to undermine passage of a full and trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The LGBT movement has been unified in its commitment to an inclusive ENDA that outlaws workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This recent effort to put forth a version of the bill excluding gender identity is out of touch with what the community has clearly stated it supports. We need your help today to ensure that no member of our community is left behind. Contact your Representative, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at 202-224-3121 and let them know that you oppose legislation that is not fully inclusive. Our Massachusetts supporters have a unique opportunity to impact the course of this legislation by contacting the bill’s sponsor, Representative Barney Frank. Urge Representative Frank and Speaker Pelosi to let Congress vote on the original version of ENDA, HR 2015, the version that was asked for, worked on, and supported by the community. We at GLAD know that a strong and successful movement depends on unity and mutual support. We don’t compromise on essential civil rights. Thank you for doing your part to ensure equal protections for all Americans, Lee Swislow Executive Director gladlaw@glad.org Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) is New England’s leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression. Since 1978, through impact litigation and public education, GLAD has worked to create a better world for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender individuals and people living with HIV. To learn more about GLAD and be added to our e-mail list, please visit our website. To help GLAD fund the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, please make a donation today - visit our Donation Page at www.glad.org/Donate_to_GLAD. If you would like to be removed from our email list please send a message from the address where you received this message to unsubscribe@glad.org. Thank you for getting involved and for supporting GLAD.

We downed an espresso shot then called Pelosi’s office and got a recording so we could register what we at Beck’s Cafe felt about the removal of transgender protections from ENDA. It was surprising they had space to record what we wanted to say. We then rang up our congressman, Ed Markey, and found out he was indeed supporting ENDA!! How nice We asked would he pretty please call up Mr. Frank and ask that he, perhaps, change his mind? You have to wonder how fruitful any of this effort is, but, who knows. Still the whole course of events is disappointing in the extreme.

Ms. Pelosi’s part in all this is especially troubling since we had written how helpful she had been to the transgender community. Please see our previous article on her at Beck’s Cafe, entitled, “Nancy Pelosi, what to expect for the transgender“.

(For past coverage of ENDA at Beck’s Cafe, please visit these stories, “Continued Coverage on ENDA - Sean Hannity, ADA and James Byrd“, “Continued Coverage on ENDA - Robyn’s Story“, “Petition Drive to Support a Complete ENDA“, “Transgender Rights Hail Storm“ )

It’s been a whirlwind this weekend on ENDA…but here’s some additional coverage on ENDA from this weekend. While certainly we barista’s at Beck’s Cafe don’t claim to have complete coverage, we do share what we found interesting.

• Sean Hannity, in the midst of ENDA, debates that anti-discrimination laws like ENDA are ultimately powerless. He brings up the recent 10th US Circuit Courts decision that the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not apply to trans people. As Sean starts off the post, “I read this case and could not stop laughing. What extremes people will go through to deny jobs to the transgendered. They could not fire her because she was transgendered, so they fired her because she might get beaten up while using a ladies room while at work. And the conservative 10th circuit bought it. They had to be on crack!”

• Kate, over at Forked Tongue and a Dirty House, also has coverage of the 10th US Circuit Courts decision that the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not apply to trans people, as well

• Lane Hudson writes at the Huffington Post that he doesn’t want a sex change; but that transgender protections being kept in ENDA are still the right thing to do.

• Jenn Burlenton over at Trans Group Blog notes that “Trangender people have no choice but to move forward. They move forward politically, socially and educationally in securing full equality and safety for transgender adults and MOST importantly, children and youth. Transgender citizens move forward by not being held back by those whose loyalty to the lesbian, gay and bisexual community prevents them from either fully understanding the needs of transgender individuals, or from being willing to risk a setback for some in order to assure equal protections for all.

• Dr. Jillian Todd Weiss writes at Transgender Worksplace Diversity that “Pushing transgender people out of the way undermines the fairness message of ENDA, and will be a terrible misstep. ENDA is about not allowing prejudice to have its way, and I commend that message to the sponsors of ENDA”. She’s got alot more to say as well and she’s worth spending some time with at Transgender Worksplace Diversity.

• Nadine Smith writes over at the Billerico Project that this exact same scenario as we have with ENDA cutting out the transgender support happened with the American With Disabilities act AND in Texas with legislation that was enacted after the James Byrd racial murder in Texas where the Byrd family refused to support legislation that protected their son James Byrd, but was not going to protect those like Matthew Shepherd. As she puts it, “To cut out, to throw out protection regardless of gender identity/expression is to cede that moral authority. It is to confirm for our political enemies that a dividing line within the human family is acceptable–the haggling about who is worthy and who is not is all that remains”.

• The Advocate reports that Barney Frank is going to introduce separate legislation for ENDA and GENDA. GENDA being a separate bill for transgender protections. At the Cafe, we fell a bit like this is a “hey we cut you out of the real support but here’s something to keep you busy so you don’t notice”. The Advocate quotes Mr. Frank’s spokesperson, Steven Adamske , “The other one, GENDA if you will, will move on a separate track and will give the ability for the committee and other lawmakers to hold hearings on it and better educate other lawmakers,” So lawmakers had no clue about transgender issues before this? We almost sputtered our coffee onto the counter reading that.

• Becky Juro, a talk show hostess for The Becky Juro Show, and writer gives an excellent historical perspective to how the GLB part of the community has booted the Trans part out on more than one occasion. She also gives a call to action, “It’s time to get pissed off again and start calling out people and organizations out when they deserve it. It’s time finish the job that we started in 2004 and knock HRC from its undeserved perch as the leading LGBT civil rights organization and replace them with an organization which understands that civil rights are for everyone, even when they interfere with the interests of rich white gay guys. NGLTF isn’t perfect, but they’re far closer to that ideal than HRC has ever come or ever will”.

• Pam’s House Blend has a nice roundup from the huge amount of reporting perking in her pots at her place, including the very important point that gender identity in ENDA protects intersexed people; so Barney Frank and friends want to jettison them too??

For past coverage of ENDA at Beck’s Cafe, please visit these stories, “Continued Coverage on ENDA - Robyn’s Story“, “Petition Drive to Support a Complete ENDA“, “Transgender Rights Hail Storm“

We’ve been swilling coffee and trying to cover a bit of what is happening with ENDA here at Beck’s Cafe. We started with:

• Transgender Rights Hail Storm
• Petition Drive to Support Complete ENDA

We’ve got some more for you that is well worth 10 minutes of your time. Robyn is a professor of computer programming. Sounds safe enough profession wise to come out and transition? Read her story at her blog here and the conversation in the comments afterward.

Historically other groups have also been told they couldn’t have job including the Jews. That’s right. Read Peter Flom’s view point on the developments on ENDA on his blog here from his perspective and he’s not Transgender.

The Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality are jointly sponsoring an online petition that they will submit to Ms. Nancy Pelosi to keep Transgender people in the ENDA bill. Please consider signing the petition as soon as possible. It only takes a few seconds. Then pass it on.

You can reach the petition at here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/transgender_inclusive_ENDA/

(thanks to Mike at The Transgender Planet for bringing this to our attention)
(You can follow some of what is happening on this important topic by checking the links on this article at Beck’s Cafe: Transgender Rights Hail Storm ) 

There is, literally a hail storm of happenings regarding ENDA and The Matthew Shepard Bill, and how what happens to those bills on the national level could effect our efforts in Massachusetts on “House Bill #1722: An Act Relative to gender-based discrimination and hate crimes“.

Frankly, my head hurts. I don’t know whether to be mad as hell or cry or think, I and my sisters and brothers might have a much harder time getting jobs than we all thought. Having lived on welfare before, I can tell you it’s not a vacation.

Rather than tipping over a pot of coffee of blind rhetoric here at Beck’s Cafe right now, we are going to link in some of the outstanding conversations happening on the net on ENDA. The Mattehew Shepard Bill actually had good news as it passed the Senate.

ENDA conversations we’d recommend you check in on:

• Pam’s House Blend does her usual great job of coverage so check in on the conversations at her site here. Scroll down to see the coverage throughout the front page.
• A Hidden Saint over at the Daily Kos has two posts with hundreds of comments and discussion
  • Part 1 of the discussion at The Daily Kos
  • Part 2 of the discussion at The Daily Kos
• Congress Barney Frank issued this statement, STATEMENT OF BARNEY FRANK ON ENDA,
• Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin withholds name from non-transgender ENDA, see story at gaycitynews

There is some worry that with ENDA being stripped of transgender protections that support for Massachusetts HB 1722 might get weakened. That would be a bad thing. What happened in Key Largo could happen to any of us and we’d have almost no recourse.

The weather woman (yes it was a woman I’m not just being politically correct) tells me that there will be a frost this weekend here in New England. That’s great for my carrots; a good frost sweetens them up.

It’s not so good for transgender homeless people who try and find a safe place to sleep in a shelter. We’ve written about the need for shelters for transgender people before, back in July 2006 in the article, “Shelter/Housing Needs for GLBT Victims of Domestic Violence“.

At the Creating Change web site they have some ideas on how to make those shelters transgender friendly. They have published a 59 page booklet to try and suggest those changes. According to Creating Change:

Transgender people are disproportionately represented in the homeless population because of the frequent discrimination they face at home, in school and on the job.

Homeless transgender people can experience extreme difficulties obtaining adequate and safe shelter because many facilities have rules about gender-related dress or appearance.

Rules about the following can create problems:

• Intake processes and confidentiality;
• Harassment;
• Showers;
• Restrooms;
• Sleeping arrangements;
• Dress codes.

Life is hard enough on the street without having to deal with all that too. The Creating Change booklet has some great ideas and you can read about them by downloading the booklet from their website by visiting Creating Change’s “Transitioning our Shelter’s” booklet at their site here.

Friday September 28, 2007, Phone-a-Thon for Massachusetts Transgender Equality, House Bill 1722; “An act relative to gender based discrimination and hate crimes.”

In order to bolster support from local businesses and organizations before the hearing on HB 1722, Boston University Law’s LGBTQ organization, OUTLAW, will be hosting a phone-a-thon! All you need to bring is yourself for an hour, or two, or four, or whatever you can commit, and they will have telephone scripts, contact information, and resources.

• WHEN: Friday September 28
• TIME: 12-4 PM
• WHERE: Boston University School of Law 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston 02215 Room 734

Try to RSVP to jsutto02@bu.edu, but if you can suddenly come on Friday, don’t hesitate–just head on over to BU. Please invite friends and allies to come help, and bring computers/cell phones if you have them! Also, if you are on any student listservs, please forward the event information!

If you came home disabled from serving our country to a home that you could no longer use that’d be bittersweet. You’d be happy to be home, but unable to use it efectively.

But there’s hope…from an organization called “Homes for our Troops“. Let me quote from their web site about them:

Homes for Our Troops is a non-profit, non-partisan 501 (c)(3) organization founded in 2004. This organization is strongly committed to helping those who have selflessly given to their country and have returned home with serious disabilities and injuries. We assist severely injured Servicemen and Women and their immediate families by raising donations of money, building materials and professional labor and coordinating the process of building a new home or adapting an existing home for handicapped accessibility.

Best of all? All services provided by Homes for Our Troops are at no cost to the veterans they serve.

This is a couple of ways you can help ths worthy cause.

First, Homes for our Troops, in conjunction with Massachusetts radio station, WAAF, are co-sponsoring a Charity Motorcycle Run Saturday, August 4th, 2007.

Registration is $30 for one rider and $20 for an additional rider and includes:

• Texas sized breakfast in at registration
• Commemorative T-shirt (First 500 registrants)
• Live Concert by the Mill City Rockers! (America’s Favorite Biker Band!)
• Texas Roadhouse Chicken and Ribs BBQ at the end of the ride!

for more information on this worthwhile cause, visit the Homes for our Troops site at this link HERE.

The second way to help is to buy a raffle ticke to the Homes for our Troops annual Harley-Davidson raffle! Tickest are $100 each and you have a 1/500th chance to win. See more details at the Homes for our Troops link here.

When I heard about the Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund on my local talk show radio station I thought, “now this is brilliant”. You should too.

Whether you think the war in Iraq is a movement to save the free world or you think it’s about the dumbest foreign policy choice we’ve made in the past 30 years is immaterial. Our soldiers, both men and women, went to Iraq and Afghanistan because they were told to go. They did not have any choice. So they are there fulfilling a mission that I have to believe in some way makes us safer here in the United States.

And, as a result of this, some of them have died. And they died in service to our country. So here’s a way to help out some of their kids. It’s a good thing. Here’s who they are in their own words:

The Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund is the first statewide public charity for fallen military heroes. There are hundreds of servicemen and women from Massachusetts currently deployed in combat operations in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Of these brave young men and women, many have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

The Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund hopes to honor the sacrifice of Massachusetts servicemen and women who have died in combat by supporting their surviving children in all future educational endeavors. The MSL Fund supports the children of Massachusetts fallen heroes from all service branches: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

You can visit the Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fun by clicking to their site at this link here: http://mslfund.org/ The fund just sent their first kid to college. You can be a part of that too by visiting their site and supporting this good work.

(We’re leaving this post up as our top post for a bit as we follow this)

Tenessa Thomas, age 13 of Auburn, Maine went missing on Thursday, 3/22/07 around 7am. She took none of her things for school, no jackets, and all of the doors and windows have been locked with no sign of any entry. Basically, the parents have no idea about anything what so ever. If ANYONE has ANY information about her where abouts or even nows someone who knows something PLEASE call (3/23/07: phone numbers deleted as Tenessa was found).

I got this message from an acquaintence via email. We’ve emailed back asking that the parents contact the Maine police to kick off the nationwide Amber Alert System for this little girl. We’ll post updates here to this post to keep everyone informed as this very serious issue develops.

***updates***
3/23/07 12:10PM While we are waiting for some further news you might like to read this post here at Beck’s Cafe I did here on one of my kids, just click here.

3/23/07 9:43PM Great NEWS! We just talked to a woman who is a relative of Tenessa’s. She was found, is back home and is a-okay!! Thanks to everyone for their concern Free Mochacino’s for everyone

Here at Beck’s Cafe we’ve talked a little about Social Entrepreneurship before. But one thing we have not done is to give some bona fide examples of how it works. Examples can be great teachers for you to prime the pump of innovation and get your creative juices going.

But what is a Social Entrepreneur? In a nutshell, they are people that see problem and use their entrepreneurial energy to solve them. In another context they’d be investment bankers. But the problem they see energizes them and they take compassionate action.

The business magazine Fast Company has taken to honoring what they see as the top 25 on an annual basis. I haven’t seen the new list yet, but here’s last year’s list filled with visionary people who’ve decided to do something. How can you do something right where you are to help vexing problems you see in your community? Read this list for some inspiration!

For the full article, you can visit Fast Company at this link here.

The Top 25 Groups That Are Changing the World (from Fast Company, “25 Entrepreneurs Who are Changing the World, 2006“)

The 8th Annual Transgender Day of Rememberance is being observed in the Boston area on Sunday and Monday this year. On Sunday the 19th, there will be a Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony from 7-9 PM at the Arlington Street Church in Boston, MA. Monday the 20th in the City of Worcester, 7:30 p.m there will be an observance at All Saints Church, an Episcopal church at the corner of Pleasant and Irving streets in Worcester MA.

If you don’t know about this day, I think the words from the main web site tell it best:

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgendered — that is, as a transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence based on bias against transgendered people.

If your a citizen of the United States of America you can vote. If your a transgender-woman or transgender-man and a citiizen of the United States of America guess what? You can vote. Don’t let anyone say you can’t. That’s bunk. Check out the National Center for Transgender Equality voting guide for an excellent FAQ on the subject. You can reach the file by clicking the link here: ncte_voting_guide.pdf

(photo of Vote cartoon courtesy of H.Michael karshi’s photos, used under Creative Commons License)