Equality Goals Priorities

From Dean [76.14.56.138] - Jul. 15, 2010 1:07 AM

Gender identity should not be included in a gay civil rights list.  The greatest lie and negative stereotype of homophobes is that gay people are somehow insecure in their gender.  Those opposing equality love to claim falsely that gay men are somehow less masculine than heterosexual men or that gay women are somehow less feminine than heterosexual women.  Gender identity and sexual orientation are completely separate concepts and should never be lumped together.  The true, original ENDA would probably have passed by now if gender identity had not been thrown into the bill.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 probably would not have passed if sexual orientation had been added as a characteristic along with race.

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From Barbara McCullough-Jones [72.222.131.22] - Jun. 19, 2008 11:48 PM

I am curious to see the list of issues divided by gender identity - with a subset of gender identity and age. As others have posted the glaring lack of trans-inclusion stands in stark contrast to calling the results an LGBT poll.

Further, while the list represents public policy issues it does not explore the "internal" issues that continue to plague our movement such as racism, sexism, economic diversity and apathy. Seems like the survey "skimmed the cream" but didn't dip deep enough to root out the issues that are our biggest challenges to equality.

Quite frankly from one that works from inside the fire, I know our movement needs resources and support to overcome those challenges in order to move forward together. Not a sexy part of the movement but one than when left to fester costs us dearly - in leadership, in re-inventing the wheel and in missing those moments when a strong rapid response capacity should already exist in part because we have built allies across a variety of issues and are inclusive of the entire LGBT and allied communities.

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From danabeyer - Jun. 17, 2008 7:37 PM

What I find interesting is that if this is, indeed, just a poll of the LGB population (and I would imagine there are very few "B"s here as well), then the low support for trans rights is strikingly poor compared to that of the general population. Straight folks, either in national surveys or in a recent Maryland survey, support trans rights in the range of 65%. That includes the full range of civil rights -- employment, housing, accommodations -- and hate crimes protections/bullying as well. If the gay community is only half as supportive, that would be pretty shameful, and I don't see how we can rationalize that as inadequate education. Gay folks are far better educated on trans issues than straight ones.

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From Sabrina Schnur [72.23.141.51] - Jun. 12, 2008 9:45 AM

I would like to know why you stated in your heading, and I quote

 "presents new discoveries about LGBT identity, political attitudes, and civic engagement (pdf file). Among the many interesting results, note the priorities for LGBT rights by age (see chart below)". 

I reviewed this PDF and even though you stated in the begining it was a LGBT report, the transgender community was deliberately excluded from this study. 

I particularly enjoyed Figure 7 & 8 in the study " Priorities for LGBT Rights"  that shows how little the LGB community that responded, cares about Transgenders rights. 

I don't get the idea that the organization state their LGBT but when it comes right down to it, it seems that the Trans community is the "unwanted, red headed, stepchild" of the group. 

Please don't take my comments as a personal atack, but I would love to know why I shouldn't feel betray by the organization that I support because they're "fully inclusive" in the LGBT community, then to be disappointed by their action and lack of support to ALL the member of the community they say they represent.

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From Jim Toevs [206.183.124.161] - Jun. 12, 2008 8:54 AM

Polls provide valuable information to help us understand where we are, but we fail in our job if we simply go with the most popular issues.

 The low priority given to transgender rights shows that the GLB Community holds attitudes towards the equality of others, not unlike the attitudes of other minorities:  until their own rights have been achieved, the rights of others are not a high priority; and after their own rights have been achieved, who cares?   What this indicates to me is that we have a lot of educating to do in our own community about why trans-inclusiveness is important.

 From a strategic standpoint, the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would be a HUGE leap forward in our quest for full legal equality in our lifetime.  Just as Truman's ending of segregation in the military brought millions of white military personnel into contact with black people, so the ending of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will bring millions of non-gay military personnel into contact with members of the GLBT Community.  As we know, when people know that they know someone LBGT, it dramatically increases their support for our equality.

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From CharlesMerrill - Jun. 12, 2008 5:14 AM

Marriage equality is the number one issue because it is about a citizens contitutional guarantee of "Equal justice under the law."  Even if you are a swinging single and hate the insitution of marriage, the fight is about justice.

Marriage between “gender neutral” couples is legal in California, and we are still fighting.  Give to equalityforall.com.  Our unions are not recognized by the Federal government and we don’t get the over 1,000 Federal benefits automatically extended to heterosexual couples. This inequality, thanks to the Defense of Marriage Act, was voted on by congress and signed into law by President Clinton. What a can of worms that has turned out to be. President Bush believing in and guided by an imaginary sky god's "sanctity of marriage" to initiate an amendment to our Constitution that would ban two people in love from getting married. The government has no business in checking out the gender of two people who apply for marriage.

On the list of top priorities should be, separation of church and state and equal marriage rights, a continuing battle worth fighting for, we, as citizens of the United States.

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