The Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, And Castro For All, and both of San Francisco's LGBT supervisors will join with many other LGBT leaders and groups in the decision to forgo this year's Human Rights Campaign dinner in San Francisco, scheduled for July 26. We encourage all others in the LGBT community and our allies to forgo HRC's gala event this year, due to HRC's ongoing refusal to advocate for federal legislation that protects all Americans from discrimination based on gender identity and expression �" as well as sexual orientation.
At the end of the last century, the LGBT community arrived at a consensus: that the full membership of the LGBT community would be honored and embraced, regardless of differences among us, be they based upon race, class, gender, gender identity and expression, or other factors. What was once called a "gay" community in the past, now self-defines, and is known internationally, as the LGBT community. United, the LGBT community works diligently to ensure that all LGBT community members are protected from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression.
It is especially important that our leading civil rights institutions, like HRC, uphold our shared commitment to diversity and inclusion and lead our movement in a responsible and forward-looking manner.
Unfortunately, last fall HRC betrayed its own legacy and values, and betrayed the LGBT community, when the organization's leadership reversed its long-standing commitment to inclusive legislation by suddenly advocating passage of a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act that deliberately excluded gender identity and expression protections. This was done even though significant progress in passing inclusive legislation had been made at the state and local level while the non-inclusive ENDA had no hope of becoming law. This cynical move left millions of Americans more vulnerable to gender discrimination in employment by implying that although discrimination based on sexual orientation was unacceptable, bias and intolerance based on gender identity or expression were negotiable. Even worse, HRC's leadership made its decision in secret, breaching its collaboration with every other national LGBT organization, including PFLAG, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Stonewall Democrats, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Transgender Law Center, Equality California, and over 350 other national, state, and local LGBT organizations. No notice had been given to any of these organizations that additional lobbying and education were needed to secure a fully-inclusive ENDA.
Since that time, HRC has made little effort to reverse course on this issue. HRC's president, Joe Solmonese, now asserts that his prior statements about HRC's unwavering commitment to inclusion were simply "misstatements." In fact, to this day, HRC remains uncommitted to introduction of an inclusive employment non-discrimination bill �" even though Congress must introduce an entirely new bill during its next session in January 2009.
HRC stated recently, in a letter to Alice, that the non-inclusive bill was a "floor, not a ceiling," and "was just one step on the way to our goal." But an inclusive employment bill is the "floor" of our civil rights struggle. At the national level, LGBT people still don't have protections from housing discrimination. LGBT people still can't serve openly in the military. LGBT people still can't marry our partners, or even protect our families in some of the most basic ways. We long ago abandoned hope of enacting a comprehensive Civil Rights Act that would prevent discrimination in employment, housing, and other areas simultaneously. We've already made painful, incremental trade-offs in order to have one bill passed at a time. At the very least, we should ensure that everyone in our community is covered when we do introduce legislation.
We are deeply committed to inclusion within our community, and call upon other LGBT organizations to uphold this commitment as well. While we have supported HRC in the past and look forward to doing so in the future, in light of the above we cannot in good conscience support this year's HRC gala fundraiser and, regrettably, feel compelled to ask our fellow San Franciscans also to forgo the HRC gala this year �" until such time as HRC reaffirms its commitment to inclusion, especially with respect to introduction and passage of an inclusive employment non-discrimination bill.
Particularly at this point in time, it is important that we support LGBT organizations working actively, on all of our behalf, against non-discrimination and for full equality �" and especially those organizations working for passage of an inclusive ENDA. Instead of attending this year's HRC event, we respectfully ask that you consider investing in an explicitly trans inclusive organization, such as the Transgender Law Center, or any of the 350-plus other local, state, and national organizations working toward a fully-inclusive ENDA (listed at http://www.unitedENDA.org). Please also consider contributing directly to the No on 8 campaign to defeat the November ballot initiative, which, if successful, would permanently prevent marriage equality (http://www.equalityforall.com).
Working with integrity, in genuine solidarity, we will achieve the basic rights we all deserve.
Tom Ammiano is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Julius Turman is a co-chair of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club; Susan B. Christian also is an Alice co-chair, and a board member of the Transgender Law Center. John Newsome, a co-founder of And Castro For All, also co-wrote this piece.