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To: HRC Boycott Supporters
This letter is to all of you that decided to jump on the HRC boycott bandwagon. I have been a proud supporter of the Human Rights Campaign for at least 5 years. I have been a witness of the magnificent deeds that this organization has been involved towards the improvement of the Gay and Lesbian struggle. It is beyond the scope of this letter to go into details of this involvement but if anyone wants information of these activities, I'll be happy to provide them.This organization has been in existence for almost 20 years. It's clear goal is to make America a place where ALL gay and lesbian people can be ensured of their basic equal rights and can be open, honest and safe at home at work and in the community. If you are self-identified as gay or lesbian you are and always will be included in what HRC works towards. As I understand the facts, the New Orleans transgender and transsexual community wanted their group to be included in the mission statement as a special class. Because this request was denied, a boycott was instituted against the HRC dinner, which happens to be the largest fundraising event of the HRC, at the local level.
I believe this to be a very childish and self-serving stance. As a gay puertorican individual, I am a minority twofold. If I were to take the same attitude, I would be boycotting the dinner, because Latino's are not mentioned in the mission statement of the HRC. What's next? Should we mention the overweight people of the city, or those who embellish with body piercing, or people with tattoos.....These groups are all discriminated against for their choices! I pose a question to all who feel under represented by the HRC .... Does the transsexual and transgender community truly feels that the HRC doesn't fight for the rights of your group against the prejudices of society? Does the transsexual and transgender community feel that they do not benefit from the efforts of the HRC? And lastly, how would the mention of "transsexual" or "transgender" in the mission statement make a difference in the overall outcome of the accomplishments of the HRC?
It is very clear to me that there is difference between gender identification and sexual orientation. HRC was developed to fight for the rights for all groups that are discriminated against, and doesn't need to define every subcategory which would benefit from their cause. It is up to all of us to stand together and keep the fight for equality alive. It is not a time for us to fragment, because our strength is in our numbers. As the old saying goes, and bears emphasizing...."UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL". I have had to fight for respect and appreciation amongst the heterosexual community my whole life, and feel heartbroken that I am having to fight within my own community, one in which I always felt supported and accepted for who I am.
I would like to suggest that if the transsexual and transgender community doesn't support or appreciate the efforts of the HRC in fighting for their rights, than make a stance in a positive way. A boycott is wasted energy and effort. Undermining and slandering HRC only serves to harm all of the efforts of the many people who volunteer their time selfishly, and the overall goal of the organization. Might I suggest that your efforts be channeled into a positive manner, and the development of an organization which recognizes your cause individually. This way, your beliefs and views can be heard and not bring negative attention to your purpose. I again reiterate, we have had enough negative attention placed on us throughout our daily lives, and this trivial attitude is just one more way to discredit us as worthy members of society. One last suggestion, perhaps the transgendered community should work in coalition with the Baptists and boycott Disney since transgendered aren't included in GayDay.
--Eduardo G. Marvez-Valls MDThis is a statement by HRC Award Recipients.
First, of all, we would like to express our appreciation to the Dinner Committee for permitting us the use of this forum to inform those present at the dinner as to why we felt we could not be there with you.Back in 1995, we and others issued a statement calling upon the HRC to include transgendered persons in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Word slowly drifted back that transgendered persons weren't included in HRC's mission statement, that it wasn't HRC's decision but that of a coalition of which HRC was a part, and that it wasn't politically expedient. We continue to find these excuses unsatisfactory.
On May 17, 1997, we wrote HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch advising her that if no substantial progress was made over the next few months on this issue and on the issue of including transgendered persons in HRC's mission statement, we would support a boycott of this year's dinner.
Taking HRC's continued silence to be an acknowledgment of no progress, as a last resort we reluctantly issued a call for a suspension of financial support for HRC on March 23rd of this year. Finally, realizing that our issues had to be addressed, HRC's National Field Director Donna Red Wing, in an open letter dated April 3, 1998, to the New Orleans community, set forth an impressive list of things HRC has done in regard to transgenders. However, when she says that HRC has "committed our support to an amendment to ENDA that would add protections for the transgendered community," she neglects to explain to us that that commitment doesn't kick in until ENDA passes and that does NOT include gender identity. As things now stand, even if the present Congress fails to pass ENDA, there is no commitment to include transgenders in future proposed ENDAs.
More fundamentally, there is no commitment to include transgenders in HRC's mission statement or in its general literature, press releases, etc. We ask again: Why, among national gay and lesbian organizations, does HRC stand almost alone in this regard? When we embarked upon this campaign almost three years ago, it was based upon principle alone. Perhaps former Chairperson of The Forum for Equality Lawrence E. Best, in his letter endorsing our March 23rd letter, puts it most succinctly when he writes, "I believe it is morally reprehensible to seek protection for gays and lesbians to the exclusion of our transgendered brothers and sisters."
However, beyond principle alone, we have since become more concerned as to mounting evidence that if ENDA fails to include transgendered persons it will also unwittingly exclude lesbians and gay persons who, although not transgendered, display non-gender conforming feminine or masculine mannerisms or who dress in non-gender conforming ways.
More than one out of six persons attending last year's HRC dinner signed a petition calling upon HRC to act immediately to include transgendered persons in its mission statement and in ENDA. We suspect that most of those who signed that petition are in attendance this year, indicating that they are in agreement with our goals if not our method. We call upon them and others of like mind to individually and collectively communicate to HRC their support of our common objectives.
We will not be disappointed if our call for a boycott has initially had but a small financial impact on HRC. Our larger hope is that it has served as a wake-up call that HRC will now address before it takes on a life of its own and spreads nationally to HRC's true detriment.
Finally, we look forward to the day when we can all recognize, acknowledge, respect, and celebrate the ties that bind all of us together as one unified and invincible GLBT community. Signed
--R. James Kellogg, Charlene Schneider, B. Skip Ward and Stewart P. ButlerDear Editor,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported the Gulf Gender Alliance call for an HRC boycott. Ambush Magazine and it's staff have been a loud voice for inclusion of the transgender community in the HRC mission statement.It is puzzling why HRC excludes us as with our help it could increase it's power both with minds and bodies and the financial help we muster nationwide.
There is a thin line between sexual and genderal choices. Some are both while others are neither and every combination in between. Do they think that just because they are sexual purist (homosexual) that bisexuals are any less significant. If one is attracted to the same sex on one or two occasions in ones life is that person bisexual? Or for that matter someone of the opposite sex. Would this person would be bi?
I enjoy dressing in the gander opposite of what I am normally perceived. The straight world would consider this abnormal. However, I know many women who dress in mens garb and the straight world considers them fashionable. Anyone in the so called straight world that sees me in my alter ego would invariably know in their mind that I was a drag queen on the make for homosexual engagements. Now it doesn't take a Mensan with a high I.Q. to realize that someone that is crossdressed is under the gun as gays and lesbians. The main difference is that we wear our identification for the world to see while homosexuals carry theirs on the inside. Does anyone think that a crossdresser is not perceived as homosexual? How about homosexuals that crossdress? Are they excluded from HRC inclusion?
To exclude any group or subgroup from inclusion in HRC mission statements is demeaning to those groups. It is unbelievable to expect the respect of society not to mention the rights of same while not advocating that same respect and those rights to another segment of the community in general. I am no less a citizen than they are. I am no less compassionate. I am no less a man. I am a heterosexual male and I love to dress as the best looking woman that I possibly can considering I am well over six feet tall and love to wear very high heels.
It is in the best interest that all of us in the community stand together and fight for the rights we deserve as citizens. That means standing with HRC in their endeavors. However, HRC must take a stand and with the present leadership they are laying down and this puts them too low for me to stoop. Once again I say thank you one and all for your support.
--Mitzi 0. LaBarre', Member, G.G.A.[Letters and Comments should be sent to Ambush Letters, 828-A Bourbon St., New Orleans, LA 70116-3137; or, E-mail to webmaster@ambushmag.com]
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