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The Human Rights Campaign Boycott was launched due to HRC non-inclusion of bisexuals and transgenders in its mission statement and pending legislative agenda.
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The Latest Dear Editor: The official HRC responses to the boycott of its fund-raising dinner are sufficiently disturbing to provoke this reply. 1) Contrary to Deyette Danford's claim, boycott supporters are not "naive." On this issue the choice is between political expediency and ethical integrity. HRC argues broadly for gay and lesbian rights because they are "human rights", but then legislatively defines these human rights narrowly so as to exclude transgenders. HRC says it does this to expedite passage of ENDA, and that those left behind will be taken care of later. But if the argument is for human rights, there can be no ethical basis for including some now, others later. All human rights are of equal value, and cannot be rank-ordered into those we will defend today, and those that can be passed over until tomorrow. Either we are all human, now, deserving of all human rights, or we are not. Either HRC must change its name and argument - it is not championing human rights at all, but only the subset of gay and lesbian rights - or it must accept the full burden of its claim, and be there for all humans. Now. Clearly, many people opt for political expediency, and do not mind advocating an internally inconsistent argument if it will pass ENDA. Others of us, however, are at least as equally committed to principle as we are to results., to means as to ends. We ask not only what are we getting, but what is the price. The price HRC is charging for ENDA is too high if it betrays our most fundamental rationale for the legislation in the first place. This may be idealistic, but certainly not "naive." 2) Robert Ripley compares boycotters to the "religious political extremists" which have damaged the Republican Party. With one stroke he "marginalize[s] and trivialize[s]" (his words) the very serious point of the boycott by likening its participants to the kookiest and most irrational segment of society. To thus alienate a significant segment of one's base is at best tactless, but is not atypical of HRC member relations. The need for a boycott would probably not have arisen had HRC spent more time at least pretending to communicate with its members. I have myself written letters to HRC leadership (including Mr. Ripley) which have received no response. Many letters in Ambush have recounted similar tales of being ignored by HRC when trying to express concerns. The lesson most of us have learned is that HRC wants our money, not our opinions. If the boycott is a public relations embarrassment, HRC has no one to blame but itself. 3) Ripley expresses the opinion that it is effective to tell HRC that you disagree with its policy of discrimination, while not assigning a "cost" to that disagreement, such as withholding monetary contributions. Sadly, the way HRC itself operates shows that you "don't get something for nothing." In its last big push to pass Elizabeth Birch's top priority, ENDA, the anti-same-sex marriage bill (DOMA) was also up for consideration. HRC was very clear on its strategy: It would sacrifice same-sex marriage by allowing DOMA to pass virtually uncontested in hopes of shaming Congress into approving ENDA. We lost on both issues, but in the process accrued the unnecessary burden of HRC's implicit endorsement of the myth that same-sex relationships are spurious and need not be taken seriously by society. I personally consider HRC's priorities skewed: most of us value our relationships more than our bank accounts. But the point here is that HRC functions in an environment where political stances are based not upon what is good or right, but upon what pressures can be exerted in which directions. There is little indication that HRC is motivated to do the right thing for its own sake, and plenty of evidence that it will deliberately refrain from doing the right thing if it is seen as Politically expensive. HRC will rectify this lapse only if it decides that the expense within its own community for this discrimination exceeds the expense outside our community for including transgenders explicitly. To claim to oppose HRC's policy of discrimination without putting a price tag on that opposition is essentially to agree to allow HRC to continue to discriminate while trying to minimize personal complicity in that organizational policy. Who do they think is being fooled? Sincerely, -James M. Donovan, Ph.D. Dear Editor: I have a friend. And in this world, I count very few people under that heading. I am always happy to see my friend. My life has been enriched by our friendship. It is one of those truly good things in life. . .warmth, satisfaction, good feelings. And I admire my friend's courage. Her name is Crystal Little. . . even though her caller ID reads Charles Little. Crystal is a transgendered person. She has chosen to live her life honestly according to her own deep-seated beliefs. Because I have chosen to live my life openly as a lesbian, I understand the importance of a decision to go against what society demands. So we chose the "society" in which we can dwell safely and happily and we damn the torpedoes of the mainstream. Sometimes we get hit. But we never expect to be torpedoed within the safety of our own community. . . which one of us could afford to deny another access to the hard-fought for gains we have made in this very conservative world? And the violence to our spirits is even greater when the torpedo runs silent and deep. So it is with the HRC's silence on the community's request to include transgendered human beings in their efforts to win our rights as equals. . . to wrestle our rights from those who would deny them to us. I have fought long and hard in many theaters of operations to achieve the rights we deserve-in the classroom, on the street, in business, in my personal life. But I cannot whole-heartedly lend my energies to an organization who thinks that "timing" is more important than human beings. There is no better time than now to include all members of our community in the fight for equality. Let's not make a liar out of that = bumper sticker. To borrow from a well-known song, she ain't heavy, she's my brother. . .even if she chooses to be my sister. Most importantly, she's my friend and my equal on every front. It seems ludicrous to even think that there would be a question as to the equality of one segment of our community. Hey, wake up HRC. . . this is the old divide and conquer scenario. Don't divide your constituency into those who you will embrace and those you won't. That makes fools of you and us. If HRC stands for Human Rights, then it must include ALL human incarnations in our community-no matter the chosen identities we live as in this the only life we each have to live. Wake up, HRC and don't put political expediency ahead of common sense. And don't ask me to choose between politics and my friend. They say politics make strange bedfellows, and I think you need to remember that those of us out here in the trenches go home at night and climb into bed with some of the human beings you don't want to acknowledge. This is folly for the HRC to forget those who have fought long and hard, side-by-side. I will not leave my friend to fight alone. . . she has never left my side in the fight. . . and who would then guard my back, or heal my wounds, or comfort me in my times of need, or celebrate with me in my times of victory? I'll stand with Crystal Little and when freedoms are achieved, we will celebrate them together. -Pam Young, Proprietor, Rubyfruit Jungle E-mail: From: gganola@aol.co Subject: Join HRC Boycott Genia (Wayne) Woodcox would like the following actions to occur: Yes Yes! I am in support of the HRC Boycott. I am submitting this as a(n): Individual. Yes My name may be used on an HRC Boycott List. Email: wchemista-aol.com Provided the following comments: Humman Rights are for all. In case you haven't reccognized it by now transsexuals and crossdressers are human too. Exclusion of us is rather hypocritical. One's rights should not be trampeled upon either by deliberate actions or exclusion from some actions. The end goal is to have a society that respects all humans no matter who or what they are. --Genia | "Transgenders Are Human Too!" From: TBhawk TBhawk@aol.com Subject: Re: AEGIS Internet News 3/10/98 I would like to say that I personally support the boycott and will do everything within my power to help New Orleans in their endeavors. Being practically from New Orleawns myself, I would love to do anything to help. BTW, does anyone know if Charlene Schnieder has an e-mail address. I would like to write to her as my "new" persona. I use to have a bar right down the street from her's, and we have certainly shared more than that by proxy -Tony BArreto-Neto From: Troy Spicer Subject: Boycott About the boycott, Well, this probably won't be printable, but I definitely would not support a boycott based on transgendered people being excluded. I've never understood the connection between the gender issue and sexual preference. I know that segment identifies with the gay/lesbian population, but I honestly don't know why I should identify with them. Our only bond is intolerance, but that is not enough to be grouped with us. We can support their cause without identifying with it.
As for the bisexual issue ... I think they probably do support bisexuals indirectly. The bisexual's straight side really needs no lobbying in congress. The gay side does, and that's what the organization is there for.
--Troy Dear Editor, Because you have been and may continue to be a supporter of the Human Rights Campaign, we are writing to advise you that although we had hoped it wouldn't come to this, we feel that we have no choice but to call upon you to join us in suspending financial support ( be it in the form of donations, dinner tickets, or auction prizes) for the HRC until it includes transgendered persons in its mission statement and in ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act). In order to give you some background on this issue, we are enclosing a copy of a letter we wrote HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch last year. Although no formal reply was received, an HRC team that was dispatched to New Orleans last fall sought to soothe troubled waters, to placate local organizations and to stonewall. They succeeded in convincing us that nothing short of an actual and massive withdrawal of financial support would ever move them beyond mere words to true action on this issue. Although we arrived at our present position on the basis of principle alone, we have since become more concerned in that there is mounting evidence that if ENDA fails to include transgendered persons it will unwittingly exclude lesbian and gay persons who, although not transgendered, display non-gender conforming feminine and masculine mannerisms or who dress in non-gender conforming ways. In order to give you some idea of what we are talking about in this regard you will also find enclosed a couple of handouts published by PFLAG's ( Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Transgender Special Outreach Network. Also enclosed is a list of community leaders who have agreed to endorse this letter. We thank them and welcome their support. We are sure that there will be some who are quick to charge us with creating divisiveness within the community. To them we reply that it is not us, but the HRC that has created divisiveness with it's policy of exclusion. In closing, we would like to suggest that the more who join us in this campaign, the sooner we will all be able to return to working together again for our primary goal of equal rights for everyone. Sincerely yours, HRC Award Recipients: Stewart P. Butler, R. James Kellogg, Charlene Schneider, B. Skip Ward Individuals: Mike Barrington, Lisa Beaumann, Jami Butler, M.D., Sonny Cleveland, Rick Cosgriff, Bill Dailey, Marsha Delain, James Donovan, Ph.D., Reba Douglas, Karl Ezkovich, Teryl-Lynn Foxx, Lynn J. Freeman, Ph.D., Bob Garofalo, Mickey Gil, Mark Gonzalez, Esq., Cliff Howard, Jr., Crystal Little, Jay Loomis, Marcy Marcell, Gerald Meis, Loretta Mims, Melanie Miranda, Harold Morris, Mac Moser, Smurf Murphy, Rip Naquin, Jon Newlin, George Patterson, Toni J.P. Pizanie, John D. Rawls, Esq., Glen Reams, Esq., Rich Sacher, Patrick Shannon, III, The Rev. Bill Richardson, Edward Schlotter, Nancy Sharp, Liz Sims, Randy Stevens, Michael Sullivan, Esq., Diane Tanner, Jules Tate, Julie Thompson, Damon Veach, Kathleen Reed Venable, Riley H. Venable, Ph.D., Todd Wemhoner, Ronald D. Wilcox, M.D. Businesses/Organizations: Ambush Mag 2000, Ambush onLINE, Arthur's House of Glamour, Charlene's, Charlene's and Linda's on the Coast, Footloose Cabaret, GAA (Gay Appreciation Awards), GGA (Gulf Gender Alliance), Hibiscus Bookstore, KCQR, Mother Bob's, MRB, Royal Tobacconist, Rubyfruit Jungle, Wolfendale's HRC Boy/Girlcott Supporters: HRC Award Recipients
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