What happened in 1995 that made the HRC betray trans folk? Where can I find information on it?
Riki Wilchins sold out the trans community and teamed up with HRC to lobby AGAINST trans inclusion in ENDA during their 1997 meeting together in Sen. Harkin's office. Wilchins formed GenderPAC and was supported by HRC. GenderPAC was HRC's answer to It's Time America and NTAC. GenderPAC eventually stopped being a trans-focused organization, lost its relevance and shut down.
This is a fairly good history:
"There was plenty of blame to go around, not only for a Congress that didn't understand or care about trans people or the issues affecting us, but also for an activist community that centered almost exclusively on the interests and issues of non-trans gays and lesbians, often even displaying overt animosity and disdain for transgender people and our inclusion in the overall movement for American civil rights, most famously evidenced by the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) then-president, Elizabeth Birch, who was quoted in the media as saying that transgender inclusion in ENDA would happen over her dead body.
With the creation of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) still years away, the only national organizations focusing directly on the issues of importance to transgender people were the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC), a grassroots transgender advocacy group, and GenderPAC (GPAC), an organization led by transgender author and activist Riki Wilchins, which started out advocating exclusively on behalf of trans people but later expanded its focus to a broader agenda of gender rights.
Both organizations hosted annual events in Washington, D.C. to lobby members of Congress on transgender-inclusive legislation, though GPAC was criticized for what many trans people believed was a much too cozy affiliation with the Human Rights Campaign. GPAC was accused of pre-lobbying against transgender interests at the behest of HRC and the Democratic Party leadership, going to Congressional offices in advance of Lobby Days events and telling legislators and staffers that while they could expect visits from trans people advocating for an inclusive ENDA, in reality activist leaders were fine with an ENDA that didn't include protections for trans people. While there was certainly plenty of circumstantial evidence to back up these claims, they were never conclusively proven."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-juro/thank-you-barney-frank_b_1122240.html
That last little piece "never conclusively proven" is BS. The (now) EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum is the person who outed HRC/Rikki's pre-lobbying efforts. Sen. Harkin's office confirmed that HRC lobbied to keep trans people out of ENDA.
@TransGriot can give you the lowdown on everything that went on. I was on NTAC's board after all this went down, so the info I have is second-hand.
This is a fairly good history:
"There was plenty of blame to go around, not only for a Congress that didn't understand or care about trans people or the issues affecting us, but also for an activist community that centered almost exclusively on the interests and issues of non-trans gays and lesbians, often even displaying overt animosity and disdain for transgender people and our inclusion in the overall movement for American civil rights, most famously evidenced by the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) then-president, Elizabeth Birch, who was quoted in the media as saying that transgender inclusion in ENDA would happen over her dead body.
With the creation of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) still years away, the only national organizations focusing directly on the issues of importance to transgender people were the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC), a grassroots transgender advocacy group, and GenderPAC (GPAC), an organization led by transgender author and activist Riki Wilchins, which started out advocating exclusively on behalf of trans people but later expanded its focus to a broader agenda of gender rights.
Both organizations hosted annual events in Washington, D.C. to lobby members of Congress on transgender-inclusive legislation, though GPAC was criticized for what many trans people believed was a much too cozy affiliation with the Human Rights Campaign. GPAC was accused of pre-lobbying against transgender interests at the behest of HRC and the Democratic Party leadership, going to Congressional offices in advance of Lobby Days events and telling legislators and staffers that while they could expect visits from trans people advocating for an inclusive ENDA, in reality activist leaders were fine with an ENDA that didn't include protections for trans people. While there was certainly plenty of circumstantial evidence to back up these claims, they were never conclusively proven."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-juro/thank-you-barney-frank_b_1122240.html
That last little piece "never conclusively proven" is BS. The (now) EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum is the person who outed HRC/Rikki's pre-lobbying efforts. Sen. Harkin's office confirmed that HRC lobbied to keep trans people out of ENDA.
@TransGriot can give you the lowdown on everything that went on. I was on NTAC's board after all this went down, so the info I have is second-hand.
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