Gay Group Annoyed by Leafletters

HRC Threatens TransActivists
In Philadelphia

Contact: Ben Singer bensinge@eden.rutgers.edu

Philadelphia, PA - March 22nd, 1997

Three transpeople and two SOFFAs handed out educational leafletts to a black-tie HRC benefit crowd outside the Philadelphia Transit Museum last Saturday night. Almost immediately upon arrival they were confronted by an agressive HRC head of security who began accusing them of "loitering and blocking the entrance to a private party." When one of the leafletters explained this was not a protest, but an educational effort, the HRC security said he was going to call a "paddywagon" and went back inside. Within minutes, the protesters were confronted by five HRC security personell whoo began taking leaflets from the attendees as soon as they were handed out.

According to Ben Singer who helped organize the educational action: "It's ironic, to say the least, that the gay liberation movement was built upon free speech, educational actions and protest, and the local HRC has responded to our effort as if we were a menace to queer society."

While HRC and transactivists may be cooperating on a national level, trans inclusion and/or cooperation at the local level in Philadelphia has yet to occur. In the next few months, HRC is targetting the Philadelphia gay community as a political fundraising zone, and the leafletting was organized, accoding to Singer, because the local gay community remains blissfully ignorant of trans political needs and concerns. The benefit provided a perfect opportunity to educate the more mainstream sectors of gay Philadelpia.

After the dinner, trans activists returned to leaflet the "Moving Toward Equality" Dance Party, sponsored in cooperation with the "Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Awareness Days" at the University of Pennsylvania. This was the first year UPenn added "transgender" to the event title in an act of inclusion, meanwhile, after over a year of working with HRC, trans activists still have not achieved inclusion of transgender protections in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Many of the activists said they simply wanted to point out the contradiction around inclusion/non-inclusion to the HRC party attendees, and were told by security they were "ruining their fun" as this was an entertainment event and not an appropriate venue for education or protest. When asked by a local newspaper reporter if the trans activists were against HRC, they resoundingly said "no, all we want is full inclusion of our communities, and the oppportunity to let people know this is still not the case."


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