By In Your Face News Service
Following up on actions during National Gender Lobbying Day (May 5), a group of Congress members have signed a statement deploring violence against transgenders, the first ever declaration of its' kind.
Signatories do far include Representatives Ed Towns (NY), Maurice Hinchey (NY), Ronald Dellums (CA), Caroline Maloney (NY), Mel Watt (NC), Bruce Vento (MN), William Clay (MO), Jerome Nadler (NY), and Barney Frank (MA).
Said Alex Beckles, Legislative Assistant to Rep. Ed Towns, the first Congressmember to sign a statement on trans-violence, "Ed Towns feels strongly that no American -- be they gay or straight, black or white, or transgendered -- should be the target of violence or have to live with the fear of violence, and we were glad for the opportunity to sign on to such a letter."
Meanwhile, in groundbreaking meeting today, representatives of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community met with an Assistant Attorney General and members of the Office of Policy Development of the US Department of Justice to discuss violence and bias-related crimes against differently-gendered people.
The meeting had been requested by members of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) in a letter sent to Janet Reno following the bombing of the Otherside bar in Atlanta. Although the bombing was considered a "gay and lesbian" hate crime, the Otherside was also well-known by local citizens for its bisexual and transgender clientele.
GenderPAC's Dana Priesing, Tonye Barreto- Neto and Riki Anne Wilchins were joined by the Human Rights Campaign's Kris Pratt, Bi-Net's Lorraine Hutchins, and NGLTF's Helen Gonzales. Declared Ms. Gonzales, "As far as we know, this is the first meeting of its kind, and a crucial step for all of us in helping those on the Hill -- and in the administration -- recognize the importance of crimes against the differently-gendered."
Tonye Barreto-Neto, a Florida Deputy-Sheriff and Ex. Dir. of TOPS (Transgender Officers Protect and Serve) spoke at length on the problems of implementing hate-crimes legislation at the street level, saying "Even where the right statutes exist, officers on the street often lack sufficient training to recognize a trans or bi related hate crime when they see one. In fact, even when they recognize it and the proper authority exists -- as with gay bashing -- officers in the field are loath to write up such crimes because of all the greatly enhanced attention and work a hate crime brings with it."
The meeting ranged broadly from the verdict in the recent Chanelle Pickett murder trial and enforcement of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act to GenderPAC's recently published 1st National Survey on TransViolence. It concluded by focusing on the three-fold challenge ahead: First is the uphill struggle to cover trans-violence under existing Hate Crimes legislation; at present, DOJ lacks the statutory authority to deal directly with violence based on gender-difference. Second is developing the proper policies to deal with such violence. And third is pushing policy and information back down to the street level, so that officers on the beat recognize and prosecute transviolence just as they currently do with elder abuse or spousal assault.
Concluded HRC's Kris Pratt, who had been instrumental in GenderPAC's strategies on hate crimes, "We feel violence is an area where we can work constructively with all members of the larger queer community. The next step is to seriously work the Hill on this issue, and see how deep and wide the legislative resolve against gender-based violence really is. Amending hate crimes legislation to include gender expression or identity will probably be an uphill battle, but one in which we're glad to participate."
Said Riki Wilchins, Ex. Dir. Of GenderPAC, "What's surprising is who didn't sign the letters... liberal Democrats who've been demonstrably gay-friendly. We need to approach every Congressmember -- and especially ENDA sponsors -- to learn what we need to do to gain their recognition and support."