The first ever National Transgender Lobbying Days brought together ninety-five energetic, committed volunteers from around the country to assist in the lobbying of Members of Congress, both on the House and the Senate side.
Organized by Phyllis Randolph Frye of ICTLEP, Riki Ann Wilchins of TS Menace, and Karin Kerin, of It's Time America, this event was an unqualified success, and has been elevated to annual event status. We volunteer rabble were idealistic and optimistic, and very excited! We wanted to do a very complete job of lobbying, all 535 members. (And were we ever complete, like most of us were completely aware that we actually made history, completely proud that we were finally standing up for ourselves in the land of Foggy Bottom and were completely exhausted at the end, and were totally glad that we did it!
We also held a new conference on the steps of the Capitol, and were covered on CNN and will be covered in a 20/20 television episode reportedly sometime in November '95. Wow!
When we met with the M.C. L.A.s (got that?) we had some really good information to hand out, covering the following major areas:
We were primarily urging modification of wording in the ENDA bill (H.R. 1863 and S. 932) to include, in addition to sexual orientation protection, gender identity protection to cover both pre and post-op transexuals who live and work full-time, also crossdressers who may live in fear of being discovered at work and fired. In addition, we urged inclusion of transexual care in all health insurance policies (currently transexual health care is specifically excluded). The last major issue covered was changes in the Federal Bureau of Prisons Standards to allow separate facilities for TS and Gay inmates. You can probably imagine what could happen to a pre-operative TS who might end up in prison. There is currently no protection for such an event, and we also urged that that be included.
We need to remember that we are now, in 1995, where the Gay/Lesbian political movement was some twenty years ago. All we want are equal rights, not special rights or quotas; we just want to be treated like any other tax-paying, voting, loyal consumer of goods and ideas, American.
Most of the legislative aides in the California congresspeople's area were accepting, sensitive, and listened to what I had to say. To a person, they all said that they would forward the information to the representative or senator. I personally saw two senators and 28 representatives ( Yes, I have lived all over California and the world, and in the past have lived in most of the districts that I visited for at least 6 months). Without exception, the reception was positive, and I was met with interest, even with members of the Republican Party (we must not invoke stereotypes here). I even met with the legislative aide for Rep. Bob Dornan, arch-conservative. So anyway, this will be a long, slow process, and we need your help next year, same weekend, same place, more people!
Successful Lobbying Days Unite Community, Accomplish Goals Phyllis Frye describes the details of how the historic work got done.
A Personal Perspective on National Gender Lobby DaysShelby Beach's report from the trenches. Fun and hard work carry the day!
TS Menace Protests Hunter Death Riki Wilchins' report on protests and meeting with DC Mayor and Fire Chief in connection with the Death of Tyra Hunter.
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