Riki Anne Wilchins (Transexual Menace) and Lynn Walker (Congress of Transgender Organizations) approached Alison Laing (International Foundation for Gender Education) about creating a Political Action "arm" of IFGE. Wilchins had spoken earlier in the day at the luncheon about community activism and afterwards people approached her offering monetary support.
Nor wanting to appear as if these activities were a "Riki-thing," she and Walker approached Laing in the hope that IFGE would manage the money people wanted to donate for political activities.
Laing, to her great credit, saw that such activities should not be "managed" by a single organization (and IFGE had been harshly criticized in the past as not being community-minded), and approached representatives of other organizations present at the Be All.
On the evening of June 8, 1995, Laing, Wilchins, and Walker met with Angela Gardner, Outreach Director of Renaissance National, and JoAnn Roberts, who at the time was Chair of the board of AEGIS. The five agreed that their respective organizations would create and back an advisory committee for transgender political activism. The committee would be called GenderPAC. It was also agreed that other national transgender organizations would be asked to support GPAC.
Shortly after the Be All had concluded, the committee for GPAC expanded to include representatives from Tri-Ess, ICTLEP, FtM International, and TOPS. Most recently, a representative from It's Time America! was added.
While the first NTLD was a great success, it also had its problems, not the least of which was the issue of who was "in charge." Both Phyllis Frye (ICTLEP) and Riki Wilchins (The Menace) had worked very hard to get people to come to Washington for NTLD. Once there, however, their styles of leadership clashed. To both their credit, they managed the problem and did not let it disrupt the lobbying activities. But, the damage to their former friendship was significant.
It was believed by many of the community leaders present that this problem could be avoided in the future if GPAC were to take the lead in planning and sponsoring such activities. GPAC, backed by national organizations which had learned how to work together under the Transgender Alliance for Community (TAC), could avoid the question of "who's in charge?" because these activities would be sponsored and led by organizations, not individuals.
To that end, GPAC has announced the Second National Transgender Lobby Days for May 5 - 6, 1997.
The discussion of what GPAC can and should do ranged far and wide over several hours. It quickly became clear that GPAC has the potential to be more than a simple advisory committee. It could be the single most important uniting force in the community. The participants decided to call the GPAC members together to formalize GPAC's structure and to establish working groups for: lobbying, public relations, public education, grassroots organizing, legal defense, fund raising, and media watch.
More than likely, this organizing meeting will be held in conjunction with another event -- probably the NGLTF Creating Change Conference to be held in November in Washington, D.C. A formal announcement will be made at a later date.
There is a limited amount of money circulating in the community and transgendered people certainly aren't "out" in the way that gay, lesbian and bisexual people are. This community has an uphill struggle in front of it -- recognition of transgender rights -- the right to be who we are and to be so in a public way without fear of harassment or discrimination. Any meaningful political activity on the part of the transgender community is going to require money and lots of it. If we wish to sit at the same political poker table as the G/L/B community, then we have to bring a commensurate amount of chips to the game.
The GPAC partners bring with them some level of measurable resources but, by far, GPAC depends on the contributions of people like you and me. I've personally given a couple hundred dollars to GPAC. My partners and I have given $500 of the profits from Transgender Forum to GPAC. What can you give? Even $5 will help get flyers printed or buy stamps. Every little bit counts. Please send a tax-deductible contribution today to GPAC, c/o PO Box 229, Waltham, MA 02154.
© 1996 by JoAnn Roberts
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© 1996 by GPAC & 3-D Communications, Inc.
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