Trans-HRC schism widens

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), came out swinging against the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) during her Jan. 17 speech at the First Event transgender conference at the Boston Marriott Peabody. Speaking to a small audience of about 12 people during a town-hall-style meeting, Keisling accused HRC of undermining the coalition of organizations working to pass a trans-inclusive version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) last fall. HRC has come under fire from some LGBT activists for supporting an ENDA bill in the House of Representatives that only offers protections based on sexual orientation. First Event, organized by the Tiffany Club of New England, is the region's largest transgender conference.

Keisling told attendees that while HRC joined other LGBT organizations last October in publicly opposing the sexual orientation-only version of ENDA, its lobbyists were working behind the scenes to ramp up support for the bill. Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass) stripped out gender identity language from ENDA in September after House leadership warned that there were not enough votes to prevent Republicans from sinking a trans-inclusive bill through a procedural motion. On Oct. 2 HRC announced that it would not support the sexual orientation-only version of ENDA, yet it was one of the only national LGBT organizations not to sign onto United ENDA, a coalition that went a step further and urged Congress to vote against any ENDA bill that did not protect transgender people.

Keisling said HRC's lobbyists told members of Congress, "We don't support this, but we will support you if you support this, so we want you to support this."

On Nov. 6 HRC reversed its position and came out in favor of the sexual orientation-only version of ENDA, and it passed the House the next day.

Keisling also accused HRC of undermining supporters of a trans-inclusive ENDA bill by telling members of Congress that they would be penalized on HRC's congressional scorecard, which rates members of Congress based on their stances on LGBT issues, if they voted against the sexual orientation-only version of ENDA. She said the threat of a black mark from HRC put pressure on lawmakers who supported a trans-inclusive ENDA bill to throw their support behind the sexual orientation-only bill.

"That HRC would use their scorecard against the rest of the movement is a very stunning thing," said Keisling.

Trevor Thomas, a spokesman for HRC, responded to Bay Windows's request to comment on Keisling's allegations, saying, "While a small number of critics continue to spread misinformation surrounding ENDA, the Human Rights Campaign is working with its allies in Congress to educate members and pave the way for a fully inclusive bill that protects the entire GLBT community."

He said HRC's actions during October show that the organization was committed to building support for a trans-inclusive ENDA. That month HRC sent out action alerts to supporters asking them to lobby their members of Congress in favor of a trans-inclusive bill, recruited 52 major businesses to sign on to a letter to Congress urging the passage of a trans-inclusive ENDA, and secured a commitment from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring a trans-inclusive ENDA up for a vote as soon as it had enough votes to pass.

Thomas confirmed that HRC notified members of Congress on Nov. 6 that they would receive a positive score on HRC's scorecard for voting yes on the sexual orientation-only ENDA bill and a negative score for voting against it.

Prior to the schism over ENDA, NCTE and HRC appeared to have a positive working relationship. The organizations collaborated on a resource guide to coming out as transgender, and Keisling praised HRC in 2004 for publicly pledging to support only trans-inclusive versions of ENDA. Keisling told the audience at First Event that she considered herself "one of the biggest boosters of HRC in the trans community" over the past five years.

But to say the relationship between the organizations has been strained since the ENDA debate would be putting it mildly. Last month NCTE board chair Meredith Bacon sent out a letter saying the organization would not work with HRC unless all of the organization's senior staff and board resigned or was fired.

When asked about Bacon's comments Keisling confirmed that NCTE had no immediate plans to work with HRC but did not call for the ouster of the organization's leadership.

"Our official position right now is we are extremely disappointed and angry at HRC. ... The real bottom line is right now NCTE will not do anything that will rehabilitate HRC as a legitimate spokesman for transgender people ... until they stop actively hurting trans people," said Keisling. She characterized HRC's advocacy of the sexual orientation-only version of ENDA in the House, as well as its expected lobbying to pass the bill this year in the Senate, as hurting trans people.

As for NCTE's future plans for ENDA, Keisling said that after the election she expects advocates to lobby a new Congress and a new president in favor of passing a trans-inclusive ENDA bill.

"It is our expectation that in 2009 Congress is going to hear from a very united LGBT movement," said Keisling. "Whether that includes HRC I have no idea."

Beyond the ENDA campaign Keisling told attendees about NCTE's other projects. One of the organization's top priorities is working to protect the privacy of transgender people through their personal documents. She said one of the greatest threats to transgender people's security is the Real ID Act, a 2005 bill that will require all states to include standardized information on their driver's licenses, including gender, and to include that information on a magnetic strip on the back of licenses. Keisling said NTCE was successful at convincing Congress not to include a federal definition of gender in the legislation, which likely would have required that a person had genital surgery before getting their gender changed on their license. She also said NCTE is working with Congress as it plans the implementation of the Real ID Act to ensure that if a person changes their gender, information about that person's gender change does not appear on the information encoded in the magnetic strip.

"We don't want anywhere in the database the fact of the gender change. ... That would be catastrophic," said Keisling.