Is HRC Wicked?: A Return TO Barney Frank’s Oz

Coming up on the two year anniversary of the Human Right Campaign’s (HRC) support of Barney Frank dropping gender identity from the 2007 Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA), the irony of HRC’s current position on DOMA couldn’t be scripted any thicker. HRC defended their defection with Frank in 2007 this way:

“Our community can work with the people who want to help us, or we can walk out on them,” Solmonese wrote. “In a community facing such fierce opposition from the outside, it is disheartening to see blame and anger hurled at the people on our own side,”

and saying:

“It’s the policy of HRC that the organization will only support an inclusive ENDA. In 2007 House leadership informed us that there were insufficient votes to pass an inclusive bill, so they decided to vote on a sexual orientation only bill. We made a one time exception to our policy in 2007 because we strongly believed that supporting this vote would do more to advance inclusive legislation. We will not support such a strategy again. We look forward to Congress sending President Obama a fully inclusive ENDA for his signature.”

Frank’s recent admission that:

“‘We have pending four major pieces of [LGBT] legislation which have a serious chance to pass,’ said Frank Monday in a phone interview. Those, he noted, are the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill, attached to a bill authorizing defense spending; the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA); a bill to give equal benefits to the partners of gay federal employees as provided to straight spouses; and a bill to repeal the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.

The Nadler bill, said Frank, ‘has zero chance of passage, even out of committee. It’s a mistake.”

The question now is will HRC be consistent and in their previous rhetoric and come out against the “Respect for Marriage Act.” It’ll be interesting to watch, since they’ve recently launched RepealDomaNow.org:

They’ll now support tabling this legislation for lack of support so that we can “work with the people who want to help us”, right?

Marti Abernathey is the founder of the Transadvocate and the previous managing editor. Abernathey has worn many different hats, including that of podcaster, activist, and radiologic technologist. She's been a part of various internet radio ventures such as TSR Live!, The T-Party, and The Radical Trannies, TransFM, and Sodium Pentathol Sunday. As an advocate she's previously been involved with the Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance, Rock Indiana Campaign for Equality, and the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition. She's taken vital roles as a grass roots community organizer in The Indianapolis Tax Day Protest (2003), The Indy Pride HRC Protest (2004), Transgender Day of Remembrance (2004), Indiana's Witch Hunt (2005), and the Rally At The Statehouse (the largest ever GLBT protest in Indiana - 3/2005). In 2008 she was a delegate from Indiana to the Democratic National Convention and a member of Barack Obama's LGBT Steering and Policy Committee. Abernathey currently hosts the Youtube Channel "The T-Party with Marti Abernathey."