The Gingrich That Stole Christmas

December 9, 2008 ·

There’s a recurrent story that is going through the gossip circles during the Christmas season in trannyland. It goes like this:

Barney Frank and the Human Rights Campaign really got their clocks cleaned by the United ENDA controversy, and now that they’ve really learned their lesson! Good ole’ St. Frank and the HRC’s equality elves will surprise everyone and come on board by supporting a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and opposing any version that doesn’t include everyone.

There’s only one problem with that dream/fantasy/rumor… it ain’t true! One look at Barney Frank (and his most recent statement last week) and Joe Solmonese’s consistent message on this issue is enough for me. But for those that need more proof, the most recent statement of the Human Rights Campaign’s Candice Gingrich on Countdown With Keith Olbermann should pacify you.

“I think it goes back again to the idea that that the issue of marriage equality is still a really new one. Ya know, all of America, I think, has a better understanding of what it means to protect gays from job discrimination. What it means to make sure that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, you know, aren’t the victims of hate crimes. Or if they are, that they are prosecuted the right way.

She stated that Americans understand that transgender people shouldn’t be murdered, but that they only have a “better understanding” of gay workplace job discrimination.

It’s obvious that Barney Frank and the HRC are consistent about transgender exclusion in ENDA, but I wonder if they’re just as consistent about marriage equality? Remember that it was ole’ St. Frank who said:

“Look, this past year in the legislatures of Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York, efforts to add transgender protections…were defeated. And I testified for it in Massachusetts and lobbied for it. And as a political problem out there, I wish there weren’t, but pretending that something doesn’t exist is never a good way to deal with it.”

Voters in election after election have stated that they don’t support marriage equality for gays and lesbians, even in the most liberal areas. There’s a certain “ick factor” that the electorate has with marriage equality. States like Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin have all enshrined that “ick factor” into their state constitutions.

Using Barney Frank’s own logic, Prop 8 proved that Americans just aren’t ready for full marriage equality. There’s an inconsistency in logic from the Human Rights Campaign and the marriage equality advocates who don’t support a fully inclusive ENDA, but spend millions on marriage equality. Californians support transgender inclusion in ENDA and hate crimes more than they do marriage equality (they already have hate crimes, equal access, and employment discrimination laws on the books).

If St. Frank is making  a list of who’s naughty and nice, one has to wonder if Mara Keisling, David Stacy, and Rea Carey will get a lump of coal in their stockings.. A recent Southern Voice article said:

“ ‘It’s exciting that we will have a president who not only won’t threaten to veto the bill but who embraces it,’ said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.”

While he will not threaten to veto the bill, he’s said that he will sign the bill that comes to his desk. But he’s also said in the past that transgender inclusion in ENDA would be difficult. But Keisling isn’t alone in her twisting of words.

Stacy and Rea Carey, the Task Force’s executive director, said they believe the consensus among nearly all gay rights advocacy groups is to insist that Congress move forward with a version of ENDA that includes protections for transgender persons.

Nearly all gay rights groups support transgender inclusion, with the except of the company that David Stacy works for (HRC) and that NGLTF plans strategy with (at the NPR).

Maybe someday jolly ole’ St. Frank will bring shiny new civil unions (because gay marriage is icky) to all the gay and lesbian girls and boys and workplace equality to the transgender kids. You still believe in Santa, don’t you?

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  1. You’all got played by the politico, Candice….lol….as she says…belongs to transcommunity (not such thing) -my ass. Any politico tosses words at upset people, because they don’t cost anything. And, even better – empty words don’t DO anything.

    Laughing – you bought Candice!

    When SHE goes to court and changes HER name to BigBuckBob….call me.

    1. I’m not about making choices on who is in the community and who isn’t. But the only time I’ve seen her claim that is when she’s trying to speak for us.

  2. You’all got played by the politico, Candice….lol….as she says…belongs to transcommunity (not such thing) -my ass. Any politico tosses words at upset people, because they don’t cost anything. And, even better – empty words don’t DO anything.

    Laughing – you bought Candice!

    When SHE goes to court and changes HER name to BigBuckBob….call me.

    1. I’m not about making choices on who is in the community and who isn’t. But the only time I’ve seen her claim that is when she’s trying to speak for us.

  3. This article has stimulated a lot of passionate debate, and it warms my heart. I would like to tap this energy and put it into lobbying our Members of Congress about trans issues. But it’s so hard to get coordinated effort in the trans community — how do we get enough people to sit still for a minute so we can all yell in the same direction? Now that would really be something.

    1. Hey Jillian! People can lobby members of Congress and it doesn’t have to be in DC. In fact that’s exactly what shouldn’t be done. The lobbying should happen in the states where the most people could have the most effect.

  4. This article has stimulated a lot of passionate debate, and it warms my heart. I would like to tap this energy and put it into lobbying our Members of Congress about trans issues. But it’s so hard to get coordinated effort in the trans community — how do we get enough people to sit still for a minute so we can all yell in the same direction? Now that would really be something.

    1. Hey Jillian! People can lobby members of Congress and it doesn’t have to be in DC. In fact that’s exactly what shouldn’t be done. The lobbying should happen in the states where the most people could have the most effect.

  5. Actually, on my blog (even though I haven’t focused on her loony-tunes brother’s statement, per se) I do take on both HRC and these idiots on the hardcore right. Neither have ever done anything for me.

    As for HRC and your perceptons, indeed that can be a valid sentiment on your part (though I still have doubts about why they all seem so well disciplined in their messaging). Nevertheless, I’ve done the attempt to “extend the olive branch” with HRC on more than one occasion. I don’t need the arrogance and dismissal. You have your perception and it’s valid — we also have ours and it’s also just as valid.

    Knocking the wedge deeper, though? Seriously? This has long been inexpiable now. None of us entertain any delusions of HRC ever coming around and viewing us as humans. It’s not happening, we’re over it, y’all need to be.

    To HRC, we are nothing but inanimate resources to be exploited, hate crime victims to co-opt and use for fundraising and for bolster basis for need on passage of legislation, brain-dead unintelligible tranny trash to be treated as the dumb animals they consider us. And just as the dumb livestock is used to do the heavy lifting and pull the plow in the fields in order for the ‘humans’ to reap the harvest, we will similarly be used until the task is done, locked into our drafty barns with some grass, and when they deem the usefulness complete, (figuratively) slaughtered for the meat on our hooves. Afterward, the ‘humans’ will self-congratulate themselves on their bounty. What a great world to be dumb cattle in, hmm?

    So why is it we actually think there’s a way not to be wedged completely apart from them? Coming together and working presumes we’re all working together — top to bottom. Take a look around at these orgs’ hiring histories. Show me where trans, or even bi or people of color have been hired, promoted, considered as contemporaries. Do you really think they’ve ever wanted us of their own volition? Bringing it up just to get them to change it only means reactive placation — i.e. patronizing. That’s not being equal, it’s being PC (begrudgingly).

  6. Actually, on my blog (even though I haven’t focused on her loony-tunes brother’s statement, per se) I do take on both HRC and these idiots on the hardcore right. Neither have ever done anything for me.

    As for HRC and your perceptons, indeed that can be a valid sentiment on your part (though I still have doubts about why they all seem so well disciplined in their messaging). Nevertheless, I’ve done the attempt to “extend the olive branch” with HRC on more than one occasion. I don’t need the arrogance and dismissal. You have your perception and it’s valid — we also have ours and it’s also just as valid.

    Knocking the wedge deeper, though? Seriously? This has long been inexpiable now. None of us entertain any delusions of HRC ever coming around and viewing us as humans. It’s not happening, we’re over it, y’all need to be.

    To HRC, we are nothing but inanimate resources to be exploited, hate crime victims to co-opt and use for fundraising and for bolster basis for need on passage of legislation, brain-dead unintelligible tranny trash to be treated as the dumb animals they consider us. And just as the dumb livestock is used to do the heavy lifting and pull the plow in the fields in order for the ‘humans’ to reap the harvest, we will similarly be used until the task is done, locked into our drafty barns with some grass, and when they deem the usefulness complete, (figuratively) slaughtered for the meat on our hooves. Afterward, the ‘humans’ will self-congratulate themselves on their bounty. What a great world to be dumb cattle in, hmm?

    So why is it we actually think there’s a way not to be wedged completely apart from them? Coming together and working presumes we’re all working together — top to bottom. Take a look around at these orgs’ hiring histories. Show me where trans, or even bi or people of color have been hired, promoted, considered as contemporaries. Do you really think they’ve ever wanted us of their own volition? Bringing it up just to get them to change it only means reactive placation — i.e. patronizing. That’s not being equal, it’s being PC (begrudgingly).

  7. Until you experience it, it’s impossible to understand why amazing is the word of choice. Other than amazing and awe-inspiring, it’s hard to describe.

    I don’t stand by everything that comes out of HRC, especially when it comes to Joe Solomonese (I personally dislike him a lot), but I did work with Candice and believe that she’s someone worth standing up for. The work she does is extremely commendable. She does a lot of work with school programs and the children of LGBT parents as well as helping HRC step up and work for everyone.

    HRC is by no means saintly and Joe Solomonese definitely needs a reality check but you can’t ignore the awesome work that other parts of the organization do.

    Instead of focusing on comments made by Candice that might or might not have be inclusive, you should check out her brother’s appearance on Bill O’Reilly. Or read what Pat Boone had to say about the LGBT community being “sexual jihadists.”

    Either way, it’s articles like this that knock the wedge deeper and deeper between the lesbian/gay/bisexual community and trans community when it would be so much better for everyone if we could all come together and work.

    1. I’m sorry, but I don’t see the “good work” that HRC is doing for transgender people. I consider myself gay, and I support HRC in marriage rights and in gay and lesbian issues. But they aren’t helping with dollars getting transgender legislation passed in cities and states. They aren’t even helping transgender people in their own city! If you want to see awesome work being done with transgender people in DC, go over and see Transgender Health Empowerment (T.H.E.).

      Your point is kind of silly. You’re saying that I’m the wedge, by pointing out the wedge. What would be “good” is if we were one community, but we’re not. That’s a fallacy. If we were one community, last fall would have never happened. Can you name one GLB org that is trying to get the ugly parts of the Patriot Act that effect transgender people repealed? Any statewide money support of gender identity bills? I can name off at least 3 or 4 of these off the top of my head that are trans specific stuff that GLB orgs like HRC and NGLTF don’t touch. If we were “one community”, they would.

  8. Until you experience it, it’s impossible to understand why amazing is the word of choice. Other than amazing and awe-inspiring, it’s hard to describe.

    I don’t stand by everything that comes out of HRC, especially when it comes to Joe Solomonese (I personally dislike him a lot), but I did work with Candice and believe that she’s someone worth standing up for. The work she does is extremely commendable. She does a lot of work with school programs and the children of LGBT parents as well as helping HRC step up and work for everyone.

    HRC is by no means saintly and Joe Solomonese definitely needs a reality check but you can’t ignore the awesome work that other parts of the organization do.

    Instead of focusing on comments made by Candice that might or might not have be inclusive, you should check out her brother’s appearance on Bill O’Reilly. Or read what Pat Boone had to say about the LGBT community being “sexual jihadists.”

    Either way, it’s articles like this that knock the wedge deeper and deeper between the lesbian/gay/bisexual community and trans community when it would be so much better for everyone if we could all come together and work.

    1. I’m sorry, but I don’t see the “good work” that HRC is doing for transgender people. I consider myself gay, and I support HRC in marriage rights and in gay and lesbian issues. But they aren’t helping with dollars getting transgender legislation passed in cities and states. They aren’t even helping transgender people in their own city! If you want to see awesome work being done with transgender people in DC, go over and see Transgender Health Empowerment (T.H.E.).

      Your point is kind of silly. You’re saying that I’m the wedge, by pointing out the wedge. What would be “good” is if we were one community, but we’re not. That’s a fallacy. If we were one community, last fall would have never happened. Can you name one GLB org that is trying to get the ugly parts of the Patriot Act that effect transgender people repealed? Any statewide money support of gender identity bills? I can name off at least 3 or 4 of these off the top of my head that are trans specific stuff that GLB orgs like HRC and NGLTF don’t touch. If we were “one community”, they would.

  9. Why is it all the interns and former low-level employees coming out of all these collusive inside-the-beltway orgs (even when there’s controversy surrounding the departure) all seem to use identical wording “amazing people” … “amazing work” … “working for everyone” when responding in public?

    There something very doctrinaire about it all.

    Regardless of the inside-the-belt mentality, there’s a vast disconnect between insiders and the outside community they purport to represent. It’s a circle-the-wagons, us vs. them era.

  10. Why is it all the interns and former low-level employees coming out of all these collusive inside-the-beltway orgs (even when there’s controversy surrounding the departure) all seem to use identical wording “amazing people” … “amazing work” … “working for everyone” when responding in public?

    There something very doctrinaire about it all.

    Regardless of the inside-the-belt mentality, there’s a vast disconnect between insiders and the outside community they purport to represent. It’s a circle-the-wagons, us vs. them era.

  11. @ Admin:

    I never said Candice represented the trans community. I merely meant that she considers herself a part of it.

    As far as being familiar with HRC, I was an intern for them so I know them pretty well. The organization isn’t as terrible as you make it out to be. Joe’s not the entire organization. There are amazing people that work there and they’re working for everyone, trans people included.

    1. Aiden, I consider myself a lesbian, but I would never advocate for lesbians on a national stage. She hasn’t transitioned, she doesn’t go by male pronouns, and she hasn’t even changed her name! The only thing you could say about her is that she’s butch or masculine. That doesn’t make someone trans.

      Being an intern for HRC doesn’t make you an expert on their policies, especially when dealing with the transgender community.

  12. @ Admin:

    I never said Candice represented the trans community. I merely meant that she considers herself a part of it.

    As far as being familiar with HRC, I was an intern for them so I know them pretty well. The organization isn’t as terrible as you make it out to be. Joe’s not the entire organization. There are amazing people that work there and they’re working for everyone, trans people included.

    1. Aiden, I consider myself a lesbian, but I would never advocate for lesbians on a national stage. She hasn’t transitioned, she doesn’t go by male pronouns, and she hasn’t even changed her name! The only thing you could say about her is that she’s butch or masculine. That doesn’t make someone trans.

      Being an intern for HRC doesn’t make you an expert on their policies, especially when dealing with the transgender community.

  13. @ Aiden:

    I don’t have anything against Candice, other than she’s towing the party line. As far as Candice representing the transgender community, I think that claim falls flat on its face. You could say that she’s gender variant, but the language of ENDA would not include her under the transgender (dress code and accommodation sections).

    Both parts of HRC support, officially, the position of the two bill strategy. You obviously haven’t been around HRC enough to know that they parse their public statements VERY carefully. When she said gay, she meant gay.

  14. @ Aiden:

    I don’t have anything against Candice, other than she’s towing the party line. As far as Candice representing the transgender community, I think that claim falls flat on its face. You could say that she’s gender variant, but the language of ENDA would not include her under the transgender (dress code and accommodation sections).

    Both parts of HRC support, officially, the position of the two bill strategy. You obviously haven’t been around HRC enough to know that they parse their public statements VERY carefully. When she said gay, she meant gay.

  15. Ha Ha Ha! Merry X(pletive)-mas!

    You should’ve seen the working relationship within NPR! The mutual sycophancy and self-aggrandizing could nauseate the dead. You would never know Mara and JoeSo were at odds. It’s obvious the tranny outsider is at odds.

    What was overheard by Barney @ whatever blogfest this was is exactly what I heard myself shortly after election day (keeping in mind, as he said, that it’s not the new session — and things could change). Barney has apparently no intent to, and it’ll be fun watching the “drifters” (who can’t decide where to stand) try to take a stand when it counts!

    At some point, Mara’s going to have to decide what she wants to be … insider with them, or outsider with us. She’ll not be able to play both after this!

  16. Ha Ha Ha! Merry X(pletive)-mas!

    You should’ve seen the working relationship within NPR! The mutual sycophancy and self-aggrandizing could nauseate the dead. You would never know Mara and JoeSo were at odds. It’s obvious the tranny outsider is at odds.

    What was overheard by Barney @ whatever blogfest this was is exactly what I heard myself shortly after election day (keeping in mind, as he said, that it’s not the new session — and things could change). Barney has apparently no intent to, and it’ll be fun watching the “drifters” (who can’t decide where to stand) try to take a stand when it counts!

    At some point, Mara’s going to have to decide what she wants to be … insider with them, or outsider with us. She’ll not be able to play both after this!

  17. Completely agree. Someone needs to give Barney Frank and HRC a reality check.

    The one thing I do disagree with, however, was the bit about Candice Gingrich. I met her earlier this year at a luncheon at HRC and had the chance to talk with her about HRC’s goof with ENDA. I was surprised to find that she identifies herself as a member of the trans community and was just as perturbed with Joe Solomonese’s ENDA choice as the rest of us. What I think we all fail to remember is that HRC has two parts: the political campaign (which is Solomonese’s domain) and the nonprofit side (which Candice is a part of). To blame both for a mistake made by Solomonese (who I percieve to be a bit of a jerk) is irresponisble.

    Also, when Candice refers to “protecting gays from job discrimination” I think she’s using gay as an umbrella term for the entire LGBTQ community. While those of us that are trans may not like that term necessarily, it’s still a valid reference to the whole community.

  18. Completely agree. Someone needs to give Barney Frank and HRC a reality check.

    The one thing I do disagree with, however, was the bit about Candice Gingrich. I met her earlier this year at a luncheon at HRC and had the chance to talk with her about HRC’s goof with ENDA. I was surprised to find that she identifies herself as a member of the trans community and was just as perturbed with Joe Solomonese’s ENDA choice as the rest of us. What I think we all fail to remember is that HRC has two parts: the political campaign (which is Solomonese’s domain) and the nonprofit side (which Candice is a part of). To blame both for a mistake made by Solomonese (who I percieve to be a bit of a jerk) is irresponisble.

    Also, when Candice refers to “protecting gays from job discrimination” I think she’s using gay as an umbrella term for the entire LGBTQ community. While those of us that are trans may not like that term necessarily, it’s still a valid reference to the whole community.

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