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Atlanta Transgender Woman Fired by State Official

Atlantan Vandy Beth Glenn was paid by the State of Georgia to check and change the language in state law. But when she examined her own life and determined that she had Gender Identity Disorder, her changes were not approved by her bosses. Now the transgender woman is suing the state in federal court for firing her, with the help of Lamda Legal.

Vandy Beth Glen

Glenn worked for two years in the Georgia General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Counsel, editing and proofreading the language of bills brought before state lawmakers. After years of private struggle, Glenn was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) and prepared to undergo gender transition. Glenn informed her immediate supervisor, Beth Yinger, that she planned to proceed with her transition from male to female last year. Yinger then told the General Assembly’s Legislative Counsel, Sewell Brumby, who runs the office where Glenn worked. Brumby confirmed that Glenn intended to transition from male to female, then fired her on the spot, according to information released by Lambda Legal.

Lambda Legal’s announced its intent to sue on behalf of Glen yesterday. The federal lawsuit asserts that Glenn was fired in violation of the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee, because it treated her differently due to her female gender identity and her nonconformity with gender stereotypes. In addition, Lambda Legal says that General Assembly officials disregarded Glenn’s GID and her needed treatment — also an equal protection violation.

“The leaders of the state of Georgia should be an example of fair–mindedness and ethical decision-making,” said Cole Thaler, Transgender Rights Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta. “Our client was a successful and professional employee who was fired because her boss didn’t like who she is.”

Glen’s case will be handled by Cole Thaler, Transgender Rights Attorney and Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office in Atlanta.

“We should expect more from the leaders of our state than to fire me simply for being who I am,” Glenn said.

Yes, we should. But we would only be disappointed. It’s not surprising that the Georgia General Assembly’s treatment of its employees is just as intolerant as its treatment of LGBT Georgians in general.

See resources for the transgender community on our Transgender Info and Resources page.

Disability, Transgender and Intersex Worlds Intersect at Charis

Charis Circle will direct a discussion on transgender and intersex life in an event at Charis Books & More on July 16 in a forum called Intersection: Disability, Transgender and Intersex Experiences. Three well-known activists - Caitlin Childs, Scott Turner Schofield and Anne Del Bene - will discuss how how their everyday lives, interactions and experiences intersect. Caitlin, Scott, and Anne will talk to each other, fishbowl style, about commonalities among lives touched by disability, intersex, and transgender experiences, then converse with the audience in what Charis describes as an open, frank, in-depth and sure-to-be-humorous discussion.

What: Intersection: Disability, Transgender, & Intersex Experiences
Where: Charis Books & More, 1189 Euclid Ave NE, in Little Five Points

When: Wednesday, July 16, 7:00-8:30pm

All of the programs are Charis Circle programs and are free of charge. Charis Circle exists to foster sustainable feminist communities, to work for social justice and to encourage the expression of diverse and marginalized voices. For more information, visit the Website at www.chariscircle.org

Did LGBT Voter Apathy Contribute to Michelle Bruce’s Election Defeat?

The votes are in, and we know the score: Michelle Bruce 1, Ignorance 0, Indifference 2. Transgender Riverdale, Georgia City Councilwoman Michelle Bruce lost her re-election run-off yesterday, one day after a Clayton County Superior Court Judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by two of her opponents in the general election. Losing candidates Stanley Harris and Georgia Fuller filed the suit in an attempt to delay yesterday’s runoff and void the November 6 city election based on their claim that Bruce misled candidates by running as a woman. Michelle Bruce 1, Ignorance 0. The former candidates filed an immediate appeal.

At the polls yesterday, Bruce lost by 85 votes to Wayne Hall, 308 to 223, according to the Associated Press. A check of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Website shows that there are 6,124 registered voters in the City of Riverdale as of November 1, 2007, but only 531 voted. For the sake of argument, let’s assume the rule-of-thumb applies and that about 10 percent of Riverdale’s population is queer. Even I can do that math–that’s about 612 voters. To take that one equation further, even if all 223 of the Riverdale voters who cast their ballots for Bruce were LGB or T, that means another 389 didn’t vote at all or didn’t vote for Bruce. Not to suggest that all GLBT voters are or should be single-issue voters, it’s still disappointing that so many didn’t even bother to vote at all. Engaged in LGBT politics or not, it would seem that a full-frontal attack on someone in our community would manage to motivate another 86 people to get to the polls. That’s all it would have taken for Bruce to win. In fact Bruce did win the most votes (312) in the general election, just no enough to avoid the runoff. Less than 100 additional votes would have avoided the run-off altogether.

My hypothetical equation doesn’t even factor in tolerant straight voters. Participation by an even smaller percentage of queer-friendly heterosexual voters would have also changed this game. It seems clear that the majority of all voters–queer and straight–don’t see LGBT rights and acceptance as important enough to get out and vote. The score on that one: Michelle Bruce 0, Indifference 2.

Human Rights Campaign Shows Its True Stripes with Transgender Exclusion

Two transgendered members of the Human Rights Campaign’s business council resigned yesterday, widening the divided between the group and the transgender community. Jamison Green and Donna Rose are both authors, speakers and consultants–internationally recognized leaders with very long lists of awards and a history of participation and support for many of the largest and most effective LGBT rights organizations. Their departure is significant, not just for the transgender community but for all supports of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

In a joint letter notifying HRC of their immediate resignation, Green and Rose were clear that the group’s decision to support a trans-exclusive version of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) was the beginning of the end of their support. But there’s more to the story behind the scenes at HRC, and it’s not a pretty one. The behind-the-scenes details, spelled out on Rose’s blog, reveal disconnects and exclusion:

One thing I’ll share that I don’t think anyone else knows yet. The day of our HRC Board Call to make a policy decision on ENDA (10/1) we held a Business Council call that afternoon to discuss the situation amongst ourselves as corporate leaders and to make an uninvited recommendation to the Sr. Staff and Board about the decision we were going to be asked to make. I have always found the fact that HRC leadership kept Daryl and the Workplace Project totally out of the loop throughout the entire ENDA debacle to be troubling. As I’ve said before, those are the people who should have been most engaged. In any event, although we hadn’t been asked to provide an opinion (something else I find odd) we felt that it was important to meet as a group and to have one. So, we met in the later part of the afternoon, we talked, and we forwarded our recommendation to Joe, David Smith, and to others.

What leap of logic did HRC President Joe Solmonese and his lieutenants have to make to rationalize excluding the business council from policy decisions on employment nondiscrimination? It seems to me to smack of nothing less than a hunger for power, and another example of HRC’s desire to control the debate on gay rights. In my view, HRC is more interested in getting invited to the table than in unifying the LGBT community to work as one force against homophobia and discrimination.

Why didn’t Green and Rose stay on and work for change within HRC? They tried. Again, from Rose’s blog:

We struggled with this for quite a while, but in the end we knew what we needed to do and we did it. I don’t feel that it’s necessary to rehash everything we’ve done and felt over these past few weeks to reconcile today’s announcement, but suffice it to say that the fact we didn’t get a response at all from Joe Solmonese to our request to meet with him personally indicated to us that our time there was up. It was that simple.

In fairness, I believe HRC’s strategy is rooted in the necessity for political compromise. It is extraordinarily difficult to diffuse hate and discrimination in one fell swoop. But I can’t help but think that in an effort to get a seat closer to the front of the bus, they’re willing to throw some members of the community under the wheels. You can compromise on timing perhaps, or on wording. How can you compromise on principle? And what’s worse, how can you not even include subsets of the community in the discussion? And Solmonese is apparently unwillingly to even extend a hand to those he’s pushed aside, making no effort to bring the community back together.

HRC’s actions on ENDA are more than a transgender issue. Lest we think it doesn’t affect the rest of us, we should think again. HRC has shown us its true stripes: positions, strategy and tactics are controlled by Joe Solmonese and others at the highest levels. Dissenting opinion and unity be damned. Have you noticed that comments are not allowed on HRC’s blog? In fact the blog is damn hard to find from their Website. That tells me that the organization is not interested in and/or will not allow discussion or input on their decisions.

Visit Life on Q’s Transgender Resource Page.

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Alexandra Billings Among the Celebrities Promoting Transgender Respect in new GLAAD Video

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) released a new public service announcement (PSA) yesterday as a part of its “Be an Ally & a Friend” campaign. The new 20-second video was released a week in advance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, a day to memorialize those killed because of anti-transgender violence or prejudice. GLAAD hopes the PSA will encourage viewers to treat others with dignity and respect regardless of gender identity/expression or sexual orientation.The video features transgender actress Alexandra Billings (Grey’s Anatomy, ER), as well as T.R. Knight (Grey’s Anatomy), Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters), Rex Lee (Entourage), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) and retired NBA player John Amaechi.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded nine years ago to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered November 28, 1998. The annual event is designed to raise public awareness of anti-transgender hate crimes and to encourage people to be allies to the transgender community.

Daily ENDA Update from Mara Keisling

We have been striving for daily updates to you, but I have had time to write them only about every day and a half or so. Please know that the reason for that is simply that we’ve been so incredibly busy working with legislators, members of our community and our growing coalition of allies that there haven’t been enough hours in the day. Keeping you informed is very important to us and so are the issues we face.

And now the work . . .

We are making significant progress with members of Congress. The coalition of lobbyists who are working on this bill have gotten so much positive response from targeted members of Congress. After a four day weekend, Congress came back to DC and worked on Tuesday and Wednesday and then recessed again so members could attend the funeral of Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis (R-VA) who passed away. Still those two days were incredibly productive in terms of getting members of Congress to talk with us about HR2015. It was productive not only because they were back in DC, but because they were back in DC after spending time in their districts, hearing from all of you out there who have mobilized brilliantly to get this important work done.

I had an incredibly touching day today, as is often the case when I have a PFLAG day. The PFLAG National convention started in DC today. I am speaking at the closing plenary session on Sunday, which I am very excited about. And I wore the lapel pin I received from the Seattle PFLAGers in Seattle this past May.

The fabulous rock star Cyndi Lauper spoke to a PFLAG press conference today and talked, among other things about the need for Transgender rights. That is remarkable. More remarkable though is that Peggy Gage was on Capitol Hill today lobbying to pass a fully-inclusive unified ENDA. I was fortunate enough to go with her and other PFLAG parents to meet with two members of Congress. That Peggy was there is extraordinary for two reasons. Peggy is a very proud PFLAG mom and that in itself makes it remarkable that she spent the day at the Capitol lobbying for a transgender-inclusive ENDA. More remarkable and utterly humbling though is that Peggy lobbied with me today even though her husband Judge Ed Gage passed away last Friday. Peggy still came to DC from Tallahassee to stand up for her lesbian daughter and for all of us because, she explained, there was important work to do and because her late husband would have wanted her to. We grieve her loss and are thankful and in awe that she found the strength to stand with us and demand justice in this very difficult week for her.

Every afternoon at 1PM, we have co-chaired a conference call for members of the United ENDA Coalition. Today our absolutely solid ally Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin joined us to give us her take on ENDA, assure us that we are making progress and exhort us to stay focused and see this through confidently and with moral purpose. We should be comforted to know that she is solidly on our side as we move ENDA forward this year and every year until it passes.

As many of you know, Congressman Barney Frank has made speeches and held a press conference in which he has expressed that he plans to move forward with the weakened, non-inclusive ENDA (H.R. 3685). While that is unfortunate, we continue to urge everyone, as Congresswoman Baldwin has, to keep our eyes on the prize and not be lured by distractions. NCTE continues to be entirely focused on moving the ball forward every possible inch.

Mara Keisling

The LGBT Web is All G with Little L, B or T

Blogging is a lot of work. Sometimes I ask myself if all this effort has any value to me or to the queer world. Life on Q is currently a non-commercial site. I’m not earning any money with advertising or reader donations. But I keep blogging away, hoping that others like me will find the blog or hear a podcast, ultimately creating a forum where the LGBT community can explore and discuss the ideas and issues that really affect our lives. Ultimately, I hope to support this effort through affiliate programs and Web ads that will make the effort worth the time I invest. Life on Q steals a lot of bandwidth from my paid writing and consulting gigs. In the meantime, I keep blogging on, taking advantage of a platform for expressing my thoughts and sharing information I feel is important to the LGBT community. I don’t attempt to provide comprehensive news. I leave that to the for-profit efforts like Southern Voice here in Atlanta and national media like The Advocate. I read their content, and I appreciate their efforts. I just wish their was more meat in a lot of what many of them dish.

Today I took a tour of some of the leading gay and lesbian Websites and LGBT blogs out there to see what I might add to the conversation. What I found reinforced for me the reasons I started Life on Q. The gay Web and the gay blogosphere are decidedly gay, with very little lesbian, bisexual or transgender content. And what’s worse, a lot of the queer Web content strikes me as shallow. I mean seriously, how many fashion and celebrity and gossip features do we need? What about the ideas and issues that really affect the queer community? And what do all the “hot guys of the day” photos mean to me?

Gay Websites Are Light on Lesbians, Bi’s and Trannies

On The Advocate Insider blog, I clicked on their lesbian category to see what kind of coverage came up. Their last post on lesbian-specific issues was almost six months ago (May 25, 2007, to be exact). Their youth-oriented blog GenQ is better, but would be better named GenG, as it is decidedly boy-centric. At Curve, the most successful lesbian magazine, there’s respectable coverage of important issues. But overall, it tends to be all The L Word, all the time. Curve has no blog. At Out magazine today, their Website has not a single photo of a woman, nor any articles on women on their homepage. No blog there either.

LGBT Blogs are Better

AOL’s QueerSighted blog does a better job at balancing gay and lesbian issues, but there’s little bi or transgender content, and most of their blog posts lean heavily toward celebrity dish and pop culture. To their credit, there are some good posts on politics. Who’s doing a good job? I respect Queerty’s coverage of politics, hate crime and gay rights. Their meat is well done. Interestingly, they did not make the finalist cut for the 2007 Weblog Awards. (Voting is open through November 8, if you care to cast a click for your choice. Life on Q, less than a year old, is not on the list.) And Pam’s hot on important issues at Pam’s House Blend, a Weblog award winner for best LGBT blog in 2005 and 2006. For transgender blogging, I read T-Equality, the National Center for Transgender Equality’s blog. I have not run across any bisexual-specific blogs. Surely they’re out there. If you have one or know of one you like, post a comment. These are by no means all the blogs out there, nor am I declaring these are the best there are. These are the ones I’ve personally run across and revisited over time.

I am convinced that there’s an appetite for more than pop culture. I think issues like politics, health and wellness, spirituality and workplace issues matter more than yet another gay personals site. I long ago got tired of reading the most successful gay magazines starting from the back of the book, because lesbian coverage was always relegated to the last couple of pages. I think alternative culture deserves a voice too, featuring “non-mainstream” LGBT artists.

My plan for Life on Q is not to replace national, for-profit queer media. It’s not to outblog the other LGBT bloggers, or out-podcasting other queercasters. It’s a project rooted in a desire to start dialog and share stories about everyday life as it exists for all the working, parenting, worshiping, voting, thinking queers out there. It’s an effort to build community and create greater involvement and activism in the issues and movements that affect how we live and how we’re treated–by our government, our churches and our communities at large. I hope you’ll stick with me, and participate, in a Life on Q.

Frustration about ENDA

On our daily conference call about ENDA today, one of the members of our community expressed a frustration that I’ve been feeling for some time. We hear from members of Congress that transgender people have not yet done as much work educating them and their colleagues on issues of gender identity as gay and lesbian people have around sexual orientation. Therefore, they argue, they just aren’t ready to vote for civil rights for transgender people. This seems to me to be a way of passing the buck, of blaming the disenfranchised for their lack of rights.

Those of us who have called our legislators, who have met with them and who have worked hard on educating them are rightfully frustrated. It may feel like our best efforts have been in vain. We’ve told our stories of friends and loved ones killed, of jobs we didn’t get or being fired for no other reason than who we are. It is incredibly painful to think it hasn’t been enough. Yet.

However, we need to remember that our work to educate members of Congress—and members of the LGBT community—have actually made an enormous difference. I truly believe that we would not be having this conversation at all, that we wouldn’t be on anyone’s agenda, if we had not been diligent in the work we have done so far. Nor would the House of Representatives passed a transgender inclusive hate crimes bill this session without the work we’ve done to educate them.

Thinking about this today has led to two conclusions. First, we absolutely must continue to do the work we are doing. We need to redouble our efforts to get people to Washington for our annual lobby day. We must continue to visit our legislators when they are in the home offices, sharing our stories, letting them know exactly why we need civil rights protections and what the stakes are for transgender people, our loved ones and families. We have to encourage each other to come out and speak up for our rights. We need each and every voice to be heard.

Second, we also need to remember that role of Congress isn’t to award rights to those who make the most noise, have the largest cadre of lobbyists or are the biggest group. Their job is to enact laws in keeping with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For transgender people, that means working for a country where we too have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In order to achieve that, we need to be free of violence and discrimination. Passing a transgender-inclusive ENDA wouldn’t fix that overnight, but it would be a step along the way.

CBS News and MTV Networks Contribute Gaffes to Logo’s Presidential Forum

The Logo Channel’s presidential candidate forum, held live tonight from Los Angeles, was historic. The network’s Visible Vote ‘08 effort should be lauded. Then CBS News and MTV ruined the mood. Fresh off the high of the first-ever presidential forum on LGBT issues, the bliss of history got a black eye from CBS.

First was CBS on Logo Anchor Jason Bellini’s stumbling, shrugging coverage. It started with what smelled like the edge of transgender acceptance. Introducing Anchor Itay Hod’s next interview, Bellini emphasized that the interview was with “a woman….who we saw her face in this forum.”

His sidekick jumped right in with an awkwardly inappropriate wrap-up question for former city manager Susan Stanton, fired after revealing she is transgendered. He almost giggled the question, “Some people have concerns voting for a woman. I assume you don’t have any issue with that?”

Sharing his insight into LGBT trends, Bellini declared that “faith is really a cutting edge LGBT issue.”

We later learn from his political insight when he informs us that “LGBT people get dissed after the primaries.”

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese apparently has a new title. It’s “Head.”

In his final question for forum moderator Margaret Carlson, columnist for Bloomberg News and former Washington Bureau Chief for Time Magazine, Bellini seemed desperate to get a clue: “Was there any news made tonight?”

You got your gay TV! We want your money!

Then, there was the bizarre declaration of “We’re using you, and we want your money!” by Judy McGrath, the Chairman (sic) and CEO of MTV Networks. In the interest of full disclosure, that is not an exact quotation. This is an exact quote: “It feels like it’s in the tradition of the best things about our company, when we engage people in the, you know, public, with under-served, passionate, important consumers that might otherwise go unheard.”

Later, she tagged Logo’s expansion online as another way LGBT people can consume the network’s product. She sold us that Logo Online allows “even many more people to access the content, the entertainment, the message of Logo.”

Her most authentic, passionate moment? When she effused: “They are a great marketing opportunity! They’re smart, educated, passionate, fantastic, you know, consumers. So I’m absolutely thrilled!”

Giving this roast a rest

After a snack of Cheez-Its and milk, it seems selfish to criticize a corporation that had the courage to take advantage of every market opportunity, without prejudice. With the Logo Channel, MTV Networks risked advertiser loyalty, political favor and public opinion. So they deserve thanks for their vision, support for their willingness to include political and social programming, and a little encouragement to improve on execution. Logo could use a little tweaking. Like having their programming sync with what TiVO says is recording. Or working with corporate sister CBS to send over talent that is eligible to vote to cover unprecedented political history. But Logo’s Visible Vote’08 is a major step forward for LGBT political visibility. Thank you.

Awkward candidate improv

The candidates, for their part, were by and large contemplative–almost self-conscious in their attempts to put their participation in the forum into a philosophical perspective. All expressed a commitment to equality for all people and emphasized the importance of taking “gay marriage” off the table as a political card to play for bigots. Some were more effective than others in seeming sincere, explaining positions in a conciliatory tone, and getting through some high-level details on policy without stepping on any political land mines. Of course, as they felt their way through the gay agenda, the candidates themselves offered up a few off-message moments as well. More on that in a separate post.