Letters
Mad about ENDA headline

Editor:

The front-page story on ENDA in last week’s PGN (Nov. 16-22) was great. However, the headline “Trans activists mad over ENDA” was inaccurate.

It is certainly true that many trans activists are mad about the passage of a non-inclusive ENDA. However, there were also thousands of non-trans activists and everyday LGB citizens across the country who were mad about the non-inclusive ENDA too.

With the exception of the Human Rights Campaign (whose behavior during the ENDA debate has been shameful), the effort to oppose a non-inclusive bill was led by members of the entire LGBT community. In fact, over 300 LGBT organizations across the country opposed a non-inclusive ENDA, including many here in Philadelphia.

Among the non-trans-identified folks in Philadelphia who have been fighting the non-inclusive bill are myself, Rue Landau, Stacey Sobel, Michael Hinson and Stephen Glassman.

We have been fighting for trans-inclusion in ENDA, alongside our trans sisters and brothers, because we believed that an employment non-discrimination bill that does not protect transgender people is morally wrong.

Additionally, the struggle for equality and acceptance of gender identity is an inherent part of the struggle of gays and lesbians as well as transgender people. The reality is that an ENDA without protections for people whose gender does not meet traditional “male” and “female” norms means that many of us who do not identify as trans will still have difficulty getting and keeping jobs because of the way we present our genders.

Although it may seem semantic, your headline last week ghettoized and segmented transgender people, whose outrage at the passage of a non-inclusive ENDA was shared by the entire LGBT community.

Ray Murphy
Co-chair, Liberty City Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club
Philadelphia