Trans-Issues At The Political Conventions…

This is an easy blog post to write about the Republican Party transgender delegates at the convention… there are none. End of blog. Now if I was writing about transgender delegates at the Democratic convention it would be a non-story because I believe the first transgender delegate was back in the convention when Clinton was nominated 2000 and was Jane Fee of Minnesota. At this year’s Democratic convention there is a transgender delegate who gave a sermon at a local Charlotte church,

Transgender DNC delegate delivers sermon at local church
The Charlotte Observer.
By Carmen Cusido
August 27, 2012

For Janice Covington, being selected as the first openly transgender delegate from North Carolina to the Democratic National Convention was “better than amazing” and is the culimination of a long journey.

Covington, 65, delivered a sermon Sunday at Wedgewood Church, near SouthPark.

“I advocated for LGBT rights, basically human rights, for many years,” Covington told the more than 35 people who attended the service at Wedgewood.
[…]
The D.C.-based National Stonewall Democrats, a grassroots Democratic gay-rights organization, has kept track of most of the data on LGBT delegates from most of the states.

Of the nearly 6,000 delegates expected at the DNC, the total number of LGBT delegates is 471, Jerame Davis, the Stonewall Democrats’ executive director, said in an e-mail. For the first time ever, Davis said all 50 states set numerical goals for LGBT candidates. Another first: there will be at least one LGBT delegate from every state, Davis said.

A Google search of Republican transgender delegates turns up not single story about any transgender delegates.

Next let’s look at the Republican Party Platform. The New York Times has an opinion piece about the platform.

That cannot be said of the draft of the Republican platform circulating ahead of the convention in Tampa, Fla. The Republican Party has moved so far to the right that the extreme is now the mainstream. The mean-spirited and intolerant platform represents the face of Republican politics in 2012. And unless he makes changes, it is the current face of the shape-shifting Mitt Romney.

The draft document is more aggressive in its opposition to women’s reproductive rights and to gay rights than any in memory. It accuses President Obama and the federal judiciary of “an assault on the foundations of our society,” and calls for constitutional amendments banning both same-sex marriage and abortion.
[…]
Over all, it is farther out on the party’s fringe than Mr. Romney ventured in the primaries, when he repudiated a career’s worth of centrist views on issues like abortion and gay marriage. But the planks hew closely to the views of his running mate, Paul Ryan, and the powerful right-wing. Mr. Romney has a chance to move back in the direction of the center by amending this extremist platform. It will be interesting to see if he seizes it.

Romney says he doesn’t support the party platform, but it is his party and his backers support the platform.

Contrast the Republican Party platform to the Democratic Party platform. The Huffington Post said…

 On the one hand, this year's Democratic Party platform is the most pro-LGBT in history, complete with support for both marriage equality and fully-inclusive employment nondiscrimination protections:

    We support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law. We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples...

    We oppose discriminatory federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection of the laws to committed same-sex couples who seek the same respect and responsibilities as other married couples. We support the full repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.

    We know that putting America back to work is job one, and we are committed to ensuring Americans do not face employment discrimination. We support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act because people should not be fired based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

[…]
On the other hand, this year's Republican Party platform seems to want to pull the country backwards when it comes to equality for LGBT people. While the conservative gay organization the Log Cabin Republicans said that the Republican Party platform might actually include a "positive nod" toward LGBT people with a vague line about the "dignity and respect" of all Americans, the reference made no specific mention of LGBT people. In fact, the party platform includes some horrific language that proves that for the GOP, LGBT people are not among the Americans who deserve "dignity and respect."

In fact, a look at who authored the anti-gay language contained in the Republican Party platform shows just who influences the current GOP: Tony Perkins of the virulently anti-LGBT hate group the Family Research Council. In fact, Perkins bragged about his influence over the party's social agenda, telling BuzzFeed, "You should read the entire plank on marriage, which I wrote. I feel very happy about it."

People say that they support the Republican Party for their fiscal conservatism and they do not agree with their social conservative agenda… folks you cannot separate the two issues, it is one party. Look at the 2010 elections the Republicans during the campaign said; it’s the economy, it’s the economy, it’s the economy but what were the bills they passed in the House when they took office? They were all attacks on women’s and LGBT human rights (My blog post here and here) and I see them doing the same thing if they get control of the three branches of government only this time it will become law.

In addition, the Republicans are not even fiscal conservatives; in every Republican presidency since Nixon they had a greater deficit then when they started their term while the Democrats had a lower deficit then when they started.

Update 4:00PM EDT: 

A total of 11 trans-delegates will be at the Democratic convention verse 0 at the Republican convention.
Trans United for Obama (TU4O)
Also added Jane Fee