Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Taking The Reins

Awhile back New York state LGBT organization Empire said over objections by the trans community that the battle for trans rights was won because of the new regulations introduced by the governor, well now a trans group is forming to pass GENDA.
Transgender activists clash with gay rights group, plan rally
Pride Agenda's claim, plan to end lobbying called off-base
Tines Union
By Paul Grondahl
January 11, 2016

Transgender activists responded with anger and dismay at the Empire State Pride Agenda's unexpected announcement in December of "mission accomplished" and that their work was complete and the group would cease lobbying operations in 2016.

In a letter sent to Pride Agenda's Executive Director Nathan Schaefer last Monday and signed by 30 transgender people and trans organizations, the group demanded a retraction of the statement and asked for an apology for suggesting that the long struggle for equality for transgender people was successfully completed.

"When the Pride Agenda said 'mission accomplished,' that got our hackles up," said Renate Hartman, of Delmar, a 78-year-old transgender woman and former Army paratrooper who retired as a pharmaceutical industry executive.

"We have a lot of trans issues left to work on, especially GENDA (the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act)," said Hartman, an organizer of the action against the Pride Agenda and a co-author of the blog "Transgender Talk" on timesunion.com. "The Pride Agenda's closure forced the trans community to get organized and to go forward on its own."
[…]
The transgender activists plan to demonstrate at Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address at Empire State Plaza Convention Center on Wednesday and will mount a re-invigorated campaign to demand passage of GENDA.
I don’t think that Empire State Pride Agenda will be listening; I think the trans community has to pick up the reins and form their own organization.

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