Ten Years!

Yup, it has been ten years. A lot has changed but much has stayed the same… discrimination went from covert to overt. Connecticut has been a very LGBTQ+ state but there still are those who harass and discriminate against us.

So what is the tenth anniversary about?

Well ten years ago the Senate passed the gender identity and gender expression bill, I wrote this brief blog post at 1:30 AM ten years ago.

Senate Passes HB6599 An Act Concerning Discrimination
The Senate voted 20 - 16 and passed the bill that gives protection to gender identity and expression. The debate started around 10:00PM and the vote came around 12:30AM.

The Governor has said that he will sign the bill, making Connecticut the 15th to provide protect to us.

Right now it is 1:30AM and I am all wound up, it is going to be hard to get to sleep tonight, All the worrying and restless sleep this week and popping antacids if finally over. It passed!!!!

It was conclusion of over five years working to pass the legislation with many ups and downs along the way.

For me the night started with listening to classical music on CT-N while the Senate was adjourned then around ten o’clock at night I heard the senate call the Senate back in order for our bill. I jumped into my car and headed for the Capitol, I arrived just in time to hear the debate on the bill.

I wrote in my blog…

When I got there Jerimarie from Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition (CTAC), Sally from ctEQUALITY, and Gretchen from Planned Parenthood were there already and a few minutes later Jennifer from the Gay Lesbian Advocate and Defenders (GLAD) arrived. I had been involved with the legislation since 2006, and Jerimarie and Jennifer were there from the beginning when the Hate Crime bill was first introduced and now we were there at the end.

Then the Republicans started to introduce amendment.

The first amendment that was offered was about sex-segregated facilities and would have required everyone to use the facility of their birth gender. Sen. Beth Bye (D) asked the amendment’s author if he had ever to have to use the women’s bathroom because men’s room was too crowded, Sen. Welch (R) said no. Sen. Bye then went on to say that women do it all the time when the lines are too long in the women’s room and she said that the amendment would now make that illegal. Also speaking against the amendment was Sens. Cassano (D) and Coleman (D). The amendment was defeated, Yeas 15, Nays 21.

The next amendment offered was the teacher amendment, which would have allowed schools to transfer a teacher out of the classroom while they were transitioning. The amendment was introduced by Sen. Kissel (R) and once against Sen. Bye spoke passionately against the amendment, she said that when sexual orientation was being added to the anti-discrimination statutes back in the 90’s the opposition used the same arguments about gays in the classroom. The amendment was defeated, Yeas 16, Nays 20.

One amendment increased the penitent for committing a crime while crossdressed, that one was defeated Yeas 14, Nays 20.

Then a Republican from the 8th Senate District introduced an amendment that even the Republicans didn’t like, the amendment required us to register as trans with the Department of Motor Vehicle. The amendment was soundly defeated. Yeas 8, Nays 26, all the other votes were right down party lines. In one of my blog post I called the amendment a “Scarlet Letter” and the senator said it was not meant to be a “Scarlet Letter” I guess that he read my blog.

The bill passed right down party lines.

The minority leader of the Senate looked up to us and gave the thumb up hand gesture, he was for the bill but the Republicans were against it and he voted the party line and not his conscious. 

After it passed we all gathered for this historic photo…

Left to Right: Sen. Beth Bye, Me (CTAC), Sally (ctEQUALITY)
Jennifer (GLAD) Betty (Gallo & Co.) and Gretchen (Planned Parenthood).
Missing from photo Jerimarie (CTAC) who was being interviewed

Two things that I want to point out, the language of the bill is very specific. Nowhere does it say transgender or transsexual and the wording of the bill is…

(21) "Gender identity or expression" means a person's gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth, which gender-related identity can be shown by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of the gender-related identity, consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related identity or any other evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held, part of a person's core identity or not being asserted for an improper purpose.

We wanted to make sure that the law covered everyone!

Not just those who have transitioned but also crossdressers, drag queens and kings, and even those who other people think they are trans but they are not trans, they are also covered… we made it as broad as possible on purpose. And we received push-back because of this and surprisingly that push-back is increasingly from our own community. There are elitist in the trans community who feel that if you don’t have Gender Confirming Surgery (GCS) then you are really just “men in dressing” and I heard that at a town hall meeting a couple of years age discussing the future of the LGBTQ community and it was from a twenty something trans woman.

The second thing that I want to point out is that this was not one organization effort but a whole coalition all working together for over five years to pass this law.

CT TransAdvocacy Coalition
CT Women's Education and Legal Fund
Planned Parenthood of Southern New England
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
CT AFL-CIO
Anti-Defamation League CT
New Haven Pride Center
CT Sexual Assault Crisis Services
Transitioning and Loving Life (TaLL)
True Colors Sexual Minority Youth and Family Services
CT American Civil Liberties Union
CT Outreach Society
NARAL Pro-Choice CT
The Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities
UConn Rainbow Center
UConn Women's Center
Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Unitarian Universalist Society: East
Permanent Commission on the Status of Women
New England Healthcare Employees Union SEIU 1199NE
CT Citizen Action Group
National Council of Jewish Women (CT)
CT Chapter of the National Organization for Women
Triangle Community Center
CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence
CT Clergy for Full Equality
CT Latina/os Achieving Rights & Opportunities
Human Rights Campaign CT
PFLAG Southeastern CT
PFLAG Hartford
City of Hartford Commission on LGBT Issues
National Association of Social Workers (CT Chapter)
City of Norwalk, Human Relations Commission
GLSEN CT
And many, many more organizations and individuals.

That night I cerebrated with a lobster dinner.