Snowball is all about growing our community — not by handing out toasters in exchange for recruits — but by celebrating achievements, not only in the trans world, but in the greater world.  Since its first event, in an attic room above the Coastal Kitchen, Snowball has called out to LGBT activists around the world and politicians who have made a difference.  

 Ingersoll Gender Center is a place where transformations often happen.  It’s only proper that it’s annual party should be held in an auspicious location.  This year, the venue for Snowball on December 12, is all new — the glamorous Café Metropolitain at 1701 E. Olive Way on Capitol Hill.   For a mere $9,  you can enjoy the full flavor  of a Parisian café and an in-Seine evening.   (You don’t have to be French to get the last pun, but it helpsJ)

This year, you can stroll the streets of Paris,  bite down on some refreshments, and dance the night away as usual. Snowball has reeled off its annual holiday event at a diverse selection of  venues over the past few decades.    Through the years  Snowball grew from a “need to party” to a primary fundraising activity for Ingersoll. “The first year, we celebrated in the attic of someone’s house,” says Ingersoll founder, Marsha Botzer.

It began as a reason to party. A community forced to keep its head down, challenged to find a reason to celebrate, and driven to change, had few reasons to mark the early setting sun that obliged others to bring out the decorations and the champagne. In the early 1980s, gender identity was as obscure as the idea of sending information from one desktop computer to another. Sure there were those of us closeted in our basement, tapping a 300-baud modem to connect to a large mainframe in Columbus, Ohio, and experience this weird thrill called email. But there were fewer of us who could think of going to a classy formal party dressed as in our dreams. “It was time for everyone to celebrate,” recalls Ingersoll Gender Center founder Marsha Botzer. Celebrate we did. The little party that began in a small attic space, developed into more than a celebration. Snowball, Ingersoll’s annual Gender Gala became the non-profit organization’s primary fund raiser. This year’s party is scheduled for December 12 at the beautiful Metropolitan Café on Capitol Hill. As usual, Snowball features a diversity of entertainment, greeting old friends, and celebration of those who have helped Ingersoll reach its current state of success. Again, this year’s celebration fills a need to celebrate good times when all around us there is challenge. However, in view of the world’s economic situation, ticket prices this year are at a record low level of just $9.

In a world where a money and power talk, our community is not only silenced, it walks with its head down. Hate is an act of blind rage and deafened listening. Our community needs to lift its head and power up our voices. Our very lives are at stake. That is the power behind the Transgender Day of Remembrance. This is merely a reminder that there is power in numbers to overcome the cheapening of our lives, and in reflecting upon our own safety. Just a day after the “Great American Smokeout” and days before we gather with the reminders of our upbringing on Thanksgiving Day, we reflect on members of our community who paid the ultimate price for their determination. Each year, Q Center at the University of Washington directs our local reflections with a candlelight vigil, remembrances, and thoughtful discussion. This year, the activities begin with a panel on “Working Toward Justice from a Place of Grief” beginning Wednesday, November 18, at 5 pm at the Ethnic Cultural Theatre. Later at 7 pm that same evening, Ravenna United Methodist Church holds its own reflection service. On Friday, November 20, the actual Day of Remembrance, UW begins its commemoration by offering reflective space from 9 to 5:30 pm in the Q Center conference in Schmitz Hall 450. A dramatization or “Die-In” will begin at 12:20 pm Friday afternoon at the Obelisk structure in Red Square (orientation for Die-In participants starts at noon).

Today President Obama signed into law the first federal  law protecting transgender people in US history:  The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

In attendance for the White House signing celebration was a gathering of leading national LGBT rights leaders including Ingersoll Gender Center's own founder and co-President, Marsha Botzer. 

"This is truly a great moment for our community.  Through perseverance and unfailing teamwork and solidarity with the full LGBT community and with communities of color, through the legislative process and with a supportive administration, we have made great strides toward justice. " stated Marsha following the signing ceremony.  "Legislation does not in itself bring about justice or the lessening of hate but it sends important signals to everyone that violence against our community cannot be tolerated and puts vital tools in the hands of law enforcement."

Just weeks from the annual observation of the Transgender Day of Remembrance we have received official recognition of the fact that violence against transgender people due to their gender identity and expression constitutes a hate crime. 

In televised statements following the signing, President Obama made clear the importance and symbolic significance of adding sexual orientation and gender identity to national Hate Crimes protection:

We did it! We got hate crimes legislation through the House and Senate and the bill now sits upon President Obama's desk, ready for his signature. For the first time in this country's history, gender identity and expression is protected under US law. But the work does not stop here. We must continue to reach out to other communities and build strong alliances to further the success for all of our issues. And hate crimes legislation doesn't magically change the fact that hate crimes will occur for people of different sexual orientations and gender identities. This legislation simply provides additional redress against those who target us. But for now, let us revel in a win.

More from our friends at Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund:

Just less than a month before the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day that marks countless senseless deaths in our community, the US Senate has joined the US House of Representatives in passing the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill. The bill, an amendment to a military appropriations bill, passed the Senate 68-29. President Obama has already promised his signature on the bill.
Under the law, hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity would be added to the statues that protect individuals against felonious attacks based on race, gender, or religion. The bill is the first-ever favorable Congressional action for the gender-identity community. The bill is named for Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in 1998 by a group of men in Wyoming because they believed he was gay.
A similar law was inserted into another military appropriations measure in 2007 that made it through a preliminary vote by the Congress. Then President, George W. Bush, threatened to veto the bill if it was not removed from the military appropriation. The amendment was subsequently removed.
For more information see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/us/politics/23hate.html?hp

Barney Frank is Wrong.

I didn't think Cleve Jones and his merry band of marchers could pull it off in such a short amount of time. I'd become jaded after being at a few marches and turned my concentration to my work for Ingersoll. I am very happy to be proven wrong. I got a call from Marsha sharing the excitement of seeing 200,000 people marching down the streets of Washington DC determined to demand our rights for equality and I replied that I would dust off the teleporter and be right there. People of all sexual orientations and all gender identities marched. My eyes were glued to C-Span as I watched speaker after speaker press the point that we are in this struggle together, no matter our identities or our affiliations. I also saw speakers pointing out that the work doesn't end with marching to the mall. That was only the beginning.

Unlike Barney Frank, I didn't spend the months leading up to the march wringing my hands over people wasting their time. I've been to marches in DC for LGBT rights in 1987 and 1993 and to protest the war in 2005. To call these things "a waste of time at best" shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the history of the civil rights struggle. Either he doesn't know or he doesn't care. The Civil Rights Movement of 1955-1968 used a number of strategies, from the Montgomery Bus Boycott to sit-ins to, yes, marches and lobbying. It was at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in August of 1963 that Martin Luther King gave his famous speech, "I Have a Dream." The March is widely hailed as the turning point that quickened the pace of reaching the goal for full civil rights. I think that march did more than simply "put pressure on the grass."

If only 10% of the people who participated decide to heed that call to action, that is still 20,000 new, energetic faces signing up for the cause of equality. Imagine that power put to use to further our movement. Organizations have a responsibility to take these people in and "show them the ropes," so to speak, and teach them what activism really is (a tireless, often thankless hard slog but one that is worth every step).

Barney Frank is Right

He is right that we need to contact our legislators and lobby them to address our concerns. When one looks at the brass tacks, the power lies in the hands of those who hold elected office and sometimes, those sitting in the Supreme Court. Laws are not passed in a vacuum. Ask any of the lobbyists on K street and they will tell you that direct contact with the legislators and executive branch further their goals. So yes, we SHOULD take a look at the playbooks of AARP, NRA, the oil, pharmaceutical, and insurance lobbies. But the thing is, people did that while they were in DC. Many met with the staff of their legislators. The message was delivered. And it will be delivered again and again until we gain our full civil rights.

So pat yourselves on the back, marchers... you did it. And be ready to put your shoulder to the grindstone. And Mr. Frank, get out of the way and stop your bellyaching. We have work to do and will run over the people who try to throw roadblocks in our way, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity. For we are an inclusive movement and we will settle for nothing less than equality for all. You can either help us and stop treating us like the unwashed masses who, for some reason, re-elect you year after year or just stop shooting off your mouth and let us do the work without you.

Breanna Anderson -- September 25, 2009

One morning early in March 2004, my partner received a phone call from her mother, directing us to get down to Oregon and get married. Quick!

Just a few months before, we drove to San Francisco and just missed the narrow window of opportunity offered by the rogue gay marriage movement there.  I remembered standing on the steps of the beautiful San Francisco city hall, scene of many an historic moment in gay rights history, with only a lone Fox news truck interviewing a few straggling folks clustered about.  They had just ceased issuing licenses the day before.  It was a nice road trip at least.