The Task Force

One of the things I love the most is serving on the NGLTF (The Task Force) national Board of Directors.

This wonderful organization is fully and wholly Trans and Gender Identity inclusive, and a prime mover in the effort for Trans Equality – in fact, along with the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Task Force leads UnitedENDA in the work of winning inclusive Federal Employment Non Discrimination legislation. (check out http://www.unitedenda.org for info).

The Task Force has many other virtues, and here is one I want to bring to your attention, coming up this week. Every year the Task Force hosts the most exciting conference in the worlds of Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual people. The annual conference is known as the National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. http://www.thetaskforce.org/events/creating_change .

“The 22nd National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change will be held at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel in beautiful downtown Dallas, Texas, Feb. 3 - 7, 2010. Produced by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Creating Change Conference (as it is affectionately known) is the nation’s pre-eminent political, leadership and skills-building conference for the LGBT social justice movement.

Since 1988, Creating Change has been the opportunity for thousands of committed people to develop and hone their skills, celebrate victories, build community, and to be inspired by visionaries of our LGBT movement and allied movements for justice and equality.

The primary goal of the Creating Change Conference is to build our movement’s political power from the ground up to secure our overarching goal of full equality, social justice and dignity for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the United States.”

Here is a partial list of the Trans and Gender Identity specific Workshops, Trainings and Caucuses that will be occurring at Creating Change – I’m proud of this work and of all the folks who have developed these offerings. And I know that new caucuses and meetings will rise up from the interests of those who attend, it always happens that way!

• The National Transgender Discrimination Survey: A Talk on Preliminary Findings Research and Policy
• Transgender Inclusion at LGBT Orgs: Mastering the Basics Training Academy
• Train the Trainer: Teaching Transgender Inclusion for LGBT Orgs Training Academy
• Forget the Polite Conversation: Getting Real About FTM Transition Transgender Community & Issues
• No Retreat Transgender Community & Issues
• SOFFAs Supporting Each Other Gender Issues
• Creating Transgender-Inclusive College Policies and Practices Campus
• Talking About Sex in the Trans and Trans Allies Community Sexual Freedom
• Trailblazing for Transgender Health Health
• Trans Youth & Safe Schools: Advocacy & Policy School Issues
• transACTION -- A Transgender Curriculum for Churches and Religious Institutions Training Academy
• Getting to Know You Transgender Community & Issues
• Transitioning Beyond the Boxes Gender Issues
• The Cutting Edge in Trans Rights: Healthcare, Prisons, and ID Documents Transgender Community & Issues
• Staying Safe While TRANSitioning Transgender Community & Issues
• The Journey from Laws to Jobs For Trans People Transgender Community & Issues
• Caucus for State and/or Local Transgender Advocacy, Legal, and/or Political Organizations/Activists Transgender Community & Issues

And even if you can’t make it to the Conference, do try to visit one of our Ingersoll support groups in Seattle. Easy access, a warm and respectful welcome, and real direct help are some of the reasons we think you’ll be very happy with adding Ingersoll to your short list of Trans and Gender Identity supports in your personal process of Self Discovery.

With respect,
Marsha Botzer

 

The state of the workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - transgender Americans in particular - is 'absolutely shameful'

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund today submitted testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor that spotlights the critical need for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The committee held a hearing on the legislation today.

"For decades, a majority has supported protecting their friends, family and neighbors from discrimination. They know it's wrong to deprive lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of the ability to earn a livelihood and provide for their families simply because of who they are," says Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "ENDA reflects the core U.S. values of fairness and ensuring everyone is allowed to participate on a level playing field in the workplace. People recognize that our nation as a whole benefits when everyone is allowed to contribute their talents and skills, free from discrimination, which is all ENDA seeks to do."

Task Force testimony includes preliminary data from a forthcoming and groundbreaking survey on discrimination against transgender people in the United States. Data from this large-scale, first-of-its-kind survey show that discrimination in employment against transgender people is a nearly universal experience: 97 percent of the respondents reported being mistreated or harassed at work, and nearly half (47 percent) said they had lost their jobs, were denied a promotion, or denied a job as a direct result of being transgender. The Task Force is partnering with the National Center for Transgender Equality on the survey.

"These figures point to enormous vulnerability related to anti-transgender bias," says Carey. "Federal protections in employment are a lynchpin for creating economically viable lives for transgender people. Our data show a potent path that is cut to victimization, housing insecurity and poor health due to loss of a job, or by harassment and bias that force a perfectly productive employee onto the unemployment rolls."

A 2007 meta-analysis from the Williams Institute of 50 studies of workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people found consistent evidence of bias in the workplace. The analysis found that up to 68 percent of LGBT people reported experiencing employment discrimination, and up to 17 percent said they had been fired or denied employment.

"The bottom line: The state of the workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - transgender Americans in particular - is absolutely shameful," says Carey. "Passing and enacting ENDA will go a long way in rectifying that."

The Task Force was the first national organization to advocate for federal nondiscrimination protections when it worked with then-U.S. Reps. Bella Abzug and Ed Koch to introduce a sweeping bill in 1974. The Task Force has also played a leading role in ensuring ENDA is explicitly inclusive of transgender people and others facing discrimination based on gender identity. The Task Force vowed a decade ago to oppose the legislation if it did not include protections based on gender identity.

Reporter resources:

Download the Task Force testimony.
http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/release_materials/tf_enda_final_testimony.pdf

Download the ENDA-related fact sheet on transgender discrimination.
http://www.thetaskforce.org/downloads/release_materials/tf_enda_fact_sheet.pdf

Learn more about the Task Force's long history on this issue.
http://www.thetaskforce.org/issues/nondiscrimination/timeline

To learn more about the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, visit www.theTaskForce.org and follow us on Twitter: @TheTaskForce (http://www.twitter.com/theTaskForce).

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, founded in 1974 as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., works to build the grassroots political power of the LGBT community to win complete equality. We do this through direct and grassroots lobbying to defeat anti-LGBT ballot initiatives and legislation and pass pro-LGBT legislation and other measures. We also analyze and report on the positions of candidates for public office on issues of importance to the LGBT community. The Task Force Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation incorporated in New York.
Contributions to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund are not tax deductible.

The Task Force Applauds ENDA  Introduction

A quarter century after Seattle’s City Council — through the encouragement of Ingersoll Gender Center — passed one of the first ordinances protecting the rights of  individuals facing gender identity issues against discrimination in housing and employment, the United States Senate has begun action to make those rights federal law.  Jeff Merkley, Oregon’s newest US Senator, introduced the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the upper chamber, along with co-sponsors Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). 

ENDA has its best chance ever for becoming law with the support of Democrats in Congress and the White House.  The President has already expressed his approval for the bill.   In 2007, ENDA came to the House floor for the first time after having its gender identity protections gutted.  Frank, the first openly gay member of Congress, says he had to remove those protections in order to get the bill through the House.  A national coalition of more than 250 groups — including Ingersoll Gender Center — fought hard, but failed to restore the gender identity provisions.  The remaining House bill was passed with some Republican votes — including Dave Reichert, who serves Washington’s 8th Congressional District.  The bill, however, never came to a vote in the US Senate, and was unlikely to be signed by then-President George W. Bush.

The Rev. Darlene Nipper, deputy executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force will speak on the organization's work with local communities at a special presentation Thursday evening, May 21, at 7:30 pm. at POCAAN, 1609 19th Ave, in Seattle.

The free presentation is sponsored by Ingersoll and the following organizations: