NCTE Joins Over 30 Trans Groups in Calling for Immigration Reform

Broad coalition release Statement of Principles on Immigration Reform

As thousands gather in Washington, DC  in support of immigration reform, the National Center for Transgender Equality and over 30 transgender service and advocacy groups released a Statement of Principles on Immigration Reform. The statement outlines fundamental policies critical for reform that affect the estimated 20,000 undocumented transgender adults in the U.S., and thousands of transgender youth who came to the U.S. at an early age and also lack legal status.

NCTE Director of Policy Harper Jean Tobin said, “For thousands of transgender immigrants and their families, the need for reform is especially urgent. They are frequently locked out of asylum protections when they come here fleeing anti-trans violence, denied recognition for their families, subjected to especially harsh and dangerous detention conditions, and often deported back into harm’s way. This goes to the core of what NCTE stands for.”

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Statement signatories include local and national transgender advocacy groups from across the U.S. including the Trans People of Color Coalition, Gender Justice Nevada, and The TransLatin@ Coalition urging Congress for a more fair and humane immigration system for transgender and non-transgender people alike.

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Read the Immigration Reform Statement of Principles below or download it here.

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NCTE Meets with Ecuadorian LGBT Activists

NCTE Director of Policy Harper Jean Tobin with the delegation of Ecuadorian LGBT Activists.

Last Tuesday, I was thrilled, along with colleagues from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, to meet and discuss LGBT activism with a group of incredible LGBT activists from Ecuador. The U.S. State Department regularly facilitates visits by distinguished community leaders and human rights activists from around the world to meet and exchange knowledge with their counterparts and other experts in the US. In recent years, the State Department’s exchange programs have increasingly connected international LGBT activists with U.S.-based activists, and the results have been enriching for all involved. As part of this all-LGBT, all-Ecuadorian visit, our guests were meeting with leaders and activists here in the nation’s capitol and elsewhere.

While we Americans can often be very, very US-centric in our focus, we have a lot to learn from our counterparts around the world. This was first driven home for me years ago when I wrote a scholarly article on gender identity recognition around the world, and discovered that some nations such as the United Kingdom and Spain were, at least by some measures, well ahead of the United States when it comes to the rights of transgender people. In recent years there has been a tremendous amount of LGBT and specifically transgender activism throughout much of Latin America, including major developments in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina to name a few.

Watch: Proyecto Transgenero’s video educating Ecuadorians about trans people and the identification challenges trans people face.

LGBT History Month Spotlight: Sylvia Rivera

For LGBT History Month, NCTE is highlighting outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions to the movement for trans equality and justice. Our first spotlight is on Sylvia Rivera, a transgender activist who worked tirelessly for more than three decades on behalf of trans people and all LGBTQ people marginalized by poverty, racism, and a narrowly conceived “gay rights” movement.

Born and raised in New York City, Sylvia had already been living on the street for years when at 17 she became a veteran of the Stonewall riot. She was active in the formation of key post-Stonewall gay rights organizations such as the Gay Activists Alliance, as well as in organizing with the Young Lords, the Black Panthers, homeless youth, and sex workers. She campaigned for an early gay rights law in New York City, famously getting arrested for scaling the walls of City Hall (in heels, no less) to crash a closed-door meeting on the bill.

In Response to Crackdown on Occupy Encampments, NCTE and Allies Issues a Trans Direct Action Resource

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Today, two blocks from our office, the National Park Service planned to evict Occupy D.C. protestors in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza in accordance to a D.C. “no camping” rule. While many protestors have complied with the eviction notices, other demonstrators have ignored the National Park Service and have hunkered down in continued protest.

As reported by Gay City News, transgender people have been central figures from the beginning of the Occupy Movement, adding to a long history transgender people participating in direct actions.

According to Mara Keisling, “Because of this historical participation by transgender people in direct actions, NCTE wants to make sure trans people are well informed as they exercise their free speech and political power.”

The removal of Occupy D.C. encampments comes on the heels of Occupations facing increasing tensions from police authorities across the country, with one DC protestor being Tazed by a Park Police officer yesterday and over four hundred arrests in demonstrations in Oakland, CA and New York, NY last week.

The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) welcomes the conversations sparked by the Occupy Movement. Transgender people who face twice the rate of unemployment in the United States are among the 99% who will be well served by efforts to correct the imbalance of economic opportunity and political power in this country.

Keisling said, “From here in the nation’s capital, even when we’ve seen solutions to the problems and inequalities, we’ve seen them ignored. Our economic and political conditions worsen as our country goes in circles about the details of various policies and which powerful interests are in the way. And smart non-violent direct actions can be an equally powerful way to bring attention to policies that can help everyone.”

However, NCTE also urges transgender people and their allies participating to consider the consequences. Participating in direct actions may put transgender people at increased risk of mistreatment, violence, and arrest. This resource, which was co-created with our allies at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, is a basic guide to understanding a range of factors including detainment procedures, identity documents, and the associated risks participating in a demonstration as an undocumented trans person, or as a trans person with a disability.

Keisling added, “From the Compton Cafeteria riots to Stonewall, transgender people have been at the forefront of our struggle for transgender equality, and the equality of opportunity for others in our country. That isn’t going to change and trans people should be aware of their rights and the risk they take when continuing to advance these rights through direct action.”

NCTE Celebrates the 39th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

Yesterday marked the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision recognizing that the right to personal privacy guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment is broad enough to encompass the right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy. Roe stands for the fundamental right to personal privacy and the ability to control one’s own body without intrusion from the government. Few rights could be more important for transgender people, whose bodies and personal decisions have long been subject to scrutiny and interference. In many places, laws still require transgender people to undergo unwanted and unneeded medical procedures and sacrifice their own ability to reproduce in order to fully participate in society. Today we celebrate Roe’s recognition that the Constitution guarantees each of us the right to make personal decisions about our own bodies, and we look ahead to the work we still need to do to fulfill that promise for all.

Activists counter-protesting at the Supreme Court in response to the annual anti-choice rally today. Photo credit: @erintothemax

Massachusetts High School Students Donate Money to NCTE to Combat Transphobia

Transgender people are often discriminated against in many aspects of life, and are also the victims of hateful harassment and verbal abuse. Being transgender myself, I find this to be an injustice that needs to be changed. What makes matters worse is that often times there are witnesses to the abuse, harassment, hate, and discrimination, and yet no one ever does or says anything about it, and various incidents are ignored most of the time.

This past May a group of students really stepped up to the plate and showed me a lot about character and also showed that not everyone is a bystander when a discriminatory and hateful act occurs. These students are part of Brookline High School’s Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is program out of Brookline, Massachusetts, the students decided to raise money and donate it to us here at the National Center for Transgender Equality. In total, the students raised and donated $180. The donation was sparked by an incident at the students’ school that involved transphobia and homophobia.

Brookline High School

A derogatory note was found in someone’s mailbox at school which stated “Do you consider yourself to be transgender because you’re really just a homophobic faggot”. A note containing language of that nature is very offensive and degrading, and all it does is spread a message of hate and ignorance.

The students were very alarmed by this note and wanted to take a step towards erasing transphobia and homophobia. They stated in a letter delivered to us here at NCTE that they hope the money “helps in allowing transgender voices be heard and to stop all kinds of discrimination toward the transgender community”. The  fact that they had such a great concern for the transgender community and their school’s community that it caused them to reach out to us on a voluntary level and to be so selfless at such a young age is something we all respect and honor here at NCTE.

This is one donation that goes above and beyond simply giving money to a cause, and all of us who are a part of this organization are thankful for students like these from Brookline High School; not only for their donation, but also for their commitment to ending discrimination against transgender people and striving for equality for all. We would also like to commend them on rising to the occasion and noticing discrimination when it’s happening, and taking action toward ending it! Great job and thanks to all those at Brookline who were a part of this!

The Power of Coming Out

Twenty-three years ago today, I was in Washington, DC for the 1987 March on Washington, the very first Coming Out Day. The poster still hangs on the wall behind my desk.

I was 22 years old and had come out three years earlier. Standing in the midst of the tremendous crowds pouring into the National Mall from all directions gave me an entirely new vision of what it meant to be queer (the word I used to describe myself then), at a time when we were far less visible than we are now. We had strength, we were beautiful, we were proud, and we still are.  We were also in mourning as we watched the beautiful Names Project Quilt squares covering the Mall, commemorating those whose lives were lost to AIDS.

It is hard to say what direct impact that March may have had on policy makers, but I know for sure that it had a life changing effect on me and thousands of others as we have worked in the years since then to expand our rights, to care for those who struggle, and to build a better world for all of us.

Through the years since then, working in the LGBT community, I’ve had the opportunity to see the incredible transformations that happen over and over when we come out. I’ve sat with parents who were once openly hostile to gay people who ended up as passionate PFLAG moms and dads within a couple of years of their children coming out. I’ve seen straight people who were neutral on LGBT rights until one of their friends came out and now they stand up for our rights time and time again. I know clergy who came to question the homophobia and transphobia they were taught once they realized that a member of their community of faith was transgender, lesbian, gay or bisexual; their care for that person led them to look more deeply at their faith to find love instead of condemnation.  I’ve sat in lawmakers’ offices as they listened as a constituent told them about what our lives are like, as they put a human face on a bill that they are considering.

Deciding when and how to tell our stories is a very individual decision; it is also a very powerful choice.  It is, ultimately, an affirmation of our human connection with one another. So, whether you are deciding to tell someone for the very time or if you can’t think of who else to come out to, Happy Coming Out Day. May it be liberating for you and transformative for our world.