Netroots Hosts First-Ever Trans Panel

Left to right: Autumn Sandeen, Jos Truitt, Monica Roberts, Jennifer Levi. Moderator: Dr. Jillian Weiss. Lots of allies in the audience are getting an education.

Quote Of The Day - Randy Cohen

"As partners cultivate romance, and particularly as they move toward erotic involvement, there are things each should reveal, things they would not mention to a casual acquaintance — any history of S.T.D.’s, for example, or the existence of any current spouse. Even before a first kiss, this person should have told you those things that you would regard as germane to this phase of your evolving relationship, including his being transgendered. Clearly he thought you’d find it pertinent; that’s why he discreditably withheld it, lest you reject him." - New York Times ethics columnist Randy Cohen, telling a reader that she has the right to out a transgender man who didn't reveal his trans status to her before they dated.

Bilerico's Dr. Jillian Weiss strongly disagrees.

Mr. Cohen, who has no reputable credentials in the field of ethics, suggests that transgender people have a responsibility to out themselves on a first date, and implies that their failure to do so is morally wrong. He compares transgender history to the case of sexually transmitted disease and adultery. He suggests, however, that notifying the local community via handbills or having local clergy announce it from the pulpit would be inappropriate. This is dangerous nonsense. Hundreds of transgender people are murdered every year, and more subjected to violence, many from partners and potential partners. What is morally wrong and reprehensible is lending the credence of The New York Times to this idea.

Where ENDA Stands In The Senate

Dr. Jillian Weiss at Bilerico tips us to the above graphic on the status of ENDA in the Senate. Have you lobbied YOUR Reps and Senators about ENDA today? Do it now. Weiss points us to this ENDA spreadsheet which assesses the position of every member of Congress.

RELATED: The Family Research Council issued another desperate money plea to fight ENDA today.

If ENDA becomes law, the government will order businesses -- including faith-based businesses -- to cast aside their personal beliefs and hire homosexuals and cross-dressers, even if the employer considers these lifestyles immoral and inappropriate for their business. Even groups like the Boy Scouts and child care providers aren't exempt from the bill's oppressive demands. Worse still, ENDA will make it easier for activist judges to overturn the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- the most important protection for marriage that exists in our country! I know that because the most powerful open homosexual in the Obama administration says it will: John Berry, the director of the federal personnel office, says: "If we can get ENDA enacted and signed into law, it is only a matter of time" before pro-family, pro-marriage laws topple under its weight. You see, ENDA is just one step in the homosexual lobby's methodical plan to demand special rights for homosexuals...force the military to accept open homosexuality in its ranks...and ultimately redefine marriage for our entire nation.

Roll Call Publishes Anti-ENDA Column By Leader Of Anti-Gay Hate Group

Bilerico's Jillian Weiss alerts us that Roll Call, the respected DC journal of Capitol Hill goings-on, has published a vile anti-ENDA column by Andrea Lafferty of the SPLC-certified hate group, the Traditional Values Coalition. Rather than mentioning that ENDA would protect millions of gays and lesbians from employment discrimination, Lafferty focuses on the haters' favorite target, trans folk.

In 2008, students and parents were shocked to learn that a female music teacher at California’s Foxboro Elementary School underwent surgery to become a man. Parents were not informed about the sex change in advance so they could remove their children from her class. In addition, the kids were required to refer to her as “Mister.” The school district refused to notify parents about this teacher’s sex change because of “privacy laws” — that is, laws under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The federal government clearly oversteps its bounds when it places the privacy of a teacher above the right of the parents to look after the well-being of their child.

These cases are not isolated, and hundreds of school districts nationwide could face similarly sticky situations if ENDA is passed. Right now, 38 states do not have gender identity recognized as a protected status, but ENDA would change all of that. While states like Illinois and California do have laws protecting gender identity under non-discrimination guidelines, such laws should not be forced upon the dissenting majority. Bill passage would strip states of their right to legislate in matters of employee discrimination, education and morality. Aside from the federal government trampling states’ rights, what type of education are we giving to our children when we present them with difficult questions regarding gender identity?

Read Weiss' excellent ripping of Lafferty's many lies in her Roll Call column. And let Roll Call editor Charlie Mitchell know how you feel about him handing over column space to the leader of a nationally-shunned hate group: 202-824-6800.

BLOG SWARM: Contact Nancy Pelosi And Demand ENDA's Passage

LGBT bloggers and allies are today coordinating a national blog swarm, asking readers to contact their members of Congress and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to demand the passage of ENDA. The Bilerico Project's Dr. Jillian Weiss is leading today's charge.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, first introduced in 1994, would prohibit job discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. But LGBT people have never been able to achieve the enactment of the bill, known by the acronym of "ENDA".Last year, the Administration's highest ranking gay official, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, indicated that ENDA was highest priority on the LGBT civil rights agenda.

"If we can get ENDA enacted and signed into law, it is only a matter of time before all the rest happens," he said. "It is the keystone that holds up the whole bunch, and so we need to focus our energies and attention there."

Hearings were held last Fall in the House and in the Senate to demonstrate the need for the bill, and testimony was heard on the severe unemployment, underemployment and harassment experienced by LGBT workers. Witnesses testified to the scientific studies demonstrating this. But nothing has happened. Click here to find out why and join us in swarming Speaker Pelosi's office.

Please call Speaker Pelosi at 202-225-4965. Ask that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, HR 3017, move to a vote. Please be polite, but firm. After you call, please tell us how the call went in the comments. If you get a busy signal or hang up, let us know that too. Let's work together to let Speaker Pelosi know that we want action now!

Among the blogs participating today: Daily Kos, Open Left, Bilerico Project, Pam's House Blend, Joe My God, Michelangelo Signorile, Americablog, David Mixner, Daily Gotham, Culture Kitchen, Taylor Marsh, PageOneQ, Dan Savage, Good as You, Towelroad, and others.

LGBT Activists Convene In NYC For Immigration Equality Forum

A large group of noted LGBT activists are in NYC this weekend to attend an immigration equality forum at the Desmond Tutu Center in Manhattan. The event is sponsored by the Four Freedoms Fund of the Public Interest Projects and will feature speakers from the LGBT-focused Immigration Equality group as well as experts from the comprehensive immigration reform movement. Last night attendees gathered at the historic Stonewall Inn for a cocktail reception (slideshow below), although attendance was hampered by the air travel mayhem caused by Snowmaggedon III. I should have a full report from the conference posted here by late Sunday. I'm posting photos and updates on Facebook as we go.