The following is an e-mail I recently received on October 22, 2007 from Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign:

Dear Bennie,

I need your help in the next 48 hours.

Congress will vote Wednesday on H.R. 3685, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) plans to offer an amendment to ENDA to add protections based on gender identity.

This amendment is crucial! This is our last chance to get gender identity back into the bill. We need your help right away to make sure your representative supports the amendment. We've called and emailed, but now we're sending faxes to show we mean business.

Send an automatic fax to your representative in support of the Baldwin amendment to ENDA, to make sure gender identity is included in the bill.

There is not a moment to spare – this is your last chance to speak out on behalf of each and every member of the GLBT community.

Once you've taken action, please forward this message to your friends and family to help us get the word out.

This is a historic vote. For the first time ever, the House of Representatives is poised to vote on employment protections for the GLBT community. Help us make sure every member of the GLBT community is included in those protections.

Fax your representative to support the Baldwin amendment, before the vote happens, and go to HRC.org to follow ENDA's progress through the House this week!

Thank you for all that you do.

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
President

Hey bennie
i was about to post the same message glad you are on top of it.

I would be wary of any interface provided by HRC. If you want to contact your representative, use the portal provided by the House of Representatives to contact your representative directly.

HRC does NOT support an inclusive version of this bill. Joe Solomnese announced during meetings with leaders of supporting civil rights groups last week that he thinks H.R. 3685 without gender identity is a good deal. He should. He was in on the effort to exclude us. Chances are that any messages sent via an HRC interface will be intercepted and may never make it to your representative.

It's true that we have 48 hours (or less) until 3685 goes up for a vote in the general session, and we need at least 200 votes in favor of the Baldwin Amendment to establish the credibility we need for trans inclusive legislation to be successful in 2009, so don't just sit there, write to your representative NOW! Support the Baldwin Amendment and oppose any version of H.R. 3685 that does not include gender identity!

http://www.house.gov/writerep

I would agree be wary, but as this for our recognition and I would use every possible method of promoting awareness. Even if you are posting in the oppositions camp you may change a point of view to parallel to your own.

So use your voice, shout from the hill tops, email, write, phone or even go in person and talk to your representatives as many of us have done; just don’t be silent

Love Sara

This may sound a little controversial but it is only my opinion. I am going to sit this one out because I see little purpose whether the ENDA bill includes us or not. To start with, this bill should it pass, will be with the narrowest of margins, even more of a miracle to get it through the senate, and ultimately vetoed by the president. I would think most people expect that.

Some may say atleast we are getting some recognition, but those people are the GLBT community. It is more likely that the other people will see minimal support for our cause which I believe will make it that much easier to vote no the next go around. As much as all of us would like to see true employment rights, I believe this bill should be held back until it has a serious chance of passing.

In my opinion as I stated before, all this is is a feel good bill with no teeth. Few if any will be helped should this bill be inacted. For those looking for work, it will make it that much harder to get hired in the first place. For those worried about losing their job, employers will just find another way to let you go.

This bill is equivalent to hate crime legislation, calling something a hate crime doesn't stop a crime from happening anyways. I consider all crimes hateful, so what's the difference.

Should the ENDA bill pass even with our inclusion, enjoy your moment of glory because it will soon be forgotten.

The value of symbolic victory in this situation cannot be understimated. Indeed, There is lttle or no chance that any version of ENDA will be signed into law under the present administration, however, victory in the case of the Baldwin Amendement will accomplish two important things. First, if we are able to get somewhere around 200 votes, this will establish the transgender political movement as an entity independent of the LGB agenda. Second, it will open serious dialogue and begin an important process of education toward the eventual success of strong trans inclusive legislation in 2009, whether it's a standalone bill or another piece of integrated legislation like the original H.R. 2015 version of ENDA.

True, just like hate crime legislation, and just like the Civil Rights Act, legislation alone guarantees nothing. There will be those employers who will do as they please regardless, but just like the Civil Rights Act did for African Americans, an inclusive ENDA can provide us the tools to reach out and combat ignorance in the best possible way, one American at a time. Nothing will magically happen overnight, but as transgender Americans become more and more commonplace, misconceptions concerning us can be slowly but surely dispelled, as we chip away at them over time.

ENDA is not an end to discrimination, but the beginning of a new leg of the journey toward transgender equality. ENDA can give us the tools to do the job we face.

Take a minute. Let your voice be heard. We now have 24 hours to let our representatives know that we support the Baldwin Amendment to H.R. 3685, and that we oppose any version of this legislation that does not include the transgender community. DO IT NOW!

http://www.house.gov/writerep

Let me add that I don't feel the NCTE or the HRC has done their job well enough if it comes to this much battle with only 24hrs to go. Obviously they have done little to educate politicians on what a real TS or TG for that matter is. If politicians are afraid to include T in the bill because it would not likely pass with us included, then someone, being those who supposedly represent us did a lousy job educating. It is apparent the big push from the start has always been focused on the GLB. To think a last minute push will have a real effect is wishful thinking. Our T just happens to be attached to GLB, otherwise we don't exist. I want this bill shelved, or failed to wake up those that say they represent us. We need to be included from start to finish, not 24hrs before a vote.

Mara Keisling has worked very hard, indeed to educate members of Congress in matters transgender. Having recently established a presence in DC we at IFGE are doing the same. HRC never attempted to pursue any educational effort, as they never intended for trans people to be included in this legislation to begin with. That NCTE was hoodwinked by HRC into coming along for the ride is no fault of Mara Keisling. She, and in fact Donna Rose thought they were doing the right thing by affiliating with HRC on this. I know these people personally, and have worked alongside them. I know firsthand what they have done.

Mara and Donna have both had their eyes opened by this experience, resulting in Donna's resignation from the HRC Board of Directors, and Mara rejoining the unified efforts of NTAC, GenderPAC and IFGE. If anything positive is to come of all this, it is that we now enjoy a solidarity among the national transgender advocacy community that we have never had before. Barney Frank and Joe Solomnese never expected that we would pull together as we have, and now recognize that we are a force to be reckoned with.

The effort to support the Baldwin Amendment is part of the larger task of education toward the main objective in 2009. No one, not even Barney Frank, expects this legislation to pass or to be signed into law, with or without trans inclusion. The point here is to open serious discussion of these issues on a national level in preparation for the real thing in 2009, when this kind of legislation can have a chance.

For the time being, though, it is important to gain the symbolic 200 votes necessary in favor of the Baldwin Amendment to H.R. 3685 to let Congress know that we are to be taken seriously, that we stand together in solidarity, and are not some fragmented fringe group of crackpots.

Do it NOW. Write to your representative. Let them know that we are their constituents and that we count!

http://www.house.gov/writerep

I have never doubted for a minute that there were some good people out there doing all they could. But when the key organizations show a who cares attitude about us, how can you expect our situation to be taken seriously.

Just to let you all know, even with my dislike for this bill and how it has been handled, yes I did write my rep who happens to be republican Jack Kingston. I asked that he support the ENDA bill only with the Baldwin amendment. I also asked that he take the time someday to truly understand us and the issues transgendered face.

LOL, still don't like the bill and when it is all done and over I hope we get the GLB out of our T. Maybe I should try and talk my rep into offering an amendment to remove GLB and replace it only with T, maybe then it would have a better chance of passing without a veto, suits me just fine. And please nobody jump on me about being anti GLB, the only thing I have against them is there community not standing up for ours.

HRC is not a key transgender advocacy organization now, nor have they ever been. They advocate for themselves, rich white straight appearing gay men.

Thanks for supporting the Baldwin Amendment.

Robyn,
I did it for you because I respect your judgement and involvement on the issue. I still see the potential for it to backfire but the caveat to it all is that it should open some eyes for those who say they represent us.

Current information is the vote on H.R. 3685 has been postponed for atleast one week in an attempt to avoid a veto by President Bush. One of the biggest concerns is how this bill may relate to same sex marriages.