Between the Lines: Bill leaves out transgendered

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007, a bill in Congress that will extend current workplace discrimination laws to the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgendered community.

Today I am writing to tell you that Congress, in yet another brilliant move, has taken a bill that is supposed to prevent discrimination, and tainted it with their own form of discrimination.

Congress announced last week that it will change the language of the current bill to only include sexual orientation. This means that if passed I, and others from the lesbian, gay and bi-sexual community, will be protected, but once again our brothers and sisters in the transgendered community will suffer intentional discrimination at the hands of our government.

The American Psychological Association defines transgender as, "an umbrella term used to describe people whose gender identity (sense of themselves as male of female) or gender expression differs from that usually associated with their birth sex."

This includes transsexuals, cross-dressers, gender queers, and transvestites.

To society, all of these people are freaks.

For example, let's look at a transsexual man who wants to go through the gender reassignment surgery to finally become the woman he has always felt he was supposed to be. He is considered to be a freak because it's incomprehensible that a man could actually have surgery to become a woman, or vice-versa.

People think of cross-dressers, and they think of the weird man that walks around his house in women's underwear. They fail to realize that the majority of cross-dressers are straight men that enjoy wearing a piece, or a whole outfit, of women's clothing.

Think transvestite, and you probably associate the word with Hollywood's image of the transvestite hooker on the corner. The truth is, is that the members of the transgendered community are people who have had to suffer a different kind of hell than you and I will ever understand.

I will never be able to fully comprehend how hard it is to live knowing that you are in the wrong body. To live as a man because that is who you know you are, but look in the mirror and be forced to look at a face of a female.

I will never know what it is like to be a man who likes to put on articles of women's clothing. I won't be able to understand why the cross-dresser or transvestite feels that they need to wear articles of the opposite gender's clothes because I have not had to face this dilemma.

My knowledge of this community is limited, because although I have had to question my sexual orientation, I have never had to question my sexual identity.

However, they are an important part of my community and I have to stand up for them. What Congress is attempting to do is ask us, the gay, lesbian and bi-sexual community, to choose between having a shot in passing this non-inclusive version of ENDA, or supporting our family in the transgendered community.

Many are saying that we will lose our first real shot at freeing ourselves from discrimination in the workplace if we say no to the revised legislation.

Here is what I say: TAKE YOUR PITIFUL ATTEMPT TO DIVIDE MY COMMUNITY AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR REAR.

Forgive me, but once again Congress is attempting to tell us that one group is better, or more deserving, than the other. Sixty percent of the transgendered community makes $15,300 or less. That means that there is sixty percent of a community in America that makes far below the poverty level because of employment discrimination, and Congress, in its infinite stupidity, is going to actually say, "Well, hey, there just aren't the votes."

It's not an excuse. At least not one I'm even remotely willing to accept.