Monday, April 23, 2012

We Need You Here for GENDA - A Legislator's Perspective

Post by Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, Assembly GENDA Sponsor, and State Senator Daniel Squadron, Senate GENDA Sponsor.
 
We are proud to sponsor the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), and we'll fight alongside you until we finally pass a law explicitly banning discrimination against transgender New Yorkers.

That’s why we are pleased to announce that the Empire State Pride Agenda is extending the registration deadline for the LGBT movement’s largest statewide day of advocacy at the Capitol.

You can still register for Equality & Justice Day until this Friday, April 27. Don’t miss your chance to make your voice heard in the New York State Legislature. Please sign up right away!
 
As legislators, we know that the kind of face-to-face meetings that happen at Equality & Justice Day can have tremendous impact. Personal stories, messages of support and real world explanations of what legislation means to the people we represent is infinitely more powerful than recycled talking points.

Our colleagues need to better understand the transgender non-discrimination bill. They need to hear from you about how a person can lose their job, be refused service in a restaurant, kicked out of a public library or evicted from their home simply because they are transgender.

They also need to hear about other issues impacting the LGBT community, like funding for organizations in the LGBT Health and Human Services Network and for sheltering homeless and runaway youth.

Finally, legislators who voted for marriage last year deserve all of our sincere gratitude, and Equality & Justice Day is your opportunity to thank them in person.

Equality & Justice Day on Tuesday, May 8 is when this movement’s power is felt most strongly in Albany. We hope you’ll join us and make a real commitment to change.

We look forward to seeing you in Albany.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

New from TRANScribe: "A Voice of a Heterosexual"


Read this story of self-discovery by a cisgender woman whose spouse came out to her as transgender.

Here's an excerpt:
I had known a lot of things about my husband so I had to at least understand what he was. I read books about transgenderism, joined the Long Island Trans Experience community, attended transgender meetings and support groups. I went to therapy. By doing all this, I had hoped that I could embrace in my mind what the heart could not. I was trying to find salvation in my marriage, which had just been turned upside down. Instead, I found a great deal more. Read more.

Learn more about our TRANScribe Project or submit your own story.