Petition Asking Bishop Robinson Not Attend The Dallas Black Tie 2008

[Kelli Busey]

WE, a coalition of gender diverse people who identify as Transgender or Intersex
people (including people who are also known as transgender, transsexual, intersex, and several other terms used to classify people based on being born with a condition where the gender of their mind, psyche, or soul differs from their anatomical sex at birth, or, their anatomical sex at birth was ambiguous) hereby ask that you do not lend religious credence to HRC's discriminatory and violence enabling agenda by attending or accepting the Elizabeth Birch award at the Dallas Black Tie 2008.

Petition asking that The Right Reverend Gene Robinson, Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, not attend the Black Tie Dinner Dallas Texas on November 22, 2008.
It is he belief of the signers that the discriminatory policies of the main benefactor of the Dallas Black Tie, the HRC, propagates violence against all of Womankind, Intersexed and gender diverse to include but not inclusive of, Transgender Men, effeminate gay men, masculine presenting Woman, Natal Woman and Transgender Woman.

It has been documented that gender discrimination has placed the United States among the leaders of gender bigotry world wide. Sexual Violence is enabled by a conception of the perpetrator that the consequences of rape and murder committed against the gender diverse is minimal or non existent.

This perceived vulnerability in the United States recently was reinforce by HRC's inexplicable and morally reprehensible betrayal as the self proclaimed advocate of the of the gender diverse during the ENDA debacle of 2007.

HRC's position, which has not been amended constitutes a daily reinforcement of this horrific policy.

It begs a question in these days of failing church attendance and disconnect, what can people of faith do to help?

By your not attending you will signal loudly to HRC that policies which are beneficial solely because of monetary gains and political expediency at the expense of the most vulnerable, are not acceptable.

By your not attending you will elevate the Anglicans standing in the eyes of the GLBT community and the entire world.

By your not attending you will contribute to the fight against violence transmitted
AIDS/HIV and other STD.

By not attending the self esteem of the gender diverse will rise and the need to validate threw risky sex will decrease.

By you not attending, those who have been cast aside by their faith will be given a ray of hope.

By not attending you will signal lawmakers to take courage and follow their moral consciousness to enact laws to protect the entire Lesbian, Gay, Intersexed, Bisexual, Asexual and Transgender community.

By your not attending the Dallas Black Tie the world's diverse community will recognize your commitment and sigh in relief and bask in the glow of an affirmative, welcoming and loving Anglican Church.

Bishop Robinson, The weight of social progress now rests on your shoulders.



http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Endspiritualviolence/
or at planetransgender
http://tinyurl.com/4op7yc

[RedneckDyke]

I haven't heard anything about the HRC encouraging violence or anything.
What did they do exactly?

[BruceChris]

Hoping to make it easier to get ENDA, the Employment Non Discrimination Act passed. From the language used here, it appears that the HRC is not supporting language that might protect behavior or appearance that is not typical of a person's legal gender. I'm sure that there is a lot more that could be explained here.

Reading the links explains a lot. It takes me a very careful reading for me to get a sense of what ideas and feelings are being expressed here. I am sure that those who collaborated in the writing each have their own individual concerns, and personal experiences.

Do we have an English teacher in the house? This statement could really use the work of a nice sharp red pencil.

I can see that if this statement/petition had been written in plain and straightforward language it would be much easier to understand. There does seem to be a tendency for a person who is mad as hell to use officious sounding language, I've done it myself.

EDIT: Background

http://chrysalismission.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-knightmare-in-shining-rusted-armor.html

Thank You, Bruce Chris

[BruceChris]

I assume that most of the people who post here make a wide variety of gender statements with their appearance and behavior. However, each of us is both required to have and limited to having exactly ONE and only ONE legal gender, out of only two possible. We could use a change in the law here, and we should all have drivers licenses that allow Male, Female, or Other.

We could start with bringing back the Equal Rights Amendment.

One male member of my church regularly does needlepoint at meetings, and one woman, when asked if she had a chainsaw, replied that she had three. We've all been there.

Peace and Love, Bruce Chris

[Gennee]

Hoping to make it easier to get ENDA, the Employment Non Discrimination Act passed. From the language used here, it appears that the HRC is not supporting language that might protect behavior or appearance that is not typical of a person's legal gender. I'm sure that there is a lot more that could be explained here.

Reading the links explains a lot. It takes me a very careful reading for me to get a sense of what ideas and feelings are being expressed here. I am sure that those who collaborated in the writing each have their own individual concerns, and personal experiences.

Do we have an English teacher in the house? This statement could really use the work of a nice sharp red pencil.

I can see that if this statement/petition had been written in plain and straightforward language it would be much easier to understand. There does seem to be a tendency for a person who is mad as hell to use officious sounding language, I've done it myself.

Thank You, Bruce Chris


Yes they did, Bruce. It happened last September. Even Rep. Barney Frank supported this bill much to my chagrin. From my standpoint the leadership through us trans people under the bus. Money and politcial expediency over ruled the need to change people's lives.

Gennee

[Kelli Busey]

Hoping to make it easier to get ENDA, the Employment Non Discrimination Act passed. From the language used here, it appears that the HRC is not supporting language that might protect behavior or appearance that is not typical of a person's legal gender. I'm sure that there is a lot more that could be explained here.

Reading the links explains a lot. It takes me a very careful reading for me to get a sense of what ideas and feelings are being expressed here. I am sure that those who collaborated in the writing each have their own individual concerns, and personal experiences.

Do we have an English teacher in the house? This statement could really use the work of a nice sharp red pencil.

I can see that if this statement/petition had been written in plain and straightforward language it would be much easier to understand. There does seem to be a tendency for a person who is mad as hell to use officious sounding language, I've done it myself.

EDIT: Background

http://chrysalismission.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-knightmare-in-shining-rusted-armor.html

Thank You, Bruce Chris

Dear Bruce,

I find it offense that in a GLBT advocacy forum you advocate for censorship(someone get a red pencil). It is that objectionable behaviour that creates divides in our culture.

I am not a English major. I am a transgender truck driver living in the joy of Jesus and living Authentically.

A Lot more to explain. Yes mountains.
*******************************
ENDA Lets get it right

by kelli Busey
Dec 2007

The Original ENDA 2015 submitted in April of 2007 included language which afforded protection to
transgender people and GLB people regardless of how gay you are.Unfortunately it is of our opinion that political mistakes were made based on incorrect interpretation of
history and a skewed sense of political expediency..Barney Frank is of the opinion that transgender people are new to the advocacy arena and therefor not to
be allowed to enjoy the same status as the rest of the GLB community.Transgender people have been in the forefront at the Compton Cafeteria and Stone wall riots.The LBGT community has voiced it's discontent via UNITED ENDA's 7 million..

On 9/27/07 without advance warning Barney Frank introduced HR(3585) which eliminated transgender
protection. With the exclusion of gender identity language it will be subjective depending on the
conception of the judge, what behavior falls within sexual preference or gender identity. Thereby
eliminating the person who on a given time acted too gay, in the judges opinion and the transgender
person from protection under the law.Glbtq people have themselves often criticized identity politics, particularly on the grounds that individuals
possess multifaceted identities and thus involvement in politics based on a single identity does not suffice
On 9/27/07 Barney Frank submitted HR(3586) which has gender only protection language Time has shown that incremental steps when applied to a group i.e. shades of black, only serves to
weaken the validity of the entire concept and promote discord and disunity.Time has also shown that if a small portion of a group is sacrificed on the premise that they will be returned
for, then this fails to happen as the motivation to do so is not present.
Therefore It is our goal to allow the protections of ENDA to extend to the entire community.This goal is the wish of UNITED ENDA comprising 368 National, State and Local groups and 171 house
representatives.We implore you to contact your organization representatives and political leaders and lend them your
wisdom. Let us welcome our entire LGBTIQ community at the finish line, together the truth will win.
http://planetransgender.blogspot.com/2007/12/enda-lets-get-it-right.html
**********************************

Bishop Robinson did not express difficulties in understanding the text of our correspondences, only a desire to learn. It was his response that has shaped a massive show of support for him here in Dallas and the solidifying of Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies.

http://dallastaa.ning.com/profile/222aq2321l51b

This action is the direct result of Bishop Robinson.

For immediate release

Contact;
Kelli Busey, Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies (DTAA)
214-226-7080
kellibusey@yahoo.com

Sept. 30, 2008

Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies are thrilled to welcome to Dallas the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire for a public conversation with transgender people.

Sheraton Dallas Hotel
Seminar Theater
400 North Olive Street · Dallas, Texas 75201 · United States

Map and Directions

November 22, 2008 from 1:00 until 2:00pm

Bishop Robinson will attend a "Transgender Conversation" with the Dallas Transgender Advocates, and Allies(DTAA) to share with us his wisdom and faith and to learn of the transgender struggle for equality.

Bishop Robinson has bravely stepped forward to answer questions regarding religion and it's influence on progressive social action, and to share with us what he has learned from the recent Lambeth and how his diocese situation parallels the Queer and Transgenders class struggle against social, religious and political exclusionary and revisionist agendas.

Who are the Dallas Transgender and Advocates Queers and Allies?
We are Transgender Questioning Intersexed Asexual Queers and allies. We comprise a nationwide network of diversity in ethnic, social, educational, economic, religious, gender identities, sexual orientations and political views. Our goal is to unite the Transgender Questioning Intersexed Asexual Queer community through realization of potential in soul and mind and moving forward as a whole in the cause of social, legal and religious equality.

Hosting entity
Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies

Donations are encouraged and appreciated to defray expenses. All remaining funds will forwarded to Carmens Place, an Episcopal home and outreach for LBGT youth, Astoria, New York
Carmens Place

Allied and concerned organizations

Queer Today
Queer Today

Left In SF
Left In SF

Organisation Intersex International, OII-USA

planetransgender.blogspot.com

planetransgender.wordpress

[Matt Algren]

Dear Bruce,

I find it offense that in a GLBT advocacy forum you advocate for censorship(someone get a red pencil). It is that objectionable behaviour that creates divides in our culture.

I am not a English major. I am a transgender truck driver living in the joy of Jesus and living Authentically.Guh? Nobody said anything about censorship. He simply suggested that it could use a little editing for clarity. In general, if someone takes the time to write in their best possible voice, I'm much more likely to understand what they're saying.

Especially if you're releasing a statement for important advocacy, it would be in your (and our) best interest to present your statement clearly. If you know that this might not be your forte, see if someone else whose skills lie in that area can help you clean it up.

I'm not sure why you're taking out your frustration on BruceChris, but it's misplaced and undeserved.

[Kelli Busey]

It is the content of the message that causes distress, not a sudden concern for a transgenders woman's grammatical presentation.
I don't receive critical critique like this when I write of my Soulforce activism that addresses gay and lesbian issues.

Why don't we talk about the important central message?

Bishop Robinson understands there is a problem that the Gay community wishes would simply disappear. It threatens to tear at the fabric of our culture. His answer to is to confront it and hold discussion.
That is fantastic, what a positive statement. We are thrilled to be given this opportunity and would love it if Gay and Lesbian people were aware of the conversation and engage in finding solutions.

http://dallastaa.ning.com/

http://planetransgender.blogspot.com

[BruceChris]

The content is exactly what I am having so much trouble getting at.

BC

[nmwolfboy]

i do not see any intent to censor in Bruce's comments but rather a desire to really understand what's being said in the petition. i also see a great deal of passion in Kelli's posts, and a great deal of commitment in the efforts of DTAA.

While i may see no reason for offense in Bruce's quest for clarity, i do think it more important not to lose sight of how truly offensive and sad that the rights, equality and safety of transgender & intersex friends and family appear (again, in the case of the HRC) to have been so easily discarded in the name of political pragmatism. i say that not only because of the very real impact in the lives of people i love, but also because of a strong belief that the discrimination and hatred against lgbt people all take root in the same soil of sexism.

This is something that i believe Bishop Gene understands. There are also many people within the gay community who understand this as well, and who do engage in trying to understand and work together to find solutions.

The caution in this struggle, at least for me, is to not assume that i understand what the fight is like for my transgender & intersex family & friends. One caution for all of us in this struggle might be that we gain little when we too easily take offense at someone's sincere desire to understand. :flower:

Pax et bonum, :dove:
scott

[Kelli Busey]

Exactly!

The topic is : Bishop Robinson is attending a "Transgender Conversation!"
I would love to hear from people who do not identify as strictly "gay" or "lesbian", be it trans, queer, questioning, or asexual. Tell me what you would like to ask Bishop Robinson.

Please keep it to this topic. Thank you.

If anyone wants to post here and feels self conscious of spelling and grammar, Don't worry about it:)

[Matt Algren]

Never mind