OPENING THE DOOR
• Do the straight partners and children of transgender people feel welcome at your organization? How can you make it clear that transgender people can bring their families to your events? Action Items • Conduct a needs assessment of the transgender community. Find out in which specific areas there are no services addressing the community’s needs. Consider what you can do to address un- or under-serviced areas. • Create programs that address the unique needs of transgender people. Based on your needs assessment and input from community members, develop transgender-specific programs. • Make sure that transgender people know that they are welcome to participate in all programs. • Check your internal policies and procedures to make sure that they are all transgenderinclusive. Evaluate each policy considering transgender-inclusion. Eliminate any policies that reference surgical or hormonal status. • Advocate for public policies that protect transgender people from violence and discrimination. Develop organizational policies that clearly state your commitment to advocating only for transgender-inclusive legislation and advance the entire LGBT community.
UNITED ENDA: A Definitive Fight for Trans-Inclusion at the Federal Level When plans for a transgender-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) fell apart in the U.S. House of Representatives in the Fall of 2007, many LGBT organizations rallied in support of keeping gender identity protections in the bill. More than 350 organizations signed on with United ENDA, a campaign that was formed to favor of a fully-inclusive bill and oppose passage of a LGB-only bill. Transgender people paid very close attention to which LGBT organizations were willing to drop gender identity protections and support a sexual orientation-only bill, and which took a stand in favor of only inclusive legislation. The strong support for the inclusive bill by the majority of LGBT organizations is an important demonstration of the ways in
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which transgender people have become an integral part of the LGBT movement. This impacts the way in which the movement is seen externally, for example, by members of Congress, as well as the ways in which our organizations are viewed as fully and genuinely committed to transgender inclusion. If your organization is not yet a member of United ENDA, it is still possible to join as the campaign plans to stay together and work for passage of a trans-inclusive bill until it passes. To participate, send an e-mail to: info@UnitedENDA.org, including full organization name, geography served/type of group (national, state, city, college, etc.), and contact name, email address, and phone number.