"Rep. Barney Frank, who is both an out gay man and a transphobe, claimed that it would be impossible for a trans-inclusive ENDA to pass, and has moved to separate the bill into two separate bills – one in which sexual orientation would be protected, and the other in which gender identity would be protected (with the latter being infinitely stalled and never being brought for a vote).
Rep. Frank has made numerous statements demonstrating his ignorance and contempt such as “There are workplace situations – communal showers, for example – when the demands of the transgender community fly in the face of conventional norms and therefore would not pass in any Congress. I’ve talked with transgender activists and what they want – and what we will be forced to defend – is for people with penises who identify as women to be able to shower with other women.” and his concern about “[...] schoolteachers, and what happens when the kid comes back from summer vacation and teachers change gender. We just lost enough Democrats and we couldn’t be sure of the Republicans.
Rabid transphobic voices in the gay community are whitewashing the history of Stonewall and claiming that transgender people do not deserve protection because we have not fought as hard as they have for rights. If a non-trans-inclusive ENDA passes, will gay rights organizations stand behind transpeople to continue the fight for equal employment for transgender Americans, or will they proceed to divert the entirety of their resources into issues such as marriage, etc. and ignore transpeople?
Recent order of magnitude estimates have it that about 1% of Americans are transgender, and that approximately 10% of Americans are lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Gender identity affects many more people than the ancient, grossly incorrect “1 in 30,000” figure sometimes reported in the media. And transgender Americans and bisexual and gay Americans have thus far stood side by side in crusading for equal rights. I feel extremely betrayed by those in positions of power, supposed allies, who have cast aside one group in favor of another for the sake of political expediency."