Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 17:03:25 -0400 (EDT) From: David Casti Subject: ACTION ALERT: EDNA Hi, Although this thousands-of-members list is generally reserved for issues of *urgent* action, this such an excellent model alert... why, it is the very mirror of perfection, for those of you who write alerts. ;) Anyway it is not urgent, but it *is* well-written, relevant, and worth your while to act on. I had to pass it along. David. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Casti Pager: disc-page@digex.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally from: daisymae@PIPELINE.COM Dear Sisters and Brothers, It is time to begin the cards and letters and phone calls to our firends, to some good intentioned people and to our future friends. IN OTHER WORDS -- KEEP THE HEAT OUT OF THESE !!!!!!! We are going to do a campaign to educate the co-sponsors of the current ENDA bill. These are the people that many of us will meet with in DC in less that twenty days. These are nice people. These are people who have good intentions. These are the people who have stuck out their necks to sponsor ENDA and take the heat of conservative and religious hate mongers. THESE ARE OUR FRIENDS AND OUR FUTURE FRIENDS. DO NOT FUSS AT THEM. MOST OF THEM ARE UNAWARE THAT WE WERE OMITTED. THEY JUST NEED A GENTLE EDUCATION, LOTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THEIR VOTING CONSTIUENTS INCLUDE TRANSGENDERS. KEEP IT FRIENDLY! I SAY AGAIN, KEEP IT FRIENDLY! AND --- This is where you THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO JUST CANNOT AFFORD THE TRIP TO DC to show your colors. I am aware that most of you cannot go to DC. I am also aware that many of you would consider giving one of your kidneys to make the trip: it will be that special for those who do. And you know that I have put all kinds of teasers out there for the fence sitters to make a decision. But hey, if you cannot go, you cannot go. BUT YOU CAN GET INVOLVED. This is a six to eight month long campaign. Before the 23rd of Septeember, you MUST write your first letter. And during the week of 25 September you must make a followup phone call. Between now and the end of October, you must insure that this letter (or an edited version) is in every local and regional tg newsletter along with your words of wisdom. The great politically adverse and unwashed tg community out there is going to have to make its move. They will not do it because of me. They will do it because YOU have insured that the message goes out again and again and again in EACH AND EVERY small and local tg newsletter. The biggies will cover this. Most of our community don't read the biggies, but they do read their local tg rag. IT IS UP TO YOU! When you call DC to followup your letter, they probably will not know that they received it. They get tons of mail each week. Get someone's name and call back every four or five days IN A FRIENDLY FASHION. They will find and read it. If it was lost, you will send it again and they will be on the alert for it. FOLKS this is the mechanics of getting attention on your issue. Whether they like you or not, if you do not do this followup, they will not know who you are or your issue. If they ask your issue, say transgender, lesbian, gay and bisexual job protection. They may not know what a transgender is, but they will give you the staffer who handles lesbian and gay and bisexual issues. Next, make an appointment to meet with the Senators' (there are two from each state) staffers at their home offices when they are not in DC. You may not be able to travel to DC but you can travel to someplace in your state to meet your Senators' (both of them) staffers. They need to meet you. You need to be a face for them with flesh and blood concerns. No, they don't need a photo of you is fish-nets or a teddy. They don't even need to see you crossdressed. But they need to shake your hand and look into your eyes and learn to know that you are somewhere in the great tg continuim. As to your Member of Congress. You have one and only one. She or he comes home often and it is in your town or region. YOU VOTE for that person. If you persist, you should be able to meet her or him, although you may have to meet with the staffer first. This is one person that you can push hard to see since these are usually small election races and they do not like to make enemies. As to the other Members of Congress in your area if you live in a large metropolitan area. You do not vote for that person, but if you are in a large metro area, there is a good chance that you can meet with their local staffer. You have to ask and you have to write AND YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW-UP AND FOLLOW-UP AND FOLLOW-UP. Oh, did I say, be friendly. Why does this need to continue for the next six months? Because that is how long it takes for your issue and your face and your concerns to begin to stick. It will take them that long to learn how to say transgender. These staffers are just like other people. After you become a flesh and blood voting constituent person to them, they will bring you in general (probably not by name and most probably not to "out") up in conversation over dinner with spouse and close friend. I WILL NOT PROMISE that they won't out you, but I've not heard of it. They may not like you, but they do not like to anger you, a voter, to the extent that you work actively and with a vengence to help someone else beat them. It will take them time to get used to the idea that you are a constituent and that you have a legitimate problem. I've meet bunches of folks in political life who may not help me but rarely work to make my life miserable. And in 20+ years of out-of-the-closet activism, my spouse was never outed at work by any of my political adversaries which would have been easy for them to do. We have to keep this going through March and past because in January - March 1996 is when HRCF will go about getting its ENDA co-sponsors all lined up again. We need for these folks that now know you to say, "no tg inclusion means no co-sponsorship of ENDA." They will if you work with them and commit to the long term (and don't show them a photo in fuck-me pumps with a bustiere). WHAT DO YOU WRITE AND SAY? 1. Keep it to one page is best. Type is best. Do not reprint the same thing and get all of your friends to sign them. Think! The people who work in congressional offices are experts at receiving mail. They know when a junker is being processed over and over. 2. Follow my guidelines in general, but use your own words and style. Mix up the paragraphs. make it personal. Keep it friendly, but let them feel your pain or fears. 3. Use your PO Box if you must. What they want is your zip code so they know if you are a constituent or not. Use your other name if you must, but write and call. 4. Try something like this: Honorable Senator ____ or Representative _____ My name is _____ and I vote in District ___ (their district, or I live in your town, or I have friends that say that you are their Rep and that you are very helpful or I understand that you are a cosponsor of a bill that is of interest to me). Say something nice about them so that they want to continue reading. Don't say somehting like I know that you are too busy to read this yourself or something that is demeaning to the staffer that you are trying to get a handle on. Keep it three line max. I am writing to you about current HR 1863 (or S 932 for the Senators) which is entitled "a bill to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation" and called the Employyment non-Discrimination Act or E.N.D.A. I understand that you are a co-sponsor and I commend you for such a courageous stand. You are to be admired. (Or if not a co-sponsor, you are writing to encourage same.) Again say something nice. Let them know that you are pro-ENDA and hope that they continue or become a co-sponsor. Now the problem. Sir or Madam, there is a problem. As currently written this bill does not include transgenders. I am transgendered. Do not go into great detail here. Let them ask the questions at the future one-on-one. Keep this to three lines max. My daily, weekly, lifelong fears are that my boss will discover that I crossdress in private at home and I will lose my job. I know that people have lost their job for this. or I am TS and this is how I got fucked over in the job market. Or my spouse is a school teacher and she may lose her job because she has stayed true to her marriage vow and I crossdress in private. Or whatever. List your professional credintials if you wish. Veteran, Eagle Scout (people really like that one), former football player, whatever. Keep this to four lines max, but put in your fears and debunk the stereotypes. I want very much to meet with you when Congress is in recess. Will your staffer please call me and set up an appointment? And that my friends is it. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid. and keep it to one page and keep it friendly. This is the one page hook and once you get them to find it (through followup calls) and to read it and then to meet you, then you can answer the questions that they want to know and make a friend. THEN YOU MAY CHOOSE FOR YOURSELF WHETHER OR NOT TO ASK THEM NOT TO CO-SPONSOR ENDA 1996 IF TRANSGENDERS ARE EXCLUDED! Now, who are the ENDA co-sponsors? I've left off party labels because this is bi-partisan and because these folks are friends regardless. House: Barney Frank MA Constance Morella MD Peter Torkildsen MA Neil Abercrombie HI Gary Ackerman NY Sherwood Boehlert NY Michael Flanagan IL John Baldacci ME Thomas Barrett WI Benjamin Gilman NY Steve Gunderson WI Xavier Becerra CA Anthony Beilenson CA Steve Horn CA Nancy Johnson CT Howard Berman CA David Bonier MI Sue Kelly NY Christopher Shays CT George Brown Jr CA Benjamin Cardin MD William Clay MO Eva Clayton NC James Clyburn SC Ronald Coleman TX Barbara-Rose Collins MI John Conyers MI William Coyne PA Peter DeFazio OR Rosa DeLauro CT Ronald Dellums CA Peter Deitsch FL Norman Dicks WA Julian Dixon CA Richard Durbin IL Eliot Engel NY Anna Eshoo CA Lane Evans IL Eni Faleomavaega AS Sam Farr CA Vic Fazio CA Bob Filner CA Floyd Flake NY Thomas Foglietta PA Elizabeth Furse OR Sam Gejdenson CT Henry B Gonzalez TX Luis Gutierrez IL Jane Harman CA Alcee Hastings FL Maurice Hinchey NY Steny Hoyer MD Sheila Jackson Lee TX William Jefferson LA Eddie Bernice Johnson TX Joseph Kennedy MA Patrick Kennedy PA Barbara Kennelly CT Dale Kildee MI Tom Lantos CA Sander Levin MI John Lewis GA Zoe Lofgren CA Nita Lowey NY Carolyn Maloney NY Edward Markey MA Matthew Martinez CA Robert Matsui CA Karen McCarthy MO Jim McDermott WA Cynthia McKinney GA Marty Meehan MA Carrie Meek FL Robert Menendez NJ Kweisi Mfume MD George Miller CA Norman Mineta CA Patsy Mink HI James Moran VA Joe Moakley MA Jerrold Nadler NY Richard Neal MA Eleanor Holmes Norton DC John Olver MA Major Owens NY Frank Pallone NJ Ed Pastor AZ Donald Payne NJ Nancy Pelosi CA Charles Rangel NY Jack Reed RI (Mel Reynolds IL) Bill Richardson NM Lynn Rivers MI Lucille Roybal-Allard CA Bobby Rush IL Martin Sabo MN Bernard Sanders VT Thomas Sawyer OH Patricia Schroeder CO Charles Schumer NY Jose Serrano NY Louise Slaughter NY Fortney Stark CA Bennie Thompson MS Esteban Torres CA Robert Torricelli NJ Edolphus Towns NY James Traficant OH Robert Underwood GU Nydia Velazquez NY Maxine Waters CA Melvin Watt NC Henry Waxman CA Lynn Woolsey CA Ron Wyden OR Albert Wynn MD Sidney Yates IL Earl Hilliard AL Bruce Vento MN Gene Green TX David Skaggs CO Chaka Fattah PA Victor Frazer VI Cardiss Collins IL Jim Kolbe AZ Louis Stokes OH Senate: Jim Jeffords VT Edward Kennedy MA John Chafee RI Daniel Akaka HI Jeff bingaman NM Barbara Boxer CA Bill Bradley NJ Christopher Dodd CT Russ Feingold WI Dianne Feinstein CA John Glenn OH Tom Harkin IA Daniel Inouye HI J. Robert Kerrey NE John Kerry MA Herbert Kohl WI Frank Lautenberg NJ Patrick Leahy VT Carl Levin MI Joseph Lieberman CT Barbara Milulski MD Carol Moseley-Brown IL Daniel Patrick Moynihan NY Patty Murray WA (Bob Packwood OR) Claiborne Pell RI Charles Robb VA Paul Sarbanes MD Paul Simon IL Paul Wellstone MN WHAT IF YOUR SENATORS OR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ARE NOT ON THE ABOVE LIST? Easy, write them almost the same letter. Meet with them and explain how important it is for them to co-sponsor ENDA but only if it is TG inclusive. If they agree or lean in that direction, let us know who they are. If we can show that we can get ENDA sponsors with tg inclusion, then we can be much closer to getting into the bill. FINAL THOUGHTS: THIS IS THE BIG POTATO, FOLKS. This is where we put up or shut up. This is where all of your job fears may be put off if we can get into this bill and help to get it passed. But these next six to eight months are critical. If HRCF agrees to put us in, you can be assured that they will just sit arround waiting for us to be amended out and then say, "See, told you so!" But if YOU, not me, YOU take those small steps to become a real tg person to your Senators and MC, we can get into this bill, we can help pass it in the coming years and we can finally be secure in our jobs. It is in YOUR hands, each of YOU, I cannot do this, only YOU can do this part! Be of great courage! See you in ENDA, the phyllabuster