Badpuppy Gay Today |
Tuesday 12 August, 1997 |
After three years of ongoing debate and four final days of intense dialogue, the National Organization for Women (NOW) passed a transgender inclusion resolution at its National Conference. The measure's success owed a great deal to the personal support of NOW President Patricia Ireland -- who had arranged for GenderPAC's Executive Director, Riki Anne Wilchins, to address NOW's National Board the preceding Thursday -- as well as to intensive consensus-building effort by NOW Lesbian Rights Coordinator, Kimberlee Ward, and NOW-NJ State President, Bear Atwood. "This was a landmark resolution whose time has clearly come... It's not just the resolution, but the acknowledgment that the transgender community is today's cutting edge. Transgender people are now doing the pioneering work in exposing artificial constructs of gender and breaking down the stereotypes and barriers which divide us all," declared NOW Action Vice-President and long-time activist Rosemary Dempsey. Agreeing was GenderPAC's Terri McCorcal, who had helped steer the resolution over three years, "In its own way, this was as historic a moment as NOW's affirmation of lesbian inclusion over 25 years ago. After all the debate, seven amendments, and scores of small compromises and dialogs, it was a truly emotional moment when nearly every hand in the Convention went up in support. Women who had worked on this for years were crying and hugging in the aisles." The resolution had been originally introduced and unanimously passed at NOW-New Jersey's State Conference in 1994. The next year, a dozen activists from the Transexual Menace showed up at the NOW's 1995 National Conference in Columbus, Ohio and gathered hundreds of signatures on petitions. The resolution was introduced from the Conference floor, only to be tabled to the National Board, where it languished in spite of apparently overwhelming support. The breakthrough came when NOW-NJ's Bear Atwood was able to arrange an invitation for representatives from GenderPAC and allied groups to address NOW's state presidents at their annual State Coordinators Conference in San Francisco last January. As a result, a number of State Presidents came out in support of the measure. In addition, Ms. Ireland herself was present at the presentation, and an invitation to address the full National Board came shortly thereafter. Text of Resolution Passed at NOW National Conference WHEREAS, the National Organization for Women (NOW) has worked for the elimination of all forms of oppression in our society targeted at groups who are systematically mistreated; and WHEREAS, the transgendered and transsexual communities confront oppression daily and are systematically mistreated because of artificial gender constructs in our society; and WHEREAS, there is a lack of understanding and information on issues affecting transgendered and transsexual people; and WHEREAS, one of NOW's goals is to eliminate all sex stereotypes including so-called gender roles; and WHEREAS, NOW affirms and honors the right of people to self-identify THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that NOW and its sub-units encourage education and dialogue within NOW and other organizations on gender and sex stereotypes including those who are transgendered and transsexual people. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NOW reaffirm its commitment to end all sex and gender stereotypes. BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that we acknowledge that gender is a patriarchal social construct used to oppress women. |
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