top2.gif - 6.71 K


Badpuppy.com

Include Transgenders!
Activists Urge New York State



Compiled by GayToday

New York, New York--While Sylvia Rivera was being memorialized in a funeral last week, transgenders began the call for an transgender-inclusive Sexual Orientation Non- Discrimination Amendment (SONDA) in New York's State Legislature.

During the February 26 funeral march from the Stonewall Inn, down Christopher Street to the piers on the river where Sylvia lived while homeless, transgendered marchers began the chant for "Trans Rights Now!"

Tuesday, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) announced support for the state's transgender activists in New York seeking to amend the SONDA amendment in order to add transgender-inclusive language.
Transgender activists are pushing for equal treatment under the New York Non-Discrimination Amendment in memory of Sylvia Rivera (above) who died last month

Reverend Pat Bumgardner, during her eulogy speech at New York's Metropolitan Community Church, decried the fact that the movement Sylvia had helped spark had abandoned her and her community when it pressed for equal rights in New York state.

Literally on her deathbed, Sylvia, who is described by her admirers as the 'Mother of the GLBT rights movement' is said to have held conference with a former head of the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) urging his group to include transgenders in the current SONDA bill.

Still, say transgender activists, this prime gay and lesbian advocacy organization in New York thus far has remained unmoved by Sylvia's pleas, or by her death.

Executive Director of ESPA, Joe Grabarz, is said to have stated that those who believe that adding protections for gender non-conformity is just a simple task are "woefully naive." Changing the language, Grabarz reportedly stated, would "kill" the proposed bill.

Meanwhile, as shown during Sylvia's funeral march, transgender activists are demonstrating their impatience. With their fists raised, they shouted response chants of "What do we want? Trans Rights! Sylvia Says ... Now!"

"Transgender people are not arriving on the back of the bus," said Sylvia herself just two weeks before her death during a protest in front of ESPA.

"We were at the forefront of the modern gay liberation movement ... I hope it doesn't pass if we are not included."

Both Joo-Hyun Kang, executive director of the Audre Lorde Project, and Reverend Bumgardner, pastor of MCC declared that SONDA should be amended before passing.

Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:
Sylvia Rivera is Dead at 50--Legendary Stonewall Era Figure

Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002)

Transgender Equality: A Handbook for Activists Published

Related Sites:
National Transgender Advocacy Coalition


GayToday does not endorse related sites.

"ESPA should immediately begin working towards a fully inclusive SONDA bill," stated NTAC Board Vice Chair, Vanessa Edwards Foster, excerpting from an undelivered speech prepared for Sylvia Rivera's memorial.

Foster says that the pending SONDA bill, has "piqued the interest of the transgender community across the country. In honor of Sylvia Rivera, the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition urges ESPA to push for legislation about which everyone may be proud -- a fully inclusive Non-Discrimination Amendment. This will be a memorable vote, regardless of how the vote falls. We at NTAC hope it will be a vote that instills Pride in the entire GLBT community of New York.

"We just lost a GLBT legend with the passing of Sylvia Rivera," Foster finished. "Let's hope a legacy is created in her memory. Let's make Sylvia proud!"



© 1997-2002 BEI