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Label Doesn't Fit to a T

Salon pundit ponders paradox of gay-rights bill threatened by inclusion of trans

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 10, 2007 3:46 PM CDT
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(Newser) – As the fate of legislation that would protect gay people from employment discrimination hangs in the balance, gay leaders have withdrawn support—because protection for the transgendered has been dropped from the bill. The liberal instinct to “want it all now” has run amok, John Aravosis argues, and boosters need to get “practical” and get the bill passed immediately.

The measure has been kicking around for three decades, and this is the first year it has a chance of being voted into law; it’s unacceptable to postpone it until society accepts people of all gender identities. “All legislation,” Aravosis says, “is a series of compromises,” and we’d have zero civil rights to speak of if we insisted on having them all at once.

Alexis Giraldo, 30, is photographed at the Superior Court of California in San Francisco, Friday, July 20, 2007. Giraldo, a transgender person who claims she was repeatedly raped and beaten by a male cell mate, went to court this week to challenge a state policy that assigns inmates like her...
Alexis Giraldo, 30, is photographed at the Superior Court of California in San Francisco, Friday, July 20, 2007. Giraldo, a transgender person who claims she was repeatedly raped and beaten by a male...   (Associated Press)
A new sign designates a third floor unisex restroom at a Kent State University student center in Kent, Ohio, Thursday, May 17, 2007. The University is accommodating transgender students with a newly relabeled unisex restroom that has four images on the door
A new sign designates a third floor unisex restroom at a Kent State University student center in Kent, Ohio, Thursday, May 17, 2007. The University is accommodating transgender students with a newly relabeled...   (Associated Press)
A new sign designates a third floor unisex restroom at a Kent State University student center in Kent, Ohio, Thursday, May 17, 2007. The University is accommodating transgender students with a newly relabeled unisex restroom that has four images on the door
A new sign designates a third floor unisex restroom at a Kent State University student center in Kent, Ohio, Thursday, May 17, 2007. The University is accommodating transgender students with a newly relabeled...   (Associated Press)
Fresno High School senior Cinthia Covarrubias, left the school's first transgender prom king candidate, gets help from Monica Rodriguez while trying on a tuxedo Friday, April 20, 2007, in Fresno, Calif. School officials added Covarrubias' name to the ballot for prom king although she is biologically female in what gay...
Fresno High School senior Cinthia Covarrubias, left the school's first transgender prom king candidate, gets help from Monica Rodriguez while trying on a tuxedo Friday, April 20, 2007, in Fresno, Calif....   (Associated Press)
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., asks a question a committee's hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this July 18, 2007 file photo. When Frank, the author of the first federal gay civil rights legislation, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA dropped protection for the transgendered from the bill, it sparked...
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., asks a question a committee's hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this July 18, 2007 file photo. When Frank, the author of the first federal gay civil rights legislation,...   (Associated Press)
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