Meghan and Cindy McCain: Redefining Republican

Many are probably familiar with the NoH8 campaign created in opposition to California's Proposition 8, which was passed by CA voters in 2008 and overturned California's marriage equality law. Well, Cindy McCain - wife of Republican Senator and former Presidential candidate John McCain, and mother of Republican and gay marriage advocate Meghan McCain - has joined the cause.

From NoH8's website:

In the year since we've started the NOH8 Campaign, we've often been surprised at some of the different individuals who have approached us showing their support. Few, though, have surprised us more than Cindy McCain - the wife of Senator John McCain and mother to vocal marriage equality advocate Meghan McCain. The McCains are one of the most well-known Republican families in recent history, and for Mrs. McCain to have reached out to us to offer her support truly means a lot.

Aligning yourself with the platform of gay marriage as a Republican still tends to be very stigmatic, but Cindy McCain wanted to participate in the campaign to show people that party doesn't matter - marriage equality isn't a Republican issue any more than it is a Democratic issue. It's about human rights, and everybody being treated equally in the eyes of the law that runs and protects this country.

I think it's terrific that two well-known Republicans are coming out in support of a civil right that is being denied to a minority group. Of course, the GW College Republicans have a slightly different take on the matter: Meghan McCain was invited to GW to speak at National Equality Week, and the CR's are up in arms because, well, she's theirs. From The Hatchet:

"Our executive board was told that Meghan McCain's primary focus would be her opinion on what it means to be a Republican," Rob Noel, CR public relations director, said. "We later discovered through her Twitter and subsequent conversations with the SA and [the Graduate School of Political Management] that she would be giving the keynote address for Marriage Equality Week."

Apparently there was some misunderstanding as to why she was speaking at GW, and the CR's felt misled by Allied-in-Pride President Michael Komo. But here's what concerns me a whole lot more: it seems as though, according to the CR's, being a Republican and supporting marriage equality are two mutually-exclusive, irreconcilable things. But the rest of us know better: I know a lot of Republicans who openly and proudly support marriage equality. A lot of them go to GW. Two of them are my parents.

And as for what Ms. McCain thinks of all this:

Yes, I am the keynote speaker at George Washington University's "Marriage Equality Week" next month. Can't wait, very honored to be asked!

And we're very honored to have you.

Banzhaf The Third Strikes Again

Earlier this semester I criticized GWU Law Professor John F. Banzhaf III for writing an editorial to the Hatchet in regards to efforts to add gender identity or expression to the University's non-discrimination policy. His comments and assumptions were extremely misguided, and received attention from both fellow faculty members and the press.

The Faculty Senate is set to vote on the proposal on May 8th, and if approved, it will be reviewed by President Knapp and the Board of Trustees. Given my prior post, you can imagine my delight when I heard that Banzhaff had submitted comments to the faculty senate, expressing his "concern" over the proposal.

A few of my favorite comments:

"It is not clear how the proposed amendment would apply to sports activities. Whether or not an anatomic male who has adopted a female identity can play NCAA basketball on the GW women’s rather than the men’s team, or whether such a person could play NCAA volleyball at all (since GW has only a women’s team), might (or might not) be determined by NCAA rules."

Hundreds of other schools have adopted gender identity or expression clauses into their non-discrimination policies, without facing sports-related incidents, or problems in general. Furthermore, I highly doubt that members of our women's basketball team are dying to join the men's basketball team. For one thing, our women's basketball team often performs better than our men's basketball team.

"The Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities already says that “The University will not permit discrimination on grounds of sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation or IDENTITY, or any other ILLEGAL BASIS in any University recognized area of student life.” Since discrimination based upon “sexual identity” is already prohibited, why is there a need to add new language to protect against discrimination based upon “gender or identity expression” (which appears to be identical to “sexual identity”)? [emphasis his]

There is a difference between sexual identity and gender identity and expression. The Handbook of Professional Ethics for Psychologists might be able to help Banzhaf out:

Sexual identity is defined as how people understand and make sense of their own sexual attractions (orientation) and behavior...Gender Identity is defined as a person's internal, psychological sense of being male or female, regardless of anatomical reality

I respect Banzhaf's right to lobby the faculty senate on the proposal to add gender identity or expression to GW's Non-Discrimination policy. However, before doing so he needs to grasp the concepts of gender identity and gender expression, so he can get his facts straight.

Full Disclosure: I am the former President of Allied in Pride, and I have an agenda. An equality agenda.

Law Professor's Editorial is Misguided

Monday's Hatchet featured an editorial by GW law professor John Banzhaf, who commented on a story that the Hatchet posted about students trying to change GW's non discrimination policy.

Both the editorial and the original story featured errors about the transgender community as a whole, as well as GW's non-discrimination policy.

The Objective

Trans Education and Advocacy(TEA), a committee of Allied in Pride, is spearheading an initiative to amend GW's non-discrimination policy, not the Student Code of Conduct. TEA is seeking to amend the GW's Non-Discrimination Policy to add "gender identity or expression" to the list of protected classes. Statistically transgender students face more harassment then their peers, and this simple change would protect transgender students discrimination and harassment. For example, this year one transgender student faced harassment, but was not able to take substantial action on the issue since GW's non-discrimination policy did not include gender identity or expression.

Basic Grammar
Transgender, not transgendered is the correct usage. As the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Guide points out:

Only verbs can be transformed into participles by adding "-ed" to the end of the word, and transgender is an adjective, not a verb.

Terminology
In the editorial, Professor Banzhaf asked:

Since discrimination based upon "sexual identity" is already prohibited, why is there a need to add new language to protect against discrimination based upon "gender or identity expression"?

There is a difference between sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. GLAADs media guide can clear up any confusion:

Gender Identity

One's internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or a boy or girl.) For transgender people, their birth-assigned sex and their own internal sense of gender identity do not match.

Gender Expression

External manifestation of one's gender identity, usually expressed through "masculine," "feminine" or gender variant behavior, clothing, haircut, voice or body characteristics. Typically, transgender people seek to make their gender expression match their gender identity, rather than their birth-assigned sex.

Sexual Orientation

Describes an individual's enduring physical, romantic, emotional and/or spiritual attraction to another person. Gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same. Transgender people may be heterosexual, lesbian, gay, or bisexual. For example, a man who becomes a woman and is attracted to other women would be identified as a lesbian.

Restrooms
Professor Banzhaf also expresses concern over the fact that perverts and degenerates might take advantage of the policy.

In reality, hundreds of universities have implemented this policy and this has never been a problem. Ever.

Over 260 universities have added gender identity or expression to their non-discrimination policies, including American University and Georgetown. TEA is currently lobbying the GW Faculty Senate to support this proposal, so that the amendment can be reviewed by President Knapp and the Board of Trustees.

Full Disclosure: I am the former president of Allied in Pride, GW's largest LGBT organization.

Silence about silence?

I've been pretty quiet today. I'm not generally a loud person, but today I've been especially quiet. Today, you see, is the Day of Silence, a day when students across the country are silent in remembrance of people who feel discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. This year, the Day of Silence honored Lawrence King, a 15-year-old California student who was killed because of his sexual orientation.

The mantra behind the Day of Silence says it all:

Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward building awareness and making a commitment to address these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?

The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (the group that organizes the Day of Silence) found in 2005 that four out of five LGBT students had been verbally or physically harrassed at school. Over 75 percent had heard negative or offensive language used about sexuality.

I'm straight, but since my freshman year of high school I've participated in the Day of Silence. It's important to me that discrimination ends, and that people feel accepted and safe -- especially in a school environment. In college, I've still participated, but I've found it to be more difficult. For one thing, my class schedule is different, and so my silence during the day doesn't make as much of an impact. (The biggest difference it made today was that I got coffee at Au Bon Pain instead of Starbucks.) For another, I've found it hard to find a community of people participating with me. Allied in Pride, GW's LGBT group, seems to operate under the radar. The last event listed on their website is from April 1. You can't even join their Facebook group without being invited. Until I went looking, I didn't know that anyone else on GW's campus was participating in the Day of Silence. While I'm glad to know the event is taking place at GW, it would have been nice to see a little more publicity for it around campus.

Tonight at 8:30, Allied in Pride is hosting a Breaking the Silence event in Kogan. Even if you weren't silent today, consider going to see what it looks like when people come together to oppose discrimination.