The Dallas Principles

The Dallas Montgomery / Howard County Principles

On May 15-17, 2009 in Dallas, Texas twenty-four thinkers, activists, and donors gathered to discuss the immediate need for full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender people in the United States.  Collectively we prepared The Dallas Principles.

PRINCIPLES

The following eight guiding principles underlie our call to action.  In order to achieve full civil rights now, we avow:

1. Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now.  Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable.

2. We will not leave any part of our community behind.

3. Separate is never equal.

4. Religious beliefs are not a basis upon which to affirm or deny civil rights.

5. The establishment and guardianship of full civil rights is a non-partisan issue.

6. Individual involvement and grassroots action are paramount to success and must be encouraged.

7. Success is measured by the civil rights we all achieve, not by words, access or money raised.

8. Those who seek our support are expected to commit to these principles.

Who are these “authors”?

You can find out here

Anyone look familiar?

Dr Dana Beyer, Executive Director, Gender Rights Maryland, former Vice President of Equality Maryland, and supporter of last years failed Gender Identity Anti Discrimination Bill, HB 235 which promoted a national fervor due to its lack of public accommodations protections.

Lisa M. Polyak, Acting Chair, Equality Maryland, Inc. Board of Directors promoter of HB 235

HB 235 fortunately never became law.

PRINCIPLES

1. Full civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals must be enacted now.  Delay and excuses are no longer acceptable.

Full is defined as complete; entire; maximum. HB 235 was certainly not that. Of course, there were excuses given for the delay.  Such as, “public accommodations needed to be removed for movement through committee”, “All civil rights are incremental”, “We’ll come back for you next year” (even though EQMD imploded immediately after the close of last ssession) etc.

2. We will not leave any part of our community behind.

See HB 235….

3. Separate is never equal.

The notion that “less than full protections now” can create equality must me smashed. It is a falsehood which leads to more members of the transgender community suffering dire consequences. See Transgender Day of Remembrance.

6. Individual involvement and grassroots action are paramount to success and must be encouraged.

The premise that just hiring a lobbyist at $20,000 a month will solve this issue is plain laughable. The entire trans community must work in the field and from the same play book in order to achieve success. The effort must include grassroots activism and personal commitments of the most precious commodity we need, man-hours. The truth is GRMD does not have the assets to do this sort of work, nor do they have the credibility with those who do and have done this level of work. Partnering would be a wise choice. 

7. Success is measured by the civil rights we all achieve, not by words, access or money raised.

See Principle 6

8. Those who seek our support are expected to commit to these principles.

Equality Maryland, Gender Rights Maryland, are both of you willing to check your egos at the door and actively partner with the American American trans community in Baltimore City and Prince George’s county?

Equality Maryland holds biweekly working groups seeking this in Baltimore City. They support the Transgender Working Group, a coaltion of various transgender groups for their stated purpose:

To form a broad coalition of Transgender Marylanders and their allies who are capable of working together by honoring each other’s opinions to find common ground across differences for the purposes of doing collective work that will better the lives of transgender and gender diverse people in Maryland through education, outreach, advocacy and, policy change.

Gender Rights Maryland held one “town hall” in suburban Howard County, a 2 ½ hour bus ride from Baltimore City. An even then, it was more of a “whole life” presentation than a town hall.

All of us want a full bill. On this there is not disagreement. However, there are some who believe a Les Trois Perdants, a sort of con man’s short con, can produce a referendum proof passage for gender identity protections. This approach is not only dangerous; it is not supported by the trans community as evidenced by the reactions at GRMD’s weak sales pitch.

Mark my words; if those of privilege have their way, a Three Bill Monte is coming to a General Assembly near you soon!

What Fills Our Hearts

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex, but it takes a touch of genius to move in the opposite direction” – Albert Einstein

Here we are again. Our community has endured enough heartache and disappointment, however we are mobilized and unified for success.

In 2002, Then Mayor, Martin O’Malley, introduced and successfully shepherded through the City Council the Baltimore City ordinance which granted protections to all of its citizens and visitors based on their gender identity, and did so unanimously.

 Yes, every human being has a gender identity, and for many people it is in lock step with their physicality, and for some it is not. It’s just that simple.

 Baltimore’s push for such protections was based partly on the later regretted decision of Governor Parris Glendenning to exclude gender identity from the prior year’s anti-discrimination bill.  Governor Glendenning wasn’t the only one expressing regret. Del. Maggie McIntosh (D-43) expressed a similar regret about the 2001 bill after last year’s contested bill failed to convince Senate Leadership to allow its floor vote.

Yet 2002 was different. Mayor O’Malley knew an injustice took place and a remedy was in order. While most attorneys like to craft flowery pieces of legislation, the Mayor knew simplicity should rule the day.

"Gender identity or expression " means an individual 's having or being perceived as having a gender -related self - identity, self-image, appearance, expression, or behavior, whether or not those gender -related characteristics differ from those associated with the individual 's assigned sex at birth.”

In fact, this language is fairly consistent throughout the county where 43% of all Americans live in a jurisdiction which provides protections based on gender identity.  If almost half of the country has these laws on the books, then why not Maryland?

Leadership.

One week before the video of the beating at a Rosedale McDonald’s restaurant went viral, Senate President Mike Miller (D-27) stated HB235 (2011’s Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination bill) was “anti-family” and he was going to vote against it.  Some even suggest the Senate President killed the bill in retaliation for allowing the Senator to go on record with a vote on the Same Sex Marriage bill, only to have that bill fail embarrassingly in the House. It seemed like retribution for political ineptitude.

Governor O’Malley pledged support and stated he would sign a fully inclusive bill like 2010’s HB 1022, if such a bill which crossed his desk. The problem was no bill made it that far, or was so fashioned. So, the Governor in direct response the brutal assault on a member of the transgender community provided this vision and commitment:

“Even with Maryland's 'hate crimes' law, it is clear that more must be done to protect the rights and dignity of transgendered people. In the struggle for justice and equality for all, I'm committed to working with the Maryland General Assembly during the next legislative session to increase awareness and provide even greater protections for transgendered people.
“As some have noted, out of this awful beating has come a moment to foster a deeper understanding and respect for the dignity of all persons. We should not allow the moment to pass without greater action.”

Leadership.

The mouth speaks of what fills the heart.” – Matthew 12:34