Monday, August 19, 2013

Confusion Between Gender and Sexuality

Gender discrimination is still a problem here in New York State. Passing the Gender Employment Non Discrimination Act (GENDA) has been on the docket for over a decade. It has been passed in the asembly numerous times only to be stalled in the senate numerous times.

Twice, transgender people have been thrown under the bus. Once, in 2007 and in 2011 when marriage equality was passed and the transgender bill ignored or forgotten. I read an article the other day that there is still the perception that gender and sexuality are the same. Even some in the GLB community confuse the two. As I see it, there's still some education that's needed.

What I'm happy to see is transgender people are taking control of their own matters and that's good. It's important that discrimination be dealt with. One of the faults that I see is that shortly after Stonewall Riots, the GL faction pushed trans and queer people to the margins. Subsequent actions led to these two groups causing more harm to transgender people than outsiders. This is just my own feelings. 

Seeing that GENDA is passed is one of the goal I had for 2013. While that's not going to happen, maybe the bill needs to be reworked. It's amazing how many people still confuse gender and sexuality, even the TGLB conundrum. More work needs to be done.

No comments: