CLEVELAND VISIT

Diane S. Frank shares her thoughts on the recent visit and presentation of TG activist, Pauline Park.

On Saturday, April 23rd, Pauline Park Ph.D. gave a presentation on the work behind getting New York City’s transgender protection law on the book. This presentation at the Gordon Square offices of the GLBT Center for Cleveland was attended by about 20 people including your reporter, Diane Frank, and Deb from Alpha Omega. Dr. Park framed her presentation in terms of three key ideas about social change found in the recent best-selling book The Tipping Point (How Little Things can Make Big Differences) by Malcom Gladwell.

According to Gladwell, Social Epidemics (new ideas) are spread by a handful of exceptional people. I guess it goes without saying that Pauline and the core group of TG advocates in New York who created NYAGRA (NY Association for Gender Rights Advocacy) are such a group. Then HOW the idea is presented is of key importance. NYAGRA worked to avoid sticky issues such as tax-dollars paying for SRS, casual crossdressing in the workplace (that is boy one day, girl another), and religious interactions. They framed and reframed their ideas and goals as simply about matters of discrimination and created links to ideas from older civil rights movements. Finally, according to Park, Gladwell notes that the context in which change occurs is highly important. In the case of NYC, the institution of term limits replaced the all-powerful and anti-TG council head with a friendlier group of people... leading to the transgender protection ordinance being brought to the floor and passed by a 37 of 42 votes.

In looking over the number of community organizing efforts Dr. Park has been involved in, I think that in some cases Ph.D.’s in political science actually do lead to people able to use as well as study our systems. But the primary purpose of the meeting was to encourage thinking about how NYAGRA’s model could be used to achieve similar results in Cleveland. What did NYAGRA actually accomplish? There is now a city ordinance that prohibits discrimination in employment, public accommodation (stores and restaurants), housing on the basis of gender... which is defined to include self-expression.

Here is the text of the law:

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to gender-based discrimination.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
§1. Legislative findings and intent. The City Council finds and declares that it is in the interest of the City of New York to protect its citizens from discrimination. Discrimination, prejudice, intolerance and bigotry directly and profoundly threaten the rights and freedom of New Yorkers. The City Council established the Human Rights Law to protect its inhabitants from these dangers. Included in the City’s Human Rights Law is a prohibition of discrimination against individuals based on gender. The scope of this gender-based protection, however, requires clarification. This local law is intended to make clear that all gender-based discrimination – including, but not limited to, discrimination based on an individual’s actual or perceived sex, and discrimination based on an individual’s gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior, or expression – constitutes a violation of the City’s Human Rights Law.

Gender-based discrimination affects a broad range of individuals. But the impact of gender-based discrimination is especially debilitating for those whose gender self-image and presentation do not fully accord with the legal sex assigned to them at birth. For those individuals, gender-based discrimination often leads to pariah status including the loss of a job, the loss of an apartment, and the refusal of service in public accommodations such as restaurants or stores. The impact of such discrimination can be especially devastating for those who endure other prejudices due to their race, ethnicity, national origin, and citizenship status, in addition to gender-based discrimination. In adopting this legislation, the City Council declares that the ability of all New Yorkers to work and to live free from invidious discrimination based on gender is the guiding principle of public policy and law.

§2. Section 8-102 of chapter one of title eight of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision 23 to read as follows:
23. The term “gender” shall include actual or perceived sex and shall also include a person’s gender identity, self image, appearance, behavior, or expression, whether or not that gender identity, self image, appearance, behavior, or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the legal sex assigned to that person at birth.

§3. This local law shall take effect immediately.

During the meeting someone said Cleveland already had a law on the books protecting employment, however my research on the Cleveland City Ordinances shows only protection for sexual orientation and not gender expression:

Section 667.05 Unlawful Discrimination in Employment

(a) No person shall refuse to employ or to bar or to discharge from employment any person because of race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, ethnic group or Vietnam-era or disabled veteran status of such person.
(b) No person shall refuse to promote or grant any condition or privilege of employment because of race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, ethnic group or Vietnam-era or disabled veteran status of such person.
(c) As used in this section, "person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, labor organization and association.
(d) As used in this section, "labor organization" means any organization which exists and is constructed for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms and conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or protection in connection with employment.
(e) In accordance with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq., and other state and federal laws, nothing in this ordinance shall be construed to infringe the free exercise of religious rights under the First Amendment to the United State Constitution, nor shall the ordinance be construed to affect bona fide occupational qualifications based upon religion for employment.
(Ord. No. 128-97. Passed 1-27-97, eff. 2-6-97)

Whether Dr. Park’s experience’s can be cloned here is subject to question. The differences between the Cleveland metropolitan area and New York City are obvious on the one hand, but need to be enumerated to discern just what difficulties are faced here.

1) There are no Cleveland City residents who we know of who can represent TG issues at Dr. Park’s level. Dr. Park is well-spoken, articulate and presents without difficulty as a woman. Everyone who might step up to be a spokesperson lives in some suburb or another.
2) Ohio State is prone to reach in and undo progressive actions at a local level. For example the recent so-called Defense of Marriage amendment eliminated Cleveland Heights’ domestic partnership registry.
3) Term limits in Ohio has meant the election to office of inexperienced, right-wing legislators from downstate areas who are only invested in advancing narrow ideological agendas for their fixed term.
4) Cleveland’s minority population is largely African-American, and tolerance never mind acceptance of homosexuality from many of Cleveland’s most visible and vocal clerics has been poor. There has been active rejection of the idea of similarity between rights for people with different skin color and people with different sexual orientations.
5) Unlike New York, Cleveland isn’t one big city, but a rather small, impoverished city with much of the regional wealth and economic activity taking place in a ring of suburbs.

One possible means of advancing an agenda of civil rights protections would be to use the GLBT center as the active agent. I suspect that future meetings will be held to organize such activities and we’ll try to keep people informed of what happens.