People of Faith CT

A message from Jerimarie Liesegang, Director, CT TransAdvocacy Coalition:

"17 Years And Counting . . .
We've Waited Far Too Long Already!"

It was 1991 when Connecticut's sexual orientation anti-discrimination bill was passed, without trans inclusion. It was 2008 when the Connecticut Supreme Court recognized Marriage Equality. It is quickly becoming 2009 and the Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Communities still lack basic human rights protections in Connecticut! The time has come for TransEquality in '09.

It truly is a time to Rejoice and bask in the sunshine of our Marriage Equality victory. This has been a long hard road to Equality that has been traveled by many brave and dedicated people from the many spectrums of the LGBT/Queer/Ally communities. And no doubt many of us are understandably tired and hoping to retire to the comforts of our homes and families. Though sadly there are still many in our communities that cannot rejoice in a victory of Equality, for they are still struggling in a society that dismisses them to the margins of our societies. These are the poor, the homeless, the migrants; and within the umbrella of LGBT Equality, our Trans and Gender non-conforming brothers, sisters and all those somewhere on the spectrum of gender. Statistics sadly reveal that if you do not subscribe to the societal imposed constructs of sex, you have a 40% chance of being unemployed, 31% chance of incomes < $10,000, 47% chance of no health care, 45% chance of being homeless, 35% chance of experiencing suicidal ideation, and so on. And Ct TransAdvocacy can assure you that these numbers hold true here in Connecticut.

And so, as we bask in our well-deserved victory celebrations around Marriage Equality, we must remember that our road to Equality will never end until all peoples enjoy the blessings of Equality in their basic human rights! Over the last few days my heart has been lifted by people coming up to me and saying: "Now that we have Marriage Equality, we must work hard to secure Transgender Equality in Connecticut." And to this I say AMEN! Our motto as an inclusive community must be: Marriage Equality in '08, Trans Equality in '09!

Unfortunately the Trans and Gender non-conforming community and organizations do not carry the financial or even the sweat equity prowess that our Gay, Lesbian and ally organizations do. However we do have a passion and desire for Equality, as we have shown in our struggles hand in hand with our LGB sisters and brothers and allies in the Marriage Equality battle. And so we need to impose upon the dedication you showed to Marriage Equality to share this energy with the trans community to assure we achieve Transgender Equality in '09!

Two years ago we nearly passed the Trans inclusive anti-discrimination bill with nearly unanimous bi-partisan support. However we fell short in the final days of the session for a variety of reasons. We cannot allow this to happen in '09 and over the next few months we will need our community and our allies to work with us: to talk one on one with their legislators, to hold house parties, to partake in our lobby days, to visit, call and write your legislators, to engage your loved ones and friends in the Trans Equality movement, and many other steps to assure that we can truly say: Marriage Equality in '08, Transgender Equality in '09!

peace, love and solidarity,
jerimarie liesegang
director, Ct TransAdvocacy Coalition