Hypocrisy at its finest

At first thought, you might not connect a national GLBT rights group, Pat Robertson and Rudy Giuliani.

But stay with me.

Giuliani is a twice-divorced, pro-choice, pro-gay mayor of the city that Pat Robertson said got attacked by terrorists because, in part, of America's "tolerance" of homosexuality.

Robertson, who is anti-choice and, to put it mildly, a bit nuts, endorsed Giuliani's presidential campaign this week. And Giuliani basked in it.

The Human Rights Campaign, a group that proclaims it wants to "engage all Americans" and fight for "equality for all" - and in their promotional materials, this includes transgender Americans - endorsed the new Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) sans any protection for transgender people.

I'm equally disgusted with Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress who modified this bill to exclude trans people "so it would pass."

Isn't that kind of akin to passing a civil rights bill for Hispanics but not for Blacks?

HRC and other gay rights groups have been under fire for years for not being trans-inclusive. They have talked a good game over the past couple of years about making amends for past exclusion. When HRC's executive director, Joe Solomonese, visited Portland, Oregon in 2006, he pledged that HRC would NOT support an ENDA bill that left out trans people.

But they did. Most offensively, they sent out an e-mail to members proclaiming the "victory" when the bill passed the House.

A victory for...well, some. A bitter disappointment for others - others who have given their time and money to HRC in the belief that they were helping a cause.

A cause that appears to be limited to the majority of the minority, apparently.

Why? "So it would have a better chance of passing." Never mind what's right. And hence, the comparison with Robertson, who endorsed Giuliani - even though he apparently represents everything Robertson has preached hellfire, brimstone and terror attacks against - because "he can win."

And Giuliani, a classy guy himself, having told reporters on live television that he was leaving his wife for his mistress before he told his own family, happily accepted the endorsement from a man whom many of us consider the anti-Christ.

So in other words, winning takes priority over principles. HRC is now on the level of Pat Robertson.

Thanks, fuckers. I am disgusted, not just as an American who supports equality, but as a founding member of HRC's Portland, Oregon steering committee, a longtime member and volunteer and donor. I've helped put on events, did phone banking even though I hated it, and got up at the crack of dawn for retreats. I've put up with a chairman who was a complete asshole because I thought I was helping a good cause, fighting a good fight.

That little yellow and blue sticker is coming right off of my car.