As the Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), I know firsthand what it means that Tammy Baldwin has been serving in Congress since 1998. It means that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth have as a role model an out politician who is proud of her community. It means that in a time of divisive debates over LGBT rights, there is a leader in Congress who gives voice to the experiences of LGBT individuals and to the values that animate the LGBT movement.
The courage of Tammy’s leadership was on display last October, when she spoke out for an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). After Congress announced plans to vote on a non-inclusive version of ENDA, which would omit protections for transgender Americans, Tammy submitted The Baldwin Amendment in order to restore gender identity protections to the bill. In doing so, she represented the belief held by a coalition of over 300 LGBT organizations that we must not abandon a core part of our community for the sake of political expediency. Tammy’s work for LGBT rights is principled, vital and a source of great pride and inspiration within the LGBT community. In recognition of her leadership, NCLR will award her its 2008 Community Vision Award next month.
But Tammy’s leadership is not confined to the LGBT community. For her, championing LGBT rights is directly connected to her broader commitments to ending all forms of discrimination, and to advocating for those who struggle to meet basic needs like health care.
Tammy has been a steadfast leader in efforts to guarantee universal health care, an urgent national priority that impacts all of us, regardless of our gender, the color of our skin, our sexual orientation or our beliefs.
In the midst of a fractious partisan climate, she has reached across the aisle to draft and introduce the Health Partnership for Creative Federalism Act, a bill which supports state-based initiatives to guarantee health care to more Americans. She also authored the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which makes cancer screening accessible to women who have low-incomes or are uninsured.
Such progress is possible when our leaders achieve a balance between principled vision and pragmatism. These are important steps, but as Tammy would be the first to remind us, we must constantly renew our commitments to justice and equality. We must do so because today, our uninsured neighbors and family members face impossible choices about whether to pay the mortgage or seek health care. And today, NCLR will get calls from LGBT people whose lives have been profoundly affected by discrimination.
We all know that change takes time. But Tammy’s leadership shows us that it is also inevitable. She urges us to extend our interests and commitments beyond those concerns that affect us most directly. In doing so, she calls us to a more expansive, generous view of what it is to be an American. For this, I both applaud and thank her.
Kate Kendell
Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights (for identification purposes only)