Atlanta Pride Executive Director Donna Narducci said $5,000 from HRC was not worth jeopardizing the festival’s outreach to transgender people. (File photo)
Atlanta Pride turns away HRC sponsorship over trans fight Festival says HRC not ‘inclusive’ enough
The Atlanta Pride Committee decided last week to decline a sponsorship from the Human Rights Campaign over the national gay political group’s support for a version of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act that did not include “gender identity” as a protected category. (See related story, below)
Atlanta Pride Executive Director Donna Narducci said the Pride Committee felt they had to turn down the $5,000 sponsorship in order to make Georgia’s transgender community feel welcome at the Pride festival, slated for the Atlanta Civic Center over the July 4 weekend. HRC will still be allowed to participate in the festival’s market and parade.
“We knew that it was almost a no-win situation,” Narducci said. “Do you take the money, or do you not take the money? Do we need the money? Yes, we need the money. … But do we need to take the money from an organization that is not inclusive… and what is that going to do the trans community here in Atlanta?”
The decision came after a series of conversations between Narducci and Pride’s board of directors. Pride is $100,000 short of its $350,000 sponsorship goal as it works to raise the almost $800,000 necessary to put on the annual festival, Narducci said. But Pride leaders felt $5,000 is not enough to justify taking money from an organization many transgender activists feel betrayed them.
When HRC spokesperson Trevor Thomas was questioned directly about Pride’s decision, HRC pointed out it has donated $25,000 to Atlanta Pride since 2003 and issued the following statement:
“As in past years, the Human Rights Campaign is looking forward to a great Pride. We’ll be on hand to speak with our members and supporters as well as the greater Atlanta community.”
‘Deciding factor’
HRC decided late last year to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act without “gender identity” to win approval in the U.S. House of Representatives. The move came as Pride organizers worked to make the Atlanta event even more transgender-inclusive.
This year will see an increased number of transgender musical acts, and transgender author and performance artist Scott Turner Schofield will serve as one of the grand marshals, Narducci said.
“ENDA is the deciding factor as to whether or not HRC is seen as inclusive, and right now, they are not seen as inclusive by a number of people,” Narducci said.
The Pride Committee is holding HRC accountable for its decision not to include transgender protections, but the same rule does not seem to extend to other Pride sponsors. All Pride sponsors are required to score 85 percent or higher on the HRC Corporate Equality Index, which ranks companies based on their policies affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.
Major Atlanta Pride sponsors Delta, Home Depot and Verizon Wireless all score 85 percent or better, but they do not include gender identity in their non-discrimination policies, according to the index.
“I was not aware of that,” Narducci said.
Narducci said that HRC only sponsors two other Pride celebrations in the country, New York City and San Francisco.
Anthony Dean, executive director of New York’s Heritage of Pride, said the organization has discussed not allowing HRC to participate, but said it does not receive money from the organization.
HRC makes a $5,000 donation to San Francisco Pride. Mikayla Connell, a transgender member of the San Francisco Pride board, said their organization made a different decision.
“We decided that if they wanted to participate that would be fine. If they wanted to give us money, that would be fine,” Connell said. “But we made it very clear that if they gave us money it would not change our position.”
Connell nominated HRC for the Pink Brick Award, which honors the organization or person who did the most damage to gay rights during the year. The HRC finished second to Fox talk show host Bill O’Reilly.
Atlanta Pride’s decision leaked out at the HRC Dinner & Silent Auction on May 3, and transgender activists who have heard about it, like Sir Jessie McNulty, said they feel validated in Pride’s position.
“I see it as standing in solidarity with the gender variant communities,” McNulty said. “It’s just not transgender — it includes sporty lesbian and effeminate gay guys as well. Without gender identity, we’re all at risk.”
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mcinjxnms on 5/9/083:21 PM:
HUMAN Rights Campaign ... re-iterated HUMAN ... is supposed to represent all HUMANS. I find it a disgrace to all people, and in this instance, our Transgender Community brothers and sisters. While I find San Francisco's approach somewhat of a compromise, I applaud Atlanta's firm stance to turn down the HRC sponsorship. In Mississippi, our entire gay population faces discrimination, from our government (aka far right Gov. Haley Barbour) through our churches's damnation, our society's disapproval, and our families' banishment. Kudos Atlanta!
Wesley Cole on 5/9/0810:14 PM:
Leave it to a militant lesbian to want it all or nothing without considering the good to all. I will gladly sign it Wesley Cole
bfbear54 on 5/13/0811:39 AM:
The article leaves the impression that Pride turned down the donation due to the amount offered. "...Pride leaders felt $5,000 is not enough to justify taking money from an organization many transgender activists feel betrayed them."
HRC did betray the transgender community and the donation should have been refused on the basis alone. That being said I am glad that the Pride Committee did the right thing in turning down the donation. HRC should be ashamed that they sold the transgender community out to get rights for the few instead of us all.
