Editor's note: This post is the second in a four-part series on GenderPac and related organizations that will run this week on Gender Blog.
Yesterday, Gender Blog began a series on the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPac), an organization that is pressing for the discarding of gender distinctions and the normalization of homosexual and transgender lifestyles in numerous areas of contemporary American culture.
Though GenderPac's agenda seems radical, the group is making significant inroads in both public and private spheres, particularly in universities, colleges and K-12 public schools.
Without question, GPAC is patiently executing its sweeping agenda. Examples of GPAC's ongoing assertion of its gender-neutral, pro-gay agenda include:
- Convincing 30 universities and colleges since 2004 to develop gender-neutral dorm rooms to accommodate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students who do not feel comfortable with what GPAC calls "hetero-compulsive" living quarters. One school that implemented gender-neutral dorms was Dartmouth, where Jon Hopper, RA of the gender-neutral dorm, applauded the new suites because they "question the basis of heteronormativity-the idea that people are heterosexual and that policies should be based on that assumption." Sad, but telling words.
- Pushing for the development of gender-neutral restrooms on college campuses across America, which Gender Blog recently examined. As of Aug. 24, GenderPac reports that 140 college and university campuses have developed gender-neutral restrooms to accommodate transgender persons.
- Persuading, through its GenderYOUTH program, (which boasts chapters on at least 28 college campuses) leaders at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., to expand their non-discrimination policy to include "gender identity and expression." Senior David Norton applauds the revision and gives a definition for gender identity: The change "really allows people to express themselves and the way that they are," Norton told a gay news agency. "It's about time the college is sending a message that everyone is embraced in this community. Gender identity is how a person decides to personally identify "whether it be a man or a woman or something else all together. Gender expression is how a person expresses himself or herself, such as in dress or speech." The change is included in Guilford's Student Handbook this fall.
- Providing support for legislation such as SB 777 and AB 394 in California, bills (actually sponsored by Equality California, a group similar to GPAC) that were signed into law on Oct. 12 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. SB 777 promotes homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual indoctrination of schoolchildren through prescribed textbooks and activities; AB 394 advances the same agenda through "harassment" training. Harassment is ambiguously defined and seems to exist where a person expresses a belief that there are only two genders-male and female. Sections 234.1c-d of AB 394 requires schools to "publicize and post antidiscrimination and harassment policies" in prominent places in schools. Section 234.3 mandates that the California Department of Education develop "a model handout" that promotes these sinful lifestyles to be disseminated to students.
- Supporting HR 2015, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, legislation which currently awaits a vote in the House of Representatives. ENDA protects those who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender as a special class of people in the workplace. Ironically, the bill has stalled in the House of Representatives because Barney Frank, the only openly gay man in Congress, doubts the bill will pass unless "transgender" is removed as a special protected category. GPAC has condemned the version that excludes transgender persons.
Tomorrow, in part three of this series Genderblog will take a closer look at GPAC's three-year strategy to end gender discrimination through eliminating the distinction between manhood and womanhood.