Traynham: According to a study
by the UCLA School of Law,
it is estimated that about
700,000 transgender individuals
live here in America.
In recent months,
the transgender community
has had success in gaining
some federal protections
as advocates continue
to work toward equality.
Hello, everyone, and welcome
to "Comcast Newsmakers."
I'm Robert Traynham,
and joining me is Jody Huckaby.
He's the executive director
of PFlag National.
Jody, welcome to the program.
It's always good to see you.
Huckaby: Thank you, Robert.
It's great to be here.
Traynham: I want to talk
for a few moments
about what's
in the national news --
classrooms, kitchen tables,
water cooler conversation
is all about HB2.
This is the controversial
piece of legislation
that specifically targets
individuals in North Carolina.
-Talk to us about it.
-Huckaby: Sure.
HB2 is one of the laws
that we, as an organization,
are very concerned about.
It's an organization that does
much more than impact
people's ability
to press charges
where discrimination actually
does exist in their community,
and it really restricts
people's wages.
It restricts their ability
to access housing equally.
It's one of those sweeping
pieces of legislation
that basically states
that a group of people
are not eligible to be
as equal as Americans
as the rest of the country
and the rest of the state
in North Carolina.
And we're seeing these kinds
of pieces of legislation
popping up all over the country.
And our biggest concern
is that people don't really
understand what the issues are,
and these issues are
being moved into tiny boxes,
and people are saying,
"Oh, well, therefore
we can just segment these folks
out of our society."
Traynham:
Jody, you mentioned the magic
word, and those are "issues."
What are the issues, and why
is this such a big concern?
Huckaby: I think
that one of the biggest issues
is a lack of understanding
about what it means to be
transgender in our society,
and there is so much
misinformation about that.
People talk about people
choosing to wear clothing
that's not aligned
with their biological gender.
There's a lot of misinformation.
People just don't understand
what the issues are,
and so it's really important
that people get educated
about the facts.
Transgender people have always
been a part of our society,
and it's great
that we see more and more
courageous
transgender individuals
who are coming out to live
freely about who they are.
And we as an organization
are working hard to educate
the communities about the fact
that transgender people and
discrimination are not American.
Discrimination has been
an American value,
and we have to change
society's understanding
of what it means
to be transgender.
Traynham: Jody,
you mentioned a few moments ago
the misinformation that's there.
A lot of people have questions.
A lot of people are curious.
A lot of people just
simply don't know.
That's not a bad thing.
In fact,
I think we encourage questions
because that spurs curiosity,
a thought and so forth.
But where can people go to get
centralized, factual information
that inspires people to change
this country for the better?
Huckaby:
I'd say for many people that
are on this learning journey,
this is a new understanding
for them, it's a new issue,
I'd say our "Guide
to Being a Straight Ally,"
PFlag's "Guide
to Being a Straight Ally,"
is a great resource --
Pflag.org is the website.
Because what we do
is we break it down --
Traynham: Just to clarify --
This is a publication
-that you all wrote...
-Huckaby: Yes, correct.
Traynham:
...to enlighten the community,
if you will, about these issues.
Huckaby: Yes. In fact, it's
become one of our most popular
publications in terms
of people requesting it.
It's free for download
from our website at pflag.org.
And what we do is we help people
understand what the issues are.
We provide definitions.
What's the language
that's being used
around transgender issues
in the community in the process?
And then from there we point
people in a different direction.
If they want to learn more
about the issues,
there's a lot
of great information,
a lot of great organizations
that we're working with
to help educate the community
because, again,
transgender people
have always been a part
of our families,
and we're dedicated to helping,
as the national family
and ally organization,
helping society
understand those issues.
Traynham: Jody, it appears
that marriage equality
happened fairly quickly
in American society,
about five or six years or so.
It is now obviously
the law of the land.
The Supreme Court upheld that.
Is this the next frontier,
if you will, in LGBTQ equality?
Huckaby: I'd say that for those
of us who have been working
on marriage equality
for many, many years
and the people that came
before us, it feels like,
in the public view, that it only
took maybe five, six years,
and yet it was
a couple decades' worth of --
maybe the last decade --
some stringent work.
I'd say in terms of transgender
issues and understanding,
it is the current frontier.
It's where people
are paying closest attention,
and laws like HB2
have got to be stopped,
and the only way
that we're gonna do that
is by educating the public,
educating legislators.
And it starts in our local
communities, in our churches,
in our faith communities,
in our schools,
in our family community centers.
That's where the education
has to come.
Traynham:
Jody, you mentioned education.
Obviously that is the foundation
of everything that we do here.
But let's say I'm watching
this program at home,
perhaps maybe
I'm on my smart device,
and I'm straight or perhaps
I don't know what I am --
It doesn't necessarily matter --
What else can I do?
Besides educating myself,
is there anything else I can do
in my community
to help enlighten this debate?
Huckaby: Yes. I'd say the
number-one thing we can do
is don't assume that everyone
around us is just like us.
So, if we're straight,
then we shouldn't assume
that all of our neighbors,
our co-workers,
and people in our faith
communities are all straight.
That's a surprise
for many people to hear.
And I'd say
understand the issues.
We wrote our "Guide
to Being a Straight Ally"
and our "Guide
to Being a Trans Ally"
from the perspective
of straight individuals.
So people really need
to understand.
And so these resources
were written mostly
for people who are not trans
themselves, right?
And so that includes
straight people.
It includes gay, lesbian,
and bisexual people.
So it's important
that people get information
that is written for them
and from their perspective.
Traynham: Jody Huckaby,
the president of PFlag National.
Thank you very much
for joining us.
-Huckaby: Thank you very much.
-Traynham: And thank you
for joining us for this edition
of "Comcast Newsmakers."
I'm Robert Traynham.
Have a great day.
We'll see you next time.
Bye-bye.
