Transgender community leaders and allies stressed how vital the transgender community is in the fight for marriage equality at a recent forum, entitled “Where’s the T in Marriage Equality?”

Lambda Letters Project, a human rights organization, hosted the forum at the Malcolm X Library, Oct. 27. A panel of six representatives discussed how the marriage equality campaign is ignoring the transgender population, and also talked about how the transgender community is ignoring the fight for marriage equality.

“The first reaction from the guys in our FTM [female-to-male] support group was that [marriage equality] doesn’t apply to us,” said Connor Maddocks, a female-to-male transgender individual and co-chair of the Transgender Community Coalition. “They have that reaction because it’s really easy to go under the radar for us, and get married, and get all the things that goes along with marriage.”

Maddocks and several of the panelists explained how easy – and legal – it is for a transgender person to marry under current California law. Once a person changes their sexual identity, they can change their identifying documents with no trouble. To get married in California, for example, all you need to show is a current driver’s license – a document that is simple to change.

“No one ever thinks of the consequences if we were to be found out,” Maddocks said, who went on to explain the consequences when a married transgender person divorces. Julia Legaspi, a male-to-female transgender and San Diego’s first transgender City Commissioner, shared a few stories of how transgender married couples struggle with immigration issues. Kelley Winters, Ph.D., a male-to-female transgender and founder of GID Reform Advocates, reviewed multiple court cases that addressed issues of insurance, child custody, health and inheritance.

“Our protections, whether we think they are there or not, are really not there,” Maddocks said. “In marriage equality, everyone needs that right. No one needs to go through life thinking, ‘What If I get caught?’ Nobody should live with that fear.”

Without clear marriage equality guidelines, judges and government officials are making conflicting decisions when it comes to the rights of transgender spouses. Winters called the example cases a “hodgepodge” of rulings that could cripple the unsuspecting transgender community.

“We cannot marry anyone in the United State – male, female, gay, straight, whatever – without fear of that marriage being challenged in court at some time,” Winters said. “It doesn’t matter how easily you can get a marriage license. If you end up in court for any reason, they will find you out … and they will invalidate our legitimacy and invalidate the marriage.”

As the panelists called upon the transgender community to join the fight for marriage equality, they also expressed concerns that the marriage quality movement forgets about the transgender community.

“We’re here tonight to discuss the transgender perspective on marriage equality, and that’s a vital part of the discussion,” said Pat Washington, chair of the Lambda Letters Project and forum moderator. “What we need to figure out is how to have that conversation and make sure to never leave any of our brothers and sisters behind.”

Fernando Lopez, a gay man and local leader of Equality California, and H. Alexander Robinson, a gay man and executive director/CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition, sat on the panel and shared their support for the transgender community. Robinson said, however, that adding the transgender voice to the call for marriage equality would make the fight more difficult. Society, and politicians in particular, may accept gays and lesbians but have difficultly accepting the transgender lifestyle, he said.

“Even the most liberal members of congress, who are there on gay and lesbian issues, are not there on transgender issues,” Robinson said. “They give a variety of reasons. Some are what they believe are political pragmatic reasons: ‘We haven’t even got the gay stuff yet. We need to get to gay first, and then we can move on to transgender.’ My argument back to them is, yes, we have not gotten the gay and lesbian [rights] yet, so we might as well have the whole conversation, including transgender.”

“Regardless of what a person considers to be their primary identity – whether it’s in terms of race, sex, class, sexual orientation or gender identity – we all benefit from alliances that promote the full civil rights of all citizens. That includes transgender marital rights and privileges,” Legaspi said.

No decisions or agenda was decided at the Oct. 27 forum. The event was more of a discussion between those in attendance – a mix of gay, straight and transgender people – and the six panelists. Legaspi summed up the event with her concluding statement: “I enjoy the diversity of our stories and the unity in our messages. Let’s keep telling our stories.”

For more information about marriage equality, contact the Lambda Letters Project at www.lambdaletters.org or Equality California at www.eqca.org.