Employment Discrimination Against Lesbians and other issues

This indeed is my greatest oppression, and that of other Butch Lesbians I know, including my spouse: getting, staying and progressing in the work environment. Lesbians who 'pass' better or with really specialized skills and training and college may be able to overcome some of this, but for those I know on the more working class side, obviously Butch, in the Trades or Social Services, we get the brunt of it, and I have had a very hard time since the Great Recession retaining and keeping work on a steady basis in my field in particular(construction).

So here goes my first quote from Liberation Collective: http://liberationcollective.wordpress.com/

Under: "There is No T in Lesbian"


"Employment discrimination against lesbians
As described by Margaret Ryniker in her article, “Lesbians still face job discrimination,” lesbians are in the unique position of facing sexual harassment as women and, at the same time, discrimination because of their sexual orientation. Lesbians also represent a larger percentage of female workers in male-dominated fields, making them even more vulnerable to workplace harassment and discrimination. And in the U.S., a woman can be fired in over half the states just for being a lesbian.
Yet the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would provide protection for lesbians from being fired just for being lesbian, has still not been passed by Congress. There was a window of time when it might have been passed, but trans* activists very effectively derailed that opportunity to fight for their own rights instead of the rest of their coalition’s rights. Outrageously, most of their socio-political resistance has focused on the inclusion of language allowing males to use female bathrooms on the basis of gender identity. (Also note at that link the hateful language used toward a gay member of Congress.)
In 2007, when Congressman Barney Frank was trying to get ENDA passed, even the Washington Post had some advice: “Delaying passage of ENDA, which was first introduced in the House in the mid-1970s by Rep. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.), until the transgender community changes enough hearts and minds would be a mistake.” They may have said this because Frank was getting no help from Gay, Inc. In fact, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force was far more interested in trans* inclusion than in fighting for the named constituents of their organization.
Large political/legal groups don’t focus on lesbians’ issues and concerns
In addition to their fight against the better judgement of members of Congress, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has been known to create their annual conference program without any mention of issues and interests specific to lesbians."


And to add to that, here is a direct quote from the previous article(which I linked instead of quoted) from Victoria Brownworth on 'Why do Straight Feminists Hate Lesbians?" about the employment and other distinctly LESBIAN issues!

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"Lesbian-rights issues abound, but I have yet to see a straight, liberal feminist address those issues as if they were her own. When I wrote about anti-lesbian "corrective rape" for The Advocate, the response from straight, liberal feminists was resounding: crickets.
Employment discrimination is a fundamental issue for lesbians. Where is the straight feminist outrage over lesbians being fired for being gay, or over lesbians who don't pass as straight being unable to access employment? Where is the discourse over lesbians being denied visitation with their children? Where is the concern over lesbians being barred from seeing their partners in hospitals or nursing homes? What about the lesbian cancer epidemic or the inability of lesbians to access non-homophobic health care? How about lesbians and poverty? And lesbians who have been raped, as I wrote about here last month? What about us?"-Victoria Brownworth