As the Human Rights Campaign held its San Francisco fundraising gala at the Westin St. Francis Hotel Saturday, July 26, about 250 people gathered outside to loudly protest the group's backing of a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act that excludes protections for transgender people.

"The Left Out Party: A Genderful Gayla," which occupied much of the street and sidewalks between the hotel and neighboring Union Square, featured picketers accompanied by drums and horns circling in front of the hotel chanting "LGBT, We are one community!" and other slogans, and carrying signs with messages like "HRC does not speak for me."

Hunter Hargraves, a co-founder of And Castro for All, an event sponsor, said the point of the event was to educate those attending the gala, people in Congress, and the national LGBT community about the importance of a trans-inclusive ENDA.

"Incrementalism doesn't work if it means throwing transgender people under the bus," said Hargraves, who wore a blond wig and leopard-print dress.

The Washington-based HRC had gone on record several years ago as supporting only an ENDA that included sexual orientation and gender identity protections. But after openly gay Congressman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and other lawmakers decided to drop transgender people from the bill last fall, HRC didn't oppose the move.

The bill passed the House. It is stalled in the Senate and unlikely to move in this session of Congress.

The crowd at the protest danced, sang, and chanted. There also was a burlesque performance. Those who looked like they might be going to a gala were approached outside the hotel with invitations to the Left Out party. Many accepted them, others didn't. One man stood on the steps and, according to people standing close to him, said, "We've been lobbying, what've you been doing?"

Award recipients

In front of Union Square after the picket, organizers presented the Human Rights Hero awards. Tiaras were handed out to recipients.

One of the first went to Theresa Sparks, the openly transgender president of the city's Police Commission.

"If you leave one of us behind, you leave all of us behind," she said. Sparks, who earlier this year returned the Equality Award she had received from HRC in 2004, reminded the crowd that transgender people had led the Compton's Cafeteria riot in San Francisco and the Stonewall riots in New York in the 1960s, pivotal events in the modern LGBT civil rights movement.

Another award recipient was Shannon Minter, a transgender man who, as legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, successfully argued for same-sex couples' right to marry in the recent state Supreme Court case.

Minter wasn't able to attend the protest, so Donna Ryu, an NCLR board member, accepted the award on his behalf. Ryu noted if Minter, who worked tirelessly for four years on the marriage case, were to move to a state that didn't protect transgender people from employment discrimination, he could be fired from his job because of his transgender status.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who had filed a suit on behalf of the city in 2004 to seek marriage equality for same-sex couples, also received an award. HRC had promoted its gala as part of its effort to defeat Proposition 8, the ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, but Herrera said marriage isn't the only issue at stake.

"We cannot leave anybody behind," he said. "Discrimination continues to exist in a helluva lot of forms."

Other awards went to Tim Paulson, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, another event sponsor; and Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Supervisor Bevan Dufty for their support of the transgender community.

Leno didn't attend but a representative accepted his award for him. Dufty, who hosted a dinner at his house for the protesters after the event, also did not attend.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano who, along with Dufty, had introduced a city resolution calling for a trans-inclusive ENDA, told the crowd before joining the picketers, "Frankly, the HRC is wrong."

Some at the rally spoke of being fired from jobs because of their transgender status. In conjunction with the San Francisco Bay Guardian, the Transgender Law Center surveyed 194 transgender people in 2006 and found that only 25 percent of transgender people were working full-time, and almost 60 percent of respondents were earning less than $15,300 a year.

Like others at the party, Jazzie Collins, a black transgender woman, acknowledged HRC has done good work, but she said the discrimination she and others felt from the organization was especially troubling because "our own group is doing this to us."

HRC spokesman Brad Luna said that the organization's message Saturday was one of "unity."

"And as we have an open dialogue about the best way to move forward, let us never forget that we are still a community of brothers and sisters standing as one to advance equality for all GLBT people," Luna said in a statement to the Bay Area Reporter.

Robert Haaland, a transgender man and co-chair of the San Francisco chapter of Pride at Work, another of the sponsoring organizations for Left Out, said a strong coalition of groups, including labor, will only support a "united" ENDA.