Mara Keisling | |
|---|---|
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| Born | (1959-09-29)September 29, 1959 (age 66) Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Pennsylvania State University (BSS) |
| Occupation | Activist |
| Employer | National Center for Transgender Equality (2003– Summer 2021) |
| Known for | Transgender rights activism |
Mara Keisling (born September 29, 1959[1]) is an Americantransgender rights activist and founding executive director of theNational Center for Transgender Equality.[2][3] In 2003, Keisling founded the National Center for Transgender Equality to advocate for the rights of transgender people in the United States.[4]
Keisling was born to William and Elaine Keisling inScranton, Pennsylvania, as one of seven siblings in a Jewish family. She graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science degree from thePennsylvania State University, and did graduate work in American Government at Harvard University.[2][3][4] She has worked for 25 years in social marketing andpublic opinion research,[1][3] while also teaching government as anadjunct faculty member atGeorge Mason University andMarymount University.[3]
After coming out as a transgender woman in her early 40s,[3][5] Keisling moved home to Pennsylvania, where she became a transgender rights activist.[5] She first co-chaired the Pennsylvania Gender Rights Coalition, during which time she recognized the need for a professional activist presence in Washington for transgender people.[1][6] She moved back to Washington in 2002 and established the National Center for Transgender Equality in 2003.[5]
In addition to her work as executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Keisling has also served on the board of directors of LGBTQ youth group Common Roads and on the steering committee of the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition.[1][3]
In recognition of her activism, Keisling has won awards fromPFLAG; the Equality Forum; GayLaw; theTransgender Law Center; the Harvard Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance; and Out for Work, among others.[6] In 2017, she was included onMs. Magazine's list of "45 Feminist Women to Follow on Twitter."[7]
During her tenure as executive director, the National Center for Transgender Equality has had numerous political victories. In 2007, Keisling and NCTE co-led "United ENDA," a coalition of over 400LGBTQ rights organizations lobbying for a version of theEmployment Non-Discrimination Act that had explicit protections for transgender individuals.[1][8] Although the bill ultimately failed to pass, it was the first-ever transgender-inclusive legislation to be proposed to theU.S. Congress and yielded the first-everCongressional hearing on transgender rights issues.[3] Under theObama administration, NCTE also successfully lobbied for the modification ofState Department regulations, allowing transgender people to change the gender marker on their passport without necessarily having undergonegenital reconstruction surgery.[3][9][10]
In 2008, NCTE partnered with theNational LGBTQ Task Force to launch the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS).[11] Then the largest study of transgender individuals in the United States, the NTDS surveyed 6,450 transgender residents about their experiences of discrimination in areas such as employment, housing, health care, and education, among others.[12][13] The findings of the NTDS have since informed public policy in the United States, such as at theDepartment of Housing and Urban Development, which based new housing regulations to protect LGBTQ people on the study.[14]
In 2015, NCTE followed up the NDTS by launching the U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS), thus far the largest survey of transgender individuals in the United States.[15][16][17] Nearly 28,000 transgender residents participated in the survey, which covered a broad range of topics pertaining to family life, health, housing, income, employment, discrimination, harassment and violence, military service, political participation, and others.[16][17][18][19] In addition to the full national report, NCTE has released various breakout reports focusing on specific states.[20]
In her capacity as executive director of NCTE, Keisling has been an oft-cited source of political commentary in mainstream American media. She has appeared as a guest on news channels such asCNN,[21]C-SPAN,[22]Fox News,[23] andMSNBC.[24] She is frequently quoted in newspapers, news magazines, and online news sources, includingThe New York Times,[25]The Washington Post,[26]The Guardian,[27]Time,[16]BuzzFeed,[28] andThe Huffington Post. Keisling has also publishedop-eds in numerous outlets, includingThe New York Times,[29]Time,[30] NBC,[31] CNN,[32] andThe Huffington Post.[6]
In 2016,North Carolina GovernorPat McCrory signed thePublic Facilities Privacy & Security Act into law, thereby eliminating anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people and legislating that, in government buildings, individuals may only use restrooms and changing facilities that correspond to the sex listed on their birth certificates.[33] In an act of protest while visiting theNorth Carolina State Capitol to ask the governor to repeal the law, Keisling used the women's restroom in the governor's office, posting a photo of the restroom door to social media.[34] As she recounted toBuzzFeed News, other women in the restroom did not respond negatively to her presence and a state police officer in the area took no action to prevent or reprimand her.[34] Keisling was subsequently arrested along with other demonstrators for holding a sit-in at theNorth Carolina State Legislative Building.[35][36][37]
In 2019, the majority of NCTE staff members resigned from the nonprofit organization, citing concerns about workplace culture and the mistreatment of trans staff and community members of color under Keisling's leadership, dropping the total organizational staff count from 23 to only 7.[38][39][40] An open letter by former staff published byOUT Magazine stated that 60% of departing staff between 2012 and 2019 were people of color, the majority of whom had "expressed strong complaints of racism within the organization."[41]
During this time, transgender activist and journalistMonica Roberts published an article on herGLAAD Media Award winning blog,TransGriot, which accused Keisling of calling her and Dawn Wilson, a fellow Black Southern transgender activist, an "uppity n-word" at the 2002Southern Comfort Conference.[42][43] Wilson corroborated Roberts' account to aNewNowNext reporter, adding that her and Roberts heard they had been called the slur by Keisling secondhand from several different people at the conference, while Keisling denied their accusations saying: "I have never used that word. If it had been in my head, it has never been in my mouth."[42]
In response to the NCTE staff dissolution and the statements made by Roberts and Wilson, over 400 transgender community leaders penned an open letter calling for accountability at NCTE.[44] Signatories of the letter includedAndrea Jenkins, the first Black openly transgender woman elected to public office in the United States, and retired transgendermixed martial artistFallon Fox.[45]
After Keisling departed from NCTE in Summer 2021, the organization issued a statement committing toracial justice and accountability in the workplace which included an admission that the organization had fostered a culture of white dominance and drove out employees of color.[46][47]
Since 2012, the organization has watched at least 35 employees begin and end employment, 21 of whom are people of color. Fourteen of those employees expressed strong complaints of racism within the organization, including by expressing those feelings to NCTE's board of directors.
More troubling than hearing that NCTE has struggled with racism and other forms of oppression is what we have learned is the response of NCTE management when confronted. When almost all workers in an organization stand together and demand persons at the top look in the mirror and address intersecting forms of oppression, the answer -- at least, if the goal is to address the problem -- is not to force those same workers to leave.
But allegations of racism against the organization have eroded community trust. In January, Heng-Lehtinen put out a statement conceding what the organization had long denied: NCTE drove out employees of color.
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