Politics & Government

Easton Activist Will Meet With Biden

Ashley Hope and other LGBT leaders will have dinner with the vice president Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden will meet with up-and-coming LGBT leaders from around the country at his home in Washington.

Among those leaders: Easton's Ashley Hope, who hopes the vice president comes away knowing that there's still work to be done when it comes to rights for transgendered people.

"Mostly, the biggest message is that transgendered people face huge amounts of discrimination," Hope said.

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Biden notably came out in favor of same sex marriage before President Obama did earlier this year, but Hope says she thinks the president has made some strides when it comes to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues.

For example, this was the first president to send a representative to a conference for transgendered people, Hope said.

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"That never would've happened in the Bush administration or even the Clinton administration," she said.

Hope doesn't think her demands are unreasonable.

"All I'm asking for is to be able to go to work, go home to my apartment and if I ever have a kid, to send him to school," she said.

Concerns about those rights are part of the reason Hope -- who works as a web programmer in downtown Easton -- came to the city, which has non-discrimination laws for things such as housing. 

Beyond meeting with Biden, Hope said she looks forward to networking and connecting with other LGBT leaders.

"I think it’s really good that they’re bringing in this young energy," she said.

As a student at Millersville University, Hope saw how powerful younger voices could be. When she came out as transgendered, the school was facing something it hadn't dealt with. Where would she live? What bathrooms would she use?

But then the university issued a survey, and found a number of other transgendered students.

After that, the administration really started looking and listening," Hope said.

She'd like other institutions to start listening as well. Transgendered people can face real dangers beyond just discrimination. A report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that violence against transgendered individuals was on the rise, and that 2011 was the worst year ever for anti-LGBT hate crimes.

Hope said she has spoken with Turning Point, the local support organization for domestic violence victims, about working with transgendered individuals. She'd like to continue that work in Easton, she said. The city might have laws to protect people like her, but Hope said the people enforcing those laws still might have things to learn.


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