This video is heart wrenching. Kelly Young was truly loved by her family, friends and community. She was loved.
Early Wednesday morning police were called to a home in the 2200 block of Barclay Street for a report of a shooting.
Rescue crews found Young inside of the home; she died at the hospital.
If you have any information about the murder of Kelly Young, you can call the Baltimore City Police Homicide Division at (410) 396-2100.
A Houston transgender student who was originally denied her right to attend prom in a dress has received good news!
Source: ABC: Tony Zamazal says she asked the school last month for permission to wear a dress to prom, along with a wig, makeup and pump style shoes. Zamazal says the Spring HS assistant principal initially told her that would be unacceptable, because boys were tuxedos and girls wear dresses.
"I had gotten kind mad, ranted on Facebook, and it kind of blew up from there," Zamazal said.
Zamazal tells us she appealed to the principal, who allegedly said she would have to consult with the school board because it would be a community decision. Zamazal, at that point, went public with her dismay and the ACLU offered to help, writing a letter on her behalf to the school district, explaining that the school's position was unconstitutional.
Two Christian Democrat MPs, Tuve Skånberg and Annelie Enochson, have broken ranks and are opposing a goverment sponsored proposal doing a way with the country's forced sterilization of transgender people.
Since 1945 the Swedish goverment has required transgender people to be sterilized prior to official recognition of their authentic gender. Currently this requirement has little practical affect on a trans woman's life, other than the traumatic realization her goverment doesn't want any more people like her, as uterine transplants have not yet been perfected. However this requirement deprives trans men from there right to procreate.
The English language source "The local" reports that the the two Mps are warning in a oped published in the right wing newspaper "Dagen" that a 'third gender' would be created if trans Swedish transmen were allowed to give birth.
The infamous Dagan was one of the first newspapers to reprint Jyllands-Posten's Muhammad cartoons which, according to the editor, was made in the name of freedom of speech. The printing of these drawings resulted in attacks on Norwegian installations in some parts of the Muslim world.
The Swedish goverment is currently being sued by transgender people for it forced eugenics requirment.
Gay Star News Reports: "Last month, Wilson admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old girl who said she was 16, after telling her he was 16 when he was really 22."
"He also admitted to kissing and cuddling another girl who was also 15 at the time, and also lied about his age."
"Despite the ages, it is believed due to the ‘obtaining sexual intimacy by fraud’ charge, Wilson was only convicted on the basis he had lied about his gender history."
"Nathan Gale, development worker at the STA, said: ‘There are other factors involved in this case, the two young women involved were only 15, but in bringing these particular charges the message the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has sent to trans people is, we will criminalize you if you fail to disclose your gender history to sexual partners."
"Source Scottish Transgender Alliance:" On 6th March 2013, a court case was heard in the Edinburgh High Court where a Scottish trans man was accused of two counts of 'obtaining sexual intimacy by fraud' for not disclosing his gender history and real age to two teenage girls. He entered a guilty plea, meaning he will face jail time. Sentencing has been deferred pending background reports."
"The Scottish Transgender Alliance is very concerned about this case and the message the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is sending to trans people. The Scottish Transgender Alliance strongly oppose any criminalisation of trans people for not revealing their gender history to sexual partners. Obviously there are other factors involved in this case and other details which we may not know of. However we have requested an urgent meeting to clarify the position of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service on this. We have also sent a letter to the Lord Advocate expressing our concerns."
"If you share our concerns, please consider signing our online petition "Trans Privacy Not Jail" which calls upon Scotland's Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to urgently work with trans equality organisations to address the concerns of trans people that they risk imprisonment simply for non-disclosure of their gender reassignment status to sexual partners."
Equality Texas is shepherding SB237 through the Texas Senate. As a transgender Texan I will tell you this. We desperately need this legislation to become law. Many companies will hire us but have no idea how strongly our employment will be resented by staff potentially making our daily lives a living hell.
"S.B. 237 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression."
"Currently, employment protections are in place to protect employees and job applicants against discrimination based on race, color, disability, religion, sex, and national origin. S.B. 237 adds sexual orientation or gender identity or expression to that list."
"Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Several cities in Texas, including Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio provide such protections to municipal employees."
Similar bills by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, went through the motions the last three legislative sessions but failed to pass. Villarreal filed a companion bill this year that will be heard by the House Economic & Small Business Development committee.
The allegations stem from a June 15, 2012, incident, when Smith’s mother, Jenette Cox called 911 after Smith – a transgender woman who was born a man – went into diabetic shock. When EMS responders arrived on the scene and found the victim to be transgender, they failed to render services, Cox alleges.
“This is somebody who needed urgent care and didn’t get it, and basically what stopped them were breasts on an originally male body,” said Ilya Novofastovsky, the Sheepshead Bay attorney representing Cox in the malpractice and discrimination case against the NYPD and the FDNY, which operates the EMS.
Brennan sent me this tweet yesterday as she began outing trans people who were on the dating site "OK Cupid".
In Brennan's mind this was punishment for our telling the readers of the Time article she was attacking trans people on, who she really is.
Cathy Brennan is an attorney believe it or not. But this isn't the first time she maliciously outed a trans person. Brennan had no qualms about outing a trans teen to his school high school.
HRC is slipping into a quicksand pit of duplicity and once again it's trans and queer people who are suffering.
On March 27th HRC staff members accosted C.d. Kirven and Brian who were waving a Bi flag and a trans flag respectfully, while attending the marriage equality rally at the Supreme court.
The HRC staff members were most upset by the trans flag focused in on Brian, terrorizing him to tears to the point he dropped our flag and ran off crying. C.d., a cisgender ally, jumped in at that time picked up our trans flag and stood her ground proudly waving our flag for us.
HRC has since offered two contradicting statements:
The latest on April 1, 2013 by Fred Sainz, Vice President, Communications and Marketing.
"Human Rights Campaign Statement on March 27 Events"
"In the midst of a tremendously historic week for our community, two unfortunate incidents at the United for Marriage event at the Supreme Court last week have caused pain in the community. In one case, a trans activist was asked to remove the trans pride flag from behind the podium, and in another, a queer undocumented speaker was asked to remove reference to his immigration status in his remarks."
"HRC joined in a coalition statement on Friday apologizing for these incidents and the individuals involved have personally offered their apologies to those affected. But to be perfectly clear, HRC regrets the incidents and offers our apologies to those who were hurt by our actions. We failed to live up to the high standard to which we hold ourselves accountable and we will strive to do better in the future. Through both our legislative and programmatic work, HRC remains committed to making transgender equality a reality."
In a previous press release on March 28th HRC Communications director Michael Cole-Schwartz issued this statement to Qnotes denying any wrong doing in response to the growing ground swell of condemnation.
“It was agreed that featuring American flags at our program was the best way to illustrate this unifying issue which is why when managing the area behind the podium, several people were asked to move who were carrying organizational banners, pride flags or any other flag that was not an American flag,” the statement read. “Several people refused and they were allowed to stay. The coalition welcomed the variety of signs and flags that were throughout the plaza that demonstrated the wonderful diversity of our community.”
HRC added, “It is a not true to suggest that any person or organization was told their flag was less important than another — this did not occur and no HRC staff member would ever tolerate such behavior. To be clear, it is the position of the Human Rights Campaign that marriage is an issue that affects everyone in the LGBT community.”
I just contacted C.d. Kirven. I asked her if anyone had contacted her or Brian and offered an apology. C.d. Responded "No one has contacted me. I'm unsure about Brian."
First off, HRC did NOT join in the apology made by the coalition. At that time they too busy lying saying they were innocent of all the allegations.
If it weren't for social media HRC wouldn't have said a thing about their tyrannical behaviour much less offer a 'personal apology' to thin air. They still need to contact these three people personally, Jerssay Arredondo, Brian and C.d. Kirven and present themselves as a responsible respectable organization and offer a heartfelt apology.
And please, don't don't tell me 'oh everything is fine now can we get back to winning' because the shit is broken and ignoring the problem is not going to help. The public thanks to the white washed portrayal of the marriage equality movement during the rally doesn't know undocumented trans and queer folk are the ones most affected by the upcoming supreme court marriage ruling.
And thats just how HRC wants it.
HRC needs to come to terms with the fact rich white men are not the only people in this struggle. HRC needs to put our interests, undocumented binary non conforming queer and trans people in front of corporate concerns then maybe, just maybe we can say things are getting better.
C.d. kirven who along with another person are the people Jerame Davis, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats witnessed being bullied by HRC at the Supreme Court Marriage Equality Rally.
C.d. wants to clear the air and sent this statement on what transpired:
"Happy Easter! The flag belong to Alex Rangel of Get Equal who brought the trans flag at the rally. Brian was waving the flag for Alex as I waved the Bi Pride flag. When HRC asked Brian to remove the flag an argument ensued then another woman walked up to Brian stating she was going to burn the flag while I was having words with the first women then Brian dropped the flag on the ground and ran off crying.
I tried to console him but he kept crying. I grabbed the Trans Pride flag and dared either one to say anything to me. The HRC didn't want the Trans pride flag behind the speakers bc they did not want to explain what it meant to the press. As a matter of fact, the lady from HRC told Brian " This is about marriage equality not the Trans community.
I did pick up the flag from the ground & made sure it was in every shot. I waved it proudly the rest of the rally. I said Trans pride is gay pride and gay pride is Trans pride.
I was forced like the undocumented queer activist to change my speech. Everyone knows I was mistreated the same way he was and since the stories have been released I have told them again but I'm a black lesbian so no one cared! HRC claiming my wording was too aggressive and dark!
My statement as one of the very few asked to change their speech:
"Everyone in the LGBT community knows the HRC has a diversity problem but no serious action has been taken to correct this issue. We will have race & trans protests against HRC starting her in Dallas if serious steps are not taken to become more inclusive of LGBT people of color & the trans community. We are either one in the fight for full federal equality or we are separate seeking justice for ourselves until we make serious changes around diversity our fight for full federal equality will never be attainable."
TTYL,
Chas
C.d is featured in the begining of this MSNBC Last Word video proclaiming at the rally:
"We will no longer be satisfied living in the shadows of freedom"
HRC bullies a trans flag waver "Out of the picture" at the Supreme Court Marriage Equality Rally and tells a queer dreamer not to talk about his life experiences.
Jerame Davis, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats, posted on Facebook he saw a person he knew to be a HRC staffer hounding a person demanding that their transgender flag be taken down.
“I was there. I saw this happen,” Davis wrote on Wednesday on facebook. “It was only the HRC reps asking for the trans flag to be moved. If they’d only asked once, I’d have given them a pass, but they continued to harass this person over a flag.”
HRC maintains they did no such thing and offer no apology posting this statement on Q Notes
" “It was agreed that featuring American flags at our program was the best way to illustrate this unifying issue which is why when managing the area behind the podium, several people were asked to move who were carrying organizational banners, pride flags or any other flag that was not an American flag,” the statement read. “Several people refused and they were allowed to stay. The coalition welcomed the variety of signs and flags that were throughout the plaza that demonstrated the wonderful diversity of our community.”
HRC added, “It is a not true to suggest that any person or organization was told their flag was less important than another — this did not occur and no HRC staff member would ever tolerate such behavior. To be clear, it is the position of the Human Rights Campaign that marriage is an issue that affects everyone in the LGBT community.”
Thursday Davis posted on Facebook "HRC is mishandling this situation. While not directly, they are essentially calling me and John M. Becker liars when we were actually direct witnesses to all of this occurring, unlike the folks putting out the statement."
"No other flags were asked to be removed from the shot. There were pride flags, American flags, and marriage equality flags all on display. I had a flag of my own. And at one point, organizers directed a person with a pride flag to block someone who was hijacking the media with pictures of dead young gays who were victims of discrimination."
"It disappoints me greatly that HRC has chosen the circle-the-wagons-and-deny tactic once again when there were multiple witnesses to what happened. Shameful."
John M. Becker confirmed he also say HRC bully the person waving the trans flag:
"Thursday.Jerame and I attended the rally together and as he pointed out earlier today, both of us saw this happen. I cannot verify the word-for-word accuracy of the quote in this blog post as I was just out of earshot in that loud and exciting envir...onment, but regardless of whether the words spoken were as blunt as the writer alleges or couched in nicer-sounding language, the sentiment and intent were unmistakable. This greatly dismayed me and others nearby, and we affirmed the flag holder and encouraged him to stand his ground. I'm so glad he did."
"I'm sure the staffer was acting out of a misplaced sense of caution in that excruciatingly high-pressure environment -- and I'm equally sure it was not HRC's intent to exclude or deeply offend, but regardless of the circumstances, people *felt* excluded and *were* deeply offended. HRC really should apologize for this regrettable incident before it casts any larger a shadow on an otherwise beautiful event."
The United For Marriage Coalition the organizer of the rally was quick to acknowledge wrong doing had been committed and offered an apology for the events March 27th in this statement found on Bilerico Project"
"Since the conclusion of the rallies on Wednesday, the coalition has learned about the mistreatment of a few individuals who were attending and speaking at the rallies. In one case, a queer undocumented activist was asked to edit his speech to hide part of who he is. In another case, several activists were asked to lower the trans* pride flag in order to keep out of the scope of TV cameras.
We apologize for having caused harm to the individuals involved. Apologies are being made individually and collectively and we are working to make direct amends.
Arredondo, a gay undocumented queer was selected to speak on the group’s behalf. He said that prior to getting on stage, someone from the Human Rights Campaign revised his speech.
“I was told not to share the reality of what it means to be an undocuqueer immigrant in this country,” he says in the video.
Imelda Plascencia, another QUIP member, also appears in the YouTube video. She says the experiences that LGBT people who are undocumented “are not acknowledged but rather continue to be pushed into the closet and excluded from dominant narrative.”
“It is not enough for LGBT communities to say that they are in solidarity with our struggle,” Plascencia says in the video. “Solidarity is love reflected through actions and support.”
Alma Leyva, also a QUIP member, concludes the video asking the Human Rights Campaign to apologize for revising Arredondo’s speech.
It's crucial that our queer trans dreamer community does not allow ourselves to be assimilated, bullied, coerced or threatened by HRC. Our movement is not defined or owned by rich white gay men. I cut my teeth protesting HRC in the South West, failed bargaining with Joe Solmonese personally one morning, and was rewarded with a half dozen horse mounted police and a dozen other cops at his bequest hounding us step for step at the Houston Gala protest.
Fuck HRC. Like a former leader of a major LGBT advocacy group told me once "Fuck them. They'll tell you one thing while screwing you over. Don't tell me you're my friend while you're steady fucking me over."
It was an amazing rally. The first video is artistic and draws our emotions so quickly I wanted to share.
The CSPAN video is three hours long. There are so many amazing speakers it's well worth the time.
FIERCE held a press conference at the courthouse where the NYPD are on trial for their unlawful Stop and Frisk policy. The NYPD is intent on erasing of transgender people from the city by targeting trans youth of color with continuous public humiliation, threats and assaults ultimately forcing them to make a choice.
As a white trans person, if I was faced with this intolerable life and death situation I would have two options. Conform to the rigid gender binary or leave the city. Trans and queer people of color are left with one choice. The NYPD under the direction of their masters are committed to erasing trans people of color from the city and failing that, gendercide.
Transcript from the FIERCE video:
"...but whose quality of life are they protecting? The reality of our lives as queer and transfolk of color speaks truth to the fact that we are excluded from the 'us' we speak of and the NYPD has no interest in serving and protecting our communities. It excludes us when trans bodies cannot walk down Christopher St. w/o being profiled for being sex-workers b/c they have a condom in their pocket; when a group of queer POC standing on a corner is easily mistaken for being a gang; when black and brown bodies are viewed as violent just b/c of the color of our skin; when we see and hear about our people being killed due to state violence."
"The NYPD has used their power to try and erase us, to keep us silent and to keep our stories from being talked about and heard. Ours are the stories that go unheard and we have been hidden in the statistics for far too long. I'm here today to not only share my story with you, but to tell all of you that these are the stories of many black and brown queer and trans."
"To let everyone know that walking while trans, queer, black and or brown is not a crime."
"I am not the first from the community to be targeted and mistreated by the NYPD and I surely won't be the last. And that is exactly why FRIECE fights everyday to make sure the West Village, a historical safe space for the LGBTQ community remains a safe space for LGBTQ POC."
"In the W. Village we've experienced years of gentrification which has meant the pushing out of our community, policing and more profiling of trans youth and decreased access to public space."
"We believe that the Floyd case is a step in the right direction but is not where our work ends. We know that the NYPD is rooted in institutionalized racism, transphobia and homophobia. These systems of oppression won't stop and neither will we. When this case is done we will remain on the front lines of this fight for justice. We will continue to hold police accountable. We will continue [??]-watching. We will continue to create our own systems of safety that are rooted in community power and resilience. From Amadou Diallo, Cece McDonald to Kimani Gray we will not stop raising our voices, we will not be silenced, we will not lose hope. And we as a whole will continue to fight and expose the systematic oppression projected by the NY Police Dept."
Thursday morning Medicare and Medicaid Services (CSM.gov) unilaterally began asking for public comment on changing its policy for Gender (sexual) Reassignment Surgery with the goal of possibly having Medicaid fund those surgeries. It seems the good people at Medicaid realized their rational for disallowing SRS was irrational.
Presently GRS is not covered by the ancient CMS.Gov policy because:
Transsexual surgery for sex reassignment of transsexuals is controversial. Because of the lack of well controlled, long term studies of the safety and effectiveness of the surgical procedures and attendant therapies for transsexualism, the treatment is considered experimental. Moreover, there is a high rate of serious complications for these surgical procedures. For these reasons, transsexual surgery is not covered.
Just hours after beginning the 30 day comment period Medicaid changed there minds about asking for public comments and took the link down.
one RED HOT haters POTATO to the Medicade comment section.
Mara Keisling of the NCTE messaged me moments after the last post went up and said there is a better process in place now.
The Hill reports:
"a spokesperson said Friday evening that the proposal has been withdrawn. HHS pulled information from its website Friday after various news media outlets reported on the issue."
"The controversial decision to consider using taxpayer money to cover sex changes was sure to attract criticism from Congress."
"An HHS spokesman said HHS' Departmental Appeals Board is weighing a challenge to the department's ruling that sex-change procedures are experimental and should not be covered by Medicare and Medicaid. While that challenge works its way through the system, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has withdrawn its proposal to reconsider the coverage policy on its own."
The Advocate is reporting the agency which determines if a surgery should be funded my Medicaid is reconsidering adding Sexual Reassignment surgery.
Including SRS would be a humongous step forward by the federal goverment. Its crucial we comment especially since there's only 28 days left to do so. Now only if they'd get there link fixed.
I'll update as soon as they do. Hopefully they'll reset the timer.
Transsexual surgery for sex reassignment of transsexuals is controversial. Because of the lack of well controlled, long term studies of the safety and effectiveness of the surgical procedures and attendant therapies for transsexualism, the treatment is considered experimental. Moreover, there is a high rate of serious complications for these surgical procedures. For these reasons, transsexual surgery is not covered.
The GLBT Funding Opt-Out Bill, introduced at the Wednesday Student Senate meeting, would recommend students who do not approve of the GLBT Resource Center on religious or moral grounds be able to opt out of a portion of student fees that goes toward the resource center.
Miguel, senior women’s and gender studies major, said the bill is no more than an ongoing and poorly veiled form of discrimination.
“It’s a good way of masking prejudice and discrimination against the [GLBT] community,” Miguel said. “It’s making the people who are very against the [GLBT] community sound really nice by using religion as a cover-up.”
Northside senator Chris Woolsey, author of the bill, said the bill does not oppress the GLBT community.
(This is where Woolsy's argument disintegrates)
“The belief that this bill is oppressing the GLBT community or is a way to legalize discrimination is a ploy to distract from the real meaning of the bill, which is to protect the religious liberties of students,” Woolsey said
A quick perusal of the Battalion would indicate everything that is happening at that school is an exercise of religious freedom.
Please connect with the GBLT Center EVENT PAGE for details.
A while back I posted a highly controversial opinion about Levi Pine, a pre op trans man occupying sauna's where same sex public nudity is normal. Since then there has been one more instance and I reiterate, it is in my opinion, in this country with our current social mores, immoral for a pre or non genital op trans person to be naked in spaces where children are allowed.
Some argued more or less they felt they should not have to conform to public standards and morals at all. Some felt our movement is all or nothing.
I said this was an agenda killer and as we have just seen, it is. We loaded Kavanagh's gun by not coming out as a community and condemning that sort of behaviour.
Zoe E Whitten made a very good argument against my opinion asking among other things 'Is Levi Pine’s case an “agenda killer”? Only if your agenda was playing nice to prejudiced people in the hopes of them one day hating you less.'
I'm not saying I want Rep. John Kavanagh to hate us any less, frankly I couldn't care less if he did. I'm not saying this man wouldn't have attempted to amend Arizona law following Phoenix's passage of its far ranging non discrimination ordinance. What I am saying he might have just been another generic hater popping off with a cap gun, instead he's got a fully loaded 45 and its on auto. And we loaded it.
HB 1045 is not "softened" as the spin doctors at ABC have painted it. It is a statewide bill specifically targeting all gender variant people regardless if they are trans or not, making them subject to Jim Crow style discrimination.
So we have managed to paint ourselves into a human rights quandary corner but there is one option. There have been ordinances passed since those spa incidents that specifically exclude public accommodations protections in places where 'full public nudity is expected'.
Since we seem to have failed to set our communities standards we will have to rely on the goverment to do that.
Kavanagh's amendment is not an equality law. He is intent on enacting this law to discriminate against us. We must stop it and regroup, hopefully to enact trans inclusive laws that protect everyone including children from an immoral few.
Just now Rep Kavanagh pushed his "Bathroom Bill" through the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee.
Watching the live feed from the Arizona appropriations committee meeting a very smug Kavanagh sat listening to the yes votes by his committee accruing DESPITE all of people who just testified against it. There was only one person testifying in favor of the bill that I saw. ONE person! This was a injustice and travesty cloaked in democracy.
Kavanagh sums up after the vote "My bill isn't about civil rights"but was forced to pause as the room broke up in spontaneous laughter. Continuing Kavanagh admonishes the attendees "we've had a very respectful evening and and I'd appreciate if we could keep it that way."waiting for more gruffs and humphs to subside Kavanagh raises his voice"Its not about civil rights its about civility and more importantly there are men's and ladies rooms and creating an environment that someone is biologically male in the women's shower as the phoenix law did is going to far and we had to fix it."
Respectively Kavanagh, the whole evening was an insult to the democratic process. You've manufactured of a bill to criminalize our minority when there's no history of criminal activity to warrant a law against us. To everyone in the room EXCEPT your cronies who voted yes on your amendment in your committee it was sickening. Civility was extended as a courtesy by the people who testified against your amendment.
Your statement that your bill wouldn't discriminate against us in the workplace is a pile of horse shit and you know it. When a potential employer is considering us for a position the FIRST thing he is going to weigh is the bathroom. He's going to wonder how his employees would respond but MOST importantly he's going to consider how his state goverment approaches trans bathroom usage.
If an employer knows as you hope he will, Arizona prohibits all gender variant people from public accommodations he will NOT hire us.
And you know that you pompous ass.
Filed under: What a totally pathetic hate mongering bigot. Common Arizona you're better than this.
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert:
"Section 1. Title 41, chapter 9, article 3, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 41-1444, to read:
START_STATUTE41-1444. Privacy; public place; public accommodation; state preemption; definitions
A. The regulation of access to privacy areas in places of public accommodation based on gender identity or expression is of statewide concern and is not subject to further regulation by a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state.
B. A county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state shall not enact or enforce an ordinance or policy that requires a person or business to regulate access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression.
C. No person or business shall be civilly or criminally liable for denying access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression.
D. This section does not prohibit a person or business from allowing access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression.
E. Any ordinance or policy that relates to access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression that is inconsistent with this section is void and of no force or effect.
F. For the purposes of this section:
1. "gender identity or expression" means either:
(a) An individual's self‑identification as male, female or something in between and includes an individual's appearance, mannerisms or other characteristics only insofar as they relate to gender with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth.
(b) Any other substantially similar self‑identification of gender.
2. "Privacy areas" means areas in places of public accommodation where access is restricted based on sex, including a public restroom, bathroom, shower, bath, dressing room or locker room.
Sec. 2. Emergency
This act is an emergency measure that is necessary to preserve the public peace, health or safety and is operative immediately as provided by law."
Rep. John Kavanagh facing a mounting recall bid in response to his attempted criminalization of transgender people in public accommodations sis trying a different approach.
Instead of making it extremely dangerous and illegal for individual gender variant people to to use the bathroom Kavanagh wants to strip transgender citizens of there constitutional rights by making Arizona businesses statewide immune to legal recourse should they deny transgender people public accommodations.
"Within US law, public accommodations are generally defined as entities, both public and private, that are used by the public. Examples include retail stores, rental establishments and service establishments, as well as educational institutions, recreation facilities and service centers. Private clubs and religious institutions are exempt." ~ Wiki
When asked why he was changing tactics he stated “I’m just saying, ‘You know what, that’s not government’s concern,’” Kavanagh told The Arizona Republic. “We’re simply going to go right back to where it was the day before Phoenix passed its overreaching ordinance with respect to showers, dressing rooms and bathrooms.”
The Arizona House Appropriations Committee hearing on the legislation has been scheduled for 2pm on Wednesday, in which chairman Kavanagh plans to strip a different dead bill, HR 1045 and insert his anti transgender legislation using the "Stike Everything" method.
A lot of people believe that's just political double speak and that Kavanagh, a republican who claims to working for smaller government is in fact bent on imposing draconian governmental regulation on the trans community, a tiny unobtrusive law abiding minority.
Raise The Bar Arizona has just filed the necessary paper work with the state and has begun gathering the 16,920 signatures of voters in Kavanagh’s district required to force a recall election.
The recall if successful would oust Kavanagh just months before the end of his term. Kavanagh can't run again for the house because of term limits, summarily dismisses the effort saying “It gives new meaning to March madness." It would however put a watermark on a bid for the senate which he is considering.
The Arizona Trans Alliance is asking all to "call or email the committee members of the purloined legislation and tell them to vote no on the No Potty for you bill: SB1045."
It's crucial that our queer trans dreamer community does not allow ourselves to be assimilated, bullied, coerced or threatened by HRC. Our movement is not defined or owned by rich white gay men. I cut my teeth protesting HRC in the South West, failed bargaining with Joe Solmonese personally one morning, and was rewarded with a half dozen horse mounted police and a dozen other cops at his bequest hounding us step for step at the Houston Gala protest.
