Ohio GOP Governor Cuts Trans People Out Of Anti-Discrimination Executive Order

From now on, I don't want to hear ANY Republican or independent tell me the bull feces that there's no difference between the two parties..

When you're part of a marginalized community, which party control the government at the local, state and federal level when one party pushes civil rights and the other is hell bent on rolling them back is of ginormous importance.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D) issued an executive order in 2007 that banned discrimination in state employment for TBLG people.  The order declared that no state employee could be fired from or denied a state job on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Fast forward to 2010 and GOP control of the Ohio state government.    Governor John Kasich (R) let that executive order expire despite a campaign promise to the contrary.   But after getting major flack over it issued a revised executive order that left out guess who?

The list of protected groups in the revised anti-discrimination order is a bit lengthy, protecting state employees or job candidates from discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin, military status, disability, age, genetic information or sexual orientation.
 

Gender identity, which was in the Strickland executive order, is missing from the Kasich one.

“The governor is opposed to discrimination in state employment and has made that clear in this executive order in the way that he feels is most appropriate,” said spokesman Scott Milburn in a statement to reporters.

Umm hmm.   Yep, screw the transpeeps..

So for all you Ohio transpeople who voted GOP or didn't vote at all on November 2, elections have consequences.   It's also past time for you to realize that the Republican Party, when it comes to civil rights issues, is not your friend.

International Trans Activist Laksmi Discriminated Against

Note to haters.  If you're going to discriminate against a transperson, it would be wise not to pick one who is an internationally known trans activist and who will call you out on your BS.

Check out this video from Mumbai, India.

NY State Supreme Court Rules Trans Discrimination Case Can Proceed

TransGriot Note: Press release with good news about a trans discrimination case in New York City. 


NEW YORK STATE SUPREME COURT RULES THAT TRANSGENDER DISCRIMINATION SUIT AGAINST NYC TRANSIT AUTHORITY CAN MOVE FORWARD  

Landmark Decision Rejects Constitutional Challenges to New York City Human Rights Law Prohibiting Transgender Discrimination



January 21, 2011

In a landmark decision just obtained by Housing Works, Justice Kenneth P. Sherman of the New York State Supreme Court, Kings County, has upheld the New York City Human Rights Law’s provisions prohibiting transgender discrimination against the challenge of the New York City Transit Authority (“TA”).  Among other things, the TA argued that the anti-discrimination provisions violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitutions; are constitutionally vague; and should not apply to non-supervisory TA employees.

In the first ruling of its kind, Judge Sherman ruled that “the prohibition of bigoted behavior in the public accommodation context contained in the [Human Rights Law] does not violate the constitutional guarantee of free speech.”  Judge Sherman explained that “the State of New York and its subdivisions, such as the City, have a compelling interest in combating invidious discrimination,” and found the Human Rights Law “sustainable as a regulation of a transit system, which is not a ‘First Amendment forum.’”  The Human Rights law is “narrowly tailored,” Judge Sherman noted, and applies “only to agents of public accommodation companies who engage in discriminatory conduct that suggest victims of bias are unwelcome.”  Judge Sherman ruled, finally, that “[t]here is no authority” for limiting the scope of the Human Rights Law “only to supervisors or managers.”

Plaintiff Tracy Bumpus, represented by Housing Works, filed suit against the Transit Authority and one of its employees in 2006, alleging that Transit employees subjected her to a series of transgender-phobic ("transphobic") incidents, beginning with a vicious and sustained transphobic tirade on a subway platform after she requested assistance with her MetroCard.  This is the latest in a string of victories in the case of Bumpus v. New York City Transit Authority.

Armen H. Merjian, Senior Attorney at Housing Works, commented:  “Sadly, we are still in the nascent stages of establishing the basic civil rights of transgender citizens in New York.  This was just the latest attempt by the Transit Authority to greatly circumscribe or even eliminate the transgender discrimination provisions of the New York City Human Rights Law, enacted in 2003.  We are delighted that the Court has rejected these unfounded challenges and reaffirmed the continuing vitality of this critical law, particularly on behalf of a community long excluded from the antidiscrimination protections afforded other groups.”

Monica Carss-Frisk, This Is An Example Of The Discrimination You Enabled In Hong Kong

British attorney Monica Carss-Frisk was hired by the Hong Kong government to successfully litigate on its behalf in the recent Ms W marriage case.

Hope you're enjoying the money you made on the case and can sleep well at night knowing that you contributed to the continued oppression of transpeople in Hong Kong.

As we marginalized peeps know all too well, court cases we lose have negative consequences and ripple effects that not only affect things locally, but sometimes travel beyond the jurisdiction in which they were litigated. 

STRAP chair Naomi Fontanos recounts on her PinayTG blog a recent trip with Santy Layno to lecture on trans discrimination issues at Hong Kong University at the invitation of Dr. Sam Winter.

After a successful lecture they went out for a drink with Dr. Winter only to be whacked with the same discrimination that they had just lectured about.

Okay Hong Kong, when are you going to stop discriminating against my trans family living there? 


It's ironic they have more rights in mainland China than the so-called freedom loving former British colony and world class city that is now a Chinese Special Administrative Region.. 
 
And thank you, Monica Carss-Frisk, for doing your part to ensure that the discrimination against transpeople in Hong Kong continues.

Stop Hatin' On TBLG Students

In a few hours HISD and other school districts in the Houston metro area will begin the 2010-2011 school year. I remember having mixed emotions about it.

While I was sad to have my summer vacation come to an end, on the other hand even with the drama I experienced at times during elementary and sometimes junior high, I was excited to begin a new school year and wonder who my new classmates would be.

But for many TBLG kids, the imminent start of the school year is something they dread due to harassment, bullying or other issues that crop up.

Every year we have some school district official somewhere in the nation that overreacts or has a problem with a trans student presenting in their preferred gender either at the start of the school year or during prom season.

We have other incidents that start because of people pushing their faith based hate at LGBT students. It ends up generating national news involving GLBT students with depressing regularity on many issues.

One of the pieces of new Congressional legislation I was happy to see introduced was the Student Non-Discrimination Act. It was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) and in the House by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and offers remedies for discrimination “based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity” in public elementary and secondary schools.

Based on what we've seen over the last few years and the recurring lawsuits that TBLG kids have had to file with the help of the ACLU and Lambda Legal just to stand up for their constitutional rights, the SNDA is sorely needed.

Here's hoping that the 2010-2011 school year is a relatively drama free one for LGBT students. Somehow, I doubt it will be.

Vandy Beth Gets Her Job Back....But

And there is a but in this discrimination case.

Glenn gets her job back, with salary, seniority and benefits but her transphobic boss wants her to stay home. An agreement was reached in federal court Friday in which Vandy Beth Glenn will be reinstated to her Georgia legislative editor job.

But since Sewell Brumby, the man who fired her three years ago and jumped this mess off in the first place is once again technically her boss, it was thought best that since Brumby is appealing Judge Richard Story's order, the potentially awkward situation be avoided.

Especially in light of what Brumby said about Glenn in a deposition taken last year according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

“It makes me think about things I don’t like to think about, particularly at work … I think it’s unsettling to think of someone dressed in women’s clothing with male sexual organs inside that clothing.”

Discrimination costs, people.

The appeal could take up to three years to sort out, so stay tuned for the ongoing story and results from this peachy trial.

Another Legal Win For Vandy Beth!

Vandy Beth Glenn came one step closer to getting her job she was wrongfully terminated from in 2007 back.

On Tuesday a federal judge ordered that Glenn be reinstated to her legislative editor job in the Georgia General Assembly.

"I’ve always know we were in the right," a tearful Glenn said in a GA Voice courtroom interview after the hearing. "This is our time. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are no longer disposable. We can’t be thrown out with the trash and this decision affirms that."

No date was set for Glenn's return to her job and they are willing to pay her until the issues are sorted out. A hearing is scheduled for 9:30 AM EDT on August 6 concerning whether to stay the reinstatement.

She's already been harmed enough. Let Vandy Beth return to work without delay.

DART Committee Plays Games With Non Discrimination Policy

Remember what I wrote in the post announcing the 11-2 committee vote that ostensibly passed a revised policy with trans protections for Dallas Area Rapid Transit employees?

'If you give conservafools an inch and don't write these policies so there is no wiggle room for opponents to ignore it, they will take the nullification mile.'

Well, looks like the DART committee pulled some shady nullification crap that may have wiped out the gender identity and sexual orientation protections in one swoop, and possibly violated the Texas Open Meetings Law to do so.

Local activists who attended the meeting were concerned not only about the 30 minute executive session the committee went into just prior to the vote, but about the revised language in the proposed new policy that advances to a June 22 DART board meeting for final approval.



This is the new language in the DART non discrimination party;

DART is committed to hiring, promoting and retaining the best qualified persons in all positions and, 'EXCEPT' to the extent permitted by federal and/or Texas law, DART will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law.

According to John Wright of the Dallas Voice's Instant Tea blog, the DART board just played the Dallas GLBT community.

Ken Upton of Lambda Legal is quoted as saying the addition of the word EXCEPT by DART board member (and attorney) Raymond Noah (the representative for Richardson, Highland Park, Addison and University Park) into the policy in Upton's words, “They just screwed you guys over royally.”

“By adding that word in there, they’ve said we can discriminate all we want. It’s exactly the opposite of what they promised they were doing.”

“You’d like to think they’re just stupid, but the truth is you have to assume that the people who write these things at least have basic language skills,” Upton said. “Supposedly there’s at least one attorney involved, so I have to assume it’s intentional.

“That’s unfortunate they did that,” Upton added. “After all the work that’s gone into this, if this is what comes out of it, then we got nothing. They can say that’s not what they intended, but that’s what it says.”

Okay Dallas GLBT community, they just played y'all. What are you going to do about it?

“I’m highly disappointed and angry at this point,” said Rafael McDonnell, spokesman for Resource Center Dallas. “If it was their intention to make us go away, they’ve underestimated the community.”

Alright, Dallas GLBT community, go get 'em.

Sisters In Solidarity Press Conference

There comes a time as a oppressed minority group member when you finally get fed up with the slings and arrows of soul destroying injustice and disrespect heaped upon you and you're ready to fight back.

That tipping point may just have been reached in Singapore, and as my sis Leona Lo said in her speech opening the press conference, transgender women in Singapore 'will be bullied no more'.

That bullying has led to the foundation of a group called Sisters In Solidarity to address those discrimination issues.

Here's the video from the Singapore press conference I told you loyal TransGriot readers about the other day.

African-American Bi Ballplayers Sue Gay Softball Organization For Discrimination

If the GLBT community wants their rights and humanity respected, protected and codified under the law, it is imperative for them to remember and realize that they must do the same thing for others inside and outside the GLBT community.

Thanks to TransGriot reader Leigh for directing my attention to this developing story of racism and biphobia rearing its pointed head in of all things, a GL run softball tournament.

On Tuesday the National Center for Lesbian Rights in conjunction with the law firm of K&L Gates LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of players Steven Apilado, LaRon Charles, and Jon Russ in U.S. District Court for the western district of Washington.

The NCLR complaint alleges that the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Association (NAGAAA) broke Washington state public accommodations law by enforcing a discriminatory rule that states only two heterosexuals can play on each team.

The story starts at the 2008 Gay World Series softball tournament that was played in Seattle and sanctioned by the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Association (NAGAAA).

NAGAAA’s stated mission is promoting “amateur sports competition, particularly softball, for all persons regardless of age, sexual orientation or preference, with special emphasis on the participation of members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.”

A mission they miserably failed to execute on for five members of the San Francisco based D2 softball team.

D2 and its members have played in San Francisco area gay softball leagues for several years. During this GWS tournament they got hot, won games and kicked butt all the way to the GWS championship game of their division.

D2 discovered during the title game that a (probably a losing) team filed a protest claiming they were in violation of the NAGAAA 'two heteros only' rule. In the interim teams kept interrupting the championship game to the point that D2 lost.

When the game was over five D2 players, Apilado, Charles, Russ and two white teammates were immediately summoned to a conference room for a protest hearing,

Each player was forced to answer intrusive questions about his sexual orientation and his private life in front of a room of over 25 people, most of whom the players did not know. The players were forced to answer whether they were “predominantly attracted to men” or “predominantly attracted to women,” without the option of answering that they were attracted to both.

After each player was interrogated, a panel voted on whether he was “gay” or “non-gay.” NAGAAA’s committee refused to entertain the possibility that the players could be bisexual. In response to a player’s statement that he was attracted to both men and women, a NAGAAA member responded, “This is the Gay World Series, not the Bisexual World Series.”

Ultimately, the predominantly-white committee voted that all the men of color, Charles, Russ, and Apilado, were not gay. The committee voted multiple times on at least one player. The committee also declared that the other two players, both white—one of whom had given precisely the same answers as Russ—were gay.

The NAGAAA committee recommended disciplinary measures against Apilado, Charles, and Russ, their team, and the San Francisco Gay Softball League, including retroactively stripping D2 by forfeit of their second-place World Series finish.

The men are seeking $75,000 each for emotional distress. They're also seeking to invalidate the alliance's findings on the men's sexual orientations and to reinstate D2's second-place finish in the 2008 GWS.

“This case shows that bisexual people are an integral part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The San Francisco team was truly diverse and welcomed bisexual, gay, and straight players, and they saw each other as not just teammates, but family,” said NCLR Sports Project Director Helen Carroll.

“We all deserve to be treated with respect no matter what part of the ‘LGBT’ we are. It damages our community to conduct witch hunts and to exclude people from playing in a sports league for not being ‘gay enough’. We wouldn’t accept this kind of treatment from a non-LGBT sports organization and we shouldn’t do it to ourselves.”

Beth Allen, a Portland, OR based attorney who specializes in LGBT-related legal issues and represents the sports association in the suit, said that NAGAAA “agrees that if they were a public accommodation, they could not limit players on the basis of sexual orientation. But they’re a private organization, seeking to provide a forum for gay and lesbian athletes, or those who would like to become athletes, to play ball together in an environment where they don’t face any type of discrimination. ... It is not an unusual situation to have a softball league that is organized by principle on a protected class.”

Allen was quoted in Advocate.com as saying that she found the suit brought by NCLR to be “very disheartening.”

“Certainly I’ve seen infighting in the community. Anyone who’s worked for our rights has seen infighting, because we’re all human,” Allen said. “But as I’ve told [NCLR executive director] Kate Kendell, it baffles me why they’ve taken on this case. Why is the National Center for Lesbian Rights asserting this claim on behalf of three poor beleaguered straight men? I don’t get it.”

Kendell said the suit “makes very clear that the core issue in the case is that sexual orientation discrimination is harmful, demeaning, and stigmatizing. What these players were subjected to in terms of inquiry about their private sexual lives was a violation, not only of the softball association’s own rules but also Washington state law.”

“[Allen’s] response is what’s baffling,” Kendell added.

NAGAAA, which organizes the Gay Softball World Series, has refused to change the discriminatory rule that excludes players based on sexual orientation, to apologize to Apilado, Charles, and Russ for the traumatic and humiliating public interrogation they endured, or to disavow the practice of interrogating players about their sexual orientations in protest hearings.

NCLR Staff Attorney Melanie Rowen said, “Washington law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations. But conducting an inquisition into someone’s sexual orientation to exclude them from playing sports in their community is not just discriminatory—it is outrageous.”

NAGAAA has not yet responded to the complaint in court, and this has the making of an interesting court case that I would love to see.

But it goes back simply to the Golden Rule- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

As an oppressed minority group, the GLBT community would not only do well to remember that, it's imperative that the GLBT community hold itself to higher ethical and moral standards than our oppressors.

They also need to cognizant of the fact that relations with African-American GLBT people are still testy after the flurry of anti-Black racism that popped up in the GLBT community post Prop 8. That being said, discrimination in the GLBT community should not be condoned or tolerated at any time.

Here's hoping that NCLR is successful in driving that point home to the NAGAAA.

Tripping About The Bathroom-Transman Division

Peep this video about two transmen who were handling their business in Seattle's Pacific Place Mall restroom when some cis man had a problem with it and called security.

Predictably the security guard tripped and the transmen are justifiably pissed (pardon the pun) about it.

No Trans Need Apply

If you're wondering why I and other trans people spend a lot of time griping about ENDA not moving toward becoming law as expeditiously as possible, this latest story out of New York is evidence why.

A group called Make the Road New York filed a complaint with the NY State Attorney General's office after testing 24 New York City retailers for discrimination.

The group sent a trans and cis person to each one of the targeted retailers to apply for jobs with matching resumes. The resumes matched in respects of age, race, and work experience.

42 percent net rate of discrimination for transgender job applicants... [and] 49 percent of transgender workers surveyed reported that they have never been offered a job in the time that they have lived openly as transgender."

J. Crew was singled out for blatantly violating the New York City Human Rights Law. According to Make The Road NY spokesperson Irene Tung, one of the transgender employment testers, Julian Brolaski, applied at the 5th Avenue J. Crew store and "was treated brusquely, told to fill out an application and was never called.

His testing partner, Leigh Cambre, who entered the store a few minutes later, described a very different experience, 'I filled out an application, was interviewed on the spot and offered a job soon after.'

A separate pair of testers also documented a similar situation.

You can click on the chart to see the distressing results.

This BS Is Why ENDA Needs To Be Passed NOW!

The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a discrimination complaint today with the Florida Department of Human Relations against an Orlando McDonald's restaurant for refusing to hire 17-year-old transwoman Zikerria Bellamy.

On July 10, 2009, Zikerria applied online for a position as a Shift Manager or Crew Leader at McDonald's. On July 28, after managers at McDonald’s learned that Zikerria is transgender, she received the following transphobic voicemail message from one of the managers:



Needless to say Zikerria wasn't hired by the Mickey D's in question.

As matter of fact, why protect that Mickey D's? Let the whole world know the location of the Orlando McDonald's restaurant that serves up trans discrimination with its fries and shakes so it can be properly protested.

I'm damned sure not lovin' this.

But this is a prime example of why ENDA needs to be passed ASAP, not delayed. It has been delayed long enough.

Few protections exist for transgender people who experience employment discrimination. In 38 states, there is no law protecting transgender people from being fired because of who they are. Federal law similarly offers no job protection for transgender people.

Too many times African-American transwomen such as Zikerria and other transwomen of color bear the brunt of the job discrimination the community faces.

Despite being introduced in the House on June 24 and hearings being held in September, little action has occurred on ENDA since then.

Time for the trans community and our allies to start calling Capitol Hill and pestering congressmembers just like we did in 2007 after we were cut out of ENDA.

And here's the number to call Congress and get you started: 202-224-3121

Fortunately for Zikerria and other Florida transpeople, while no law explicitly addresses discrimination based on gender identity, administrative agencies in Florida have ruled that transgender people are protected by the Florida Human Rights Act’s prohibitions on sex and disability discrimination. The Competitive Workforce Bill, which would add gender identity and sexual orientation to the Florida Civil Rights Act, was introduced in the Florida legislature on November 20.

We can't be productive members of society if we can't get a job, much less stay employed in the first place because of somebody's naked transphobia.

May TLDEF be successful in getting justice for Zikerria and sending the message once again that discrimination against transpeople is bad for business.

Lambda Legal Files Complaint For Trans Teen Discriminated Against By Philly DHS

Lambda Legal on October 27 filed a complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) against the City of Philadelphia and the Youth Study Center (YSC) on behalf of a now 17 year old trans girl who was physically attacked by other residents and verbally abused by staff every day for almost a year and a half.

The then 16-year-old teen was placed in the now torn down Youth Study Center's boys' unit, where, she said, staff and residents harassed her despite a judge's order that she be addressed by her preferred female name and female pronouns.

The transteen has asked to be unnamed for safety reasons and has been in the foster care system since she was eleven.

In February 2008, Common Pleas Court Judge Abram Frank Reynolds ordered Department of Human Services to provide her with all appropriate medical treatment for Gender Identity Disorder (GID), including hormone therapy and mandated that her female gender identity be respected.

However, YSC staff and administrators failed to treat her in accordance with her female gender identity. They refused to refer to her by her preferred female name and to use female pronouns. YSC staff also refused her access to clothing and grooming options that matched her gender identity and reprimanded her for acting in a feminine manner. When she asked to be referred to by her preferred female name, YSC staff told her: "You ain’t no fucking female, you are a dude. . . Till you get your dick cut off, I’m not going to call you [by your preferred female name.]"

In addition, YSC staff subjected Lambda Legal's client to ridicule and cruel and degrading treatment and allowed abuse by residents on a daily basis. She endured verbal harassment, including slurs such as: "You're a faggot," "Wanna-be-girl," "You are not a girl," and "You will never be a girl." On several occasions, the verbal harassment escalated to physical attacks.

The complaint filed by Lambda Legal to the PCHR claims that the YSC, operated by DHS, violated the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance because she was harassed and discriminated against on the basis of her actual and/or perceived gender identity, sexual orientation, sex, and disability.

"Even though I asked the administration and staff at the Youth Study Center on multiple occasions to stop the harassment, to call me by the right name, to let me wear clothes that match who I am, and to allow me to sleep in a unit where I would feel safe, I continued to be degraded by staff and residents," said the 17-year-old girl. "Nobody, including sexual minorities, should have to experience the physical and emotional abuse that I encountered there."

The case is being handled for Lambda Legal by Flor Bermudez, Youth in Out-of-Home Care Staff Attorney with Miriam S. Edelstein from Reed Smith LLP will serve as co-counsel.

TransGriot Note: This case is another concrete example of why trans people's civil rights need to be immediately encoded into federal law. Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Sam Wood also wrote an article about this story.

Damn Denny's And 'Errbody' Else, Let My People Pee

Spartanburg, SC based Denny's Inc. is a 1,749-restaurant chain which is one of the largest restaurant companies in the United States.

Back during the 80's Denny's had a corporate 'ethnic cleansing' policy in which managers were under orders not to allow too many Blacks to congregate in their restaurants. I saw firsthand in the 80's the ridiculous extremes that Denny's peeps went to in order to keep their restaurants free of African descended people.

One night when me and my friends went to a Denny's by the Astrodome, they tried to charge us $5 cover just to get in. At another location they tried to make us prepay for food as we watched Whites get seated first without prepaying. Another time at that same Astrodome location me and two Black friends waited for our food while numerous whites who came in after us got in, ordered their food and got out before we saw a single plate hit our table.

The discriminatory culture was so ingrained that on the very day in 1993 a federal court ordered the chain to stop discriminating against Black customers, a Maryland Denny's was sued by Black Secret Service agents for glacially slow service. The class action discrimination lawsuits were eventually settled by Denny's in 1994 for $54 million, but not before a boycott of the chain by African-Americans and countless worldwide retelling of stories similar to mine.

I'm taking this trip down Moni Memory Lane again because those images of past discrimination were on my mind when I heard about the Maine Human Rights Commission case involving Brianna Freeman.

The commission ruled on Monday that an Augusta, ME Denny's franchisee store was guilty of discrimination when it barred Ms. Freeman, a regular customer of the restaurant, from using the women's restroom until she had surgery.

Okay, I and the rest of the transgender community are beyond sick and tired of this bull feces 'bathroom predator' meme the Forces of Intolerance and other ignorant folks who hate on transpeople are pimping these days because they have no logic based argument they can us to deny transgender people their civil rights.

The anti-civil rights peeps have dipped into their old school playbook and recycled the centuries old tactics of deception, fear and lies over the bathroom. The same arguments being used to stir up anti-transgender bathroom passions are the same ones the haters used to justify separate 'white' and 'colored' bathrooms back in the bad old Jim Crow days.

Bottom line, you already share public bathrooms with transpeople and have done so without incident for decades.

I can't tell you how many times at concerts and ball games I saw ciswomen pop into the men's restroom before transition to use it because the lines in the women's restrooms were too long.

The first thing on the minds of many transpeople when we enter a public bathroom is how fast can we shimmy out of our clothes before the pee stream starts, and when we've handled our business washing hands and getting out of there.

We ain't trying to start any static, but too many haters are trying to start World War III with us over peeing in a damn restroom. I transitioned 15 years ago and I'm not going to a men's room where I risk a beatdown or worse because your faith-based ignorance about transgender people makes you uncomfortable.

Deal with it.

In some cases cisgender women are getting caught in the crossfire because of your idiocy.

And let's smack down some more right wing lies while I'm at it. If a predator wants to heaven forbid, sexually assault you in the bathroom, they won't be crossdressed to do it.

As far as the 'pervert' charge, you've got more to worry about from your local priest, 'christian' pastor or straight white males, who commit 98% of the molestation cases against children than you do with your friendly neighborhood transperson.

So to all the haters out there, let my people pee!

Maine Human Rights Commission Rules In Favor Of Transwoman

All transwoman Brianna Freeman of Lewiston, ME wanted to do on October 25, 2007 was use the restroom.

While at a Denny's in Auburn, ME Ms. Freeman used a locked stall in the ladies restroom while “dressed clearly” as a woman, according to the investigator’s report.

Another customer complained to the manager about sharing a public restroom with a 'man'. “The customer was very upset, was irate, had threatened to call police,” according to attorney Chad Cloutier, who represents the Rockport company Realty Resources Hospitality LLC. who owns and operates six Denny’s family restaurants, including the one involved in the discrimination case.

“A few days later, management decided that it would be in the best interest of Denny’s to ask the customer to use the men’s room until sex reassignment surgery.”

Freeman then filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission on April 17, 2008 after being banned from the ladies room.

On May 18 the Maine Human Rights Commission on a 3-2 decision that Freeman was discriminated against when management would not let her use the ladies room until she had sex reassignment surgery.

Cloutier asserted the decision could have far-reaching, negative consequences for all Maine businesses with shared restroom facilities. His assessment was not shared by the Maine Civil Liberties Union and Equality Maine, who hailed it as a civil rights victory.

“It’s important to know that people have rights, including transgender [people], and that businesses are not free to discriminate,” said Zachary Heiden, the legal director of the MCLU.

Heiden said that many people make the faulty assumption that being transgender is mostly about genitals.

“That’s a part of it, but the essence of who they are is not what their genitals look like,” he said.

Cloutier argued to the commission that a discrimination decision would require that Maine businesses essentially decide whether a person is transgender or if they might want to use a particular restroom or locker room for purposes of “sexual perversion.” Making this accommodation is a violation of a woman’s right to privacy, he said in a press release, as well as a “significant risk to the health and safety of [the restaurant’s] customers, particularly children.”

Yeah, right. Sell that lie somewhere else.

“It’s almost an untenable position for businesses. It really is a slippery slope. This claimant may be perfectly safe and use the bathroom in a perfectly normal way, but what’s to prevent a person of some devious intent ... the right not to share a bathroom?”

Betsy Smith, executive director of Equality Maine, strongly disagreed.

“How does it pose a risk to children that someone uses the bathroom? That assumes that that person somehow harms children,” she said. “It’s so outrageously discriminatory.”

Smith said that forcing a transgender woman to use a men’s room is not safe.

“This company needs diversity training to understand what it means to be gender-nonconforming,” she said.

Kevin LaBree, the vice president and director of operations for Realty Resources Hospitality, said that he was just concerned about the comfort and care of his guests.

“Denny’s is a family restaurant chain,” he said. “I am going to do what’s in the best interest of my customers.”

Mr. LaBree, what's in the best interests of your customers and your financial bottom line is not allowing discrimination against anyone, including transgender people.

And judging by the level of ignorance and transhatred in the comment threads on this case in Abigail Curtis' Bangor Daily News story on the hearing, there's a lot of people in Maine and beyond who need to be 'ejumacated' on that simple point as well.

Sierra Broussard Discrimination Trial In Wisconsin

All 28 year old Sierra Broussard wanted to do was go to a local Appleton, WI club called Park Central, but what she ran into was transphobia and discrimination instead.

The biracial transwoman was denied entrance into the club on June 21, 2008 because in the words of one Park Central employee and in the civil suit she filed last year, if she "used either bathroom it would cause confusion for the other patrons," and that she should go to another club, one that caters to "her kind."

A club manager told The Appleton Post-Crescent last summer that the bars do not discriminate against gays or lesbians, but cannot accommodate Broussard because allowing her to use either the men's or women's restroom is a safety issue.

Excuse me?

In their response to Sierra's lawsuit, Concepts Unlimited Inc., the owner of Park Central, and its owners, Charles A. and Lynn McCarrell, denied that Broussard was denied admission to the club because she is black or transgender.

They admit she was not allowed to use the men's or women's bathrooms because it would cause confusion for their customers.

They also deny the refusal caused her economic losses or mental and emotional distress and embarrassment, and deny that Outagamie County courts are the proper venue and jurisdiction for the lawsuit.

Sierra is living her life full time as a woman, but her name and gender marker on her ID does not match her gender presentation. She also has no plans at the moment to get SRS. But that doesn't mean that peeps can trample all over her civil rights, either.

“A lot of people … are thinking I’m a cross-dresser that wants to be a woman, (that) I’ve got a big Adam’s apple, big muscles and you’d be able to tell,” Broussard said. “No, you can’t.”

Broussard and two others protested outside Park Central in June 2008 to bring awareness to the issue.

“You don’t have to get along with people, but you don’t have to discriminate,” Sierra told the Post-Crescent when she filed the lawsuit.

Outagamie County Circuit Judge Mitch Metropulos has been assigned the case, and has yet to set a start date for it.

Will keep you TransGriot readers apprised of the trial and its result when it begins.