This Week In The 2013 Texas Lege-Week Ending January 25

For my Texas readers, I'm going to start posting the Equality Texas weekly legislative updates on the blog until the session is over.   We must be aware of what the heck is going on in Austin, especially since the Republicans control both the Texas House and Senate and Governor Goodhair is still occupying the governor's mansion..

Equality Texas' Daniel Williams will be bringing you these weekly updates, and here is the one for the week ending January 25, 2013.

Historic Day For Texas Legislature

The 83rd session of the Texas Legislature gets started today and runs for 140 days until late May.  For the first time since Glen Maxey left office in 2003 there will be a rainbow community legislator on the floor of our state capitol in Austin. .

She's 29 year old Mary Gonzalez (D) from El Paso, who was the first out woman of color to run for the Texas state legislature.   She beat two opponents in the May primary to win her District 75 seat..  She had no Republican opponent in the general election. 

Representative Gonzalez is also a trailblazer in another respect in terms of being the first legislator in the nation to declare publicly that she is a pansexual..

Gonzalez said in an exclusive Dallas Voice interview she identifies as “pansexual,” an orientation many would call bisexual, except pansexuals don’t believe in a gender binary and can be attracted to all gender identities. Gonzalez said she doesn’t believe in a gender binary because “gender identity isn’t the defining part of my attraction.”

Gonzalez originally ran for the legislature to gain access to clean drinking water and better educational opportunities for her district, but her sexuality quickly became something she had to repeatedly address on the campaign trail.  Mainstream media called her the Latina lesbian lawmaker and the coverage led to negative comments about her dating men in the past, accusations she was not a “true lesbian,” Gonzalez said.

But since her sexual orientation was made a campaign issue, she decided to wait until after the election to clarify it.   The bottom line is that she'll be the one representing District 75 and hopefully that will be for a long and distinguished legislative career.

Stacie Laughton Resigns From NH Legislature Seat

Was happy to hear the news that transwoman Stacie Laughton had won a seat in the New Hampshire legislature during the just concluded 2012 election.

But unfortunately the news of Laughton's history making achievement went south as word leaked out about her pre-transition criminal record that included a felony conviction and serving 4.5 months for credit card fraud in 2008.

She's had a clean record since moving to Nashua and New Hampshire law allows convicted felons to vote and run for office after the final discharge of their sentence, which includes probation, imprisonment and parole.  Laughton's case included complications such as a suspended sentence and unpaid restitution, so there was a question about whether she could legally serve in the legislature.. 

With the Democrats just returning to the majority in the New Hampshire House, there was also pressure building on Laughton to resolve this controversy as quickly as possible.

On November 28 Representative-elect Laughton decided to submit her letter of resignation to the New Hampshire Secretary of State's Office. 

"I regret to inform you that I am unable to fill the State Representative seat for Hillsborough County District 31 to which I was recently elected."

The New Hampshire trans community and your brothers and sisters across the country regret that as well, especially since the state of New Hampshire doesn't have legislation covering the human rights of transpeople .  
It would have been nice to have one of our own #girlslikeus helping to make that happen..   

The sad conclusion of the Laughton case also reemphasizes something that is vitally important as we continue to make our trans human rights push, strive to break barriers, and have more transpeople run for and hopefully win public office. 

If you're going to run for public office as a transperson, make certain you don't have any skeletons that will pop out during the campaign or take the time to divulge them yourself.  If you don't, our opponents and haters will definitely be looking for them and if they find them, the haters will not hesitate to use them to not only keep us from winning the office, but attempt to disqualify us or cripple our effectiveness in that office if we win. 
.

Nova Scotia Passes Trans Human Rights Law!

Add Nova Scotia to the list of Canadian provinces and legislative jurisdictions that have passed trans human rights laws

According to Mercedes Allen and NSRAP, the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project, Bill 140, the Transgendered Persons Protection Act, which adds gender identity and expression to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act unanimously passed its third reading

It not only continues the positive momentum of trans human rights legislative wins north of the 49th Parallel, it also makes Nova Scotia the fourth Canadian legislative jurisdiction after the Northwest Territories, Ontario and Manitoba to add protections to their provincial or territorial human rights laws that include gender identity and expression.  

Meanwhile the trans human rights issue is being debated in Newfoundland and Labrador and C-273, the federal Trans Rights Bill passed Second Reading on June 6 and is now in committee.

For transpeople in Nova Scotia, you received an early Christmas present this year.  I hope the rest of Canada follows suit in recognizing the human rights of trans Canadians and the need to respect and protect those human rights under their nations laws.

And congrats Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Legislature and NSRAP for getting it done.  Your southern trans cousins in the States couldn't be happier for you.

Stacie Laughton-New Hampshire Trans State Rep!

When the New Hampshire state legislature begins its session on January it will be only two seats shy of flipping control of the Senate back into Democratic hands at 13-11.   The 400 member New Hampshire House will have a 221 member Democratic majority under the leadership of Terrie Norelli as Speaker of the House.

The Democratic majority will also contain the first open trans person ever elected to a US state legislature. 

On Tuesday Democrat Stacie Laughton easily beat out two Republican candidates in the Ward 4 state legislative race in Nashua to become New Hampshire's first trans state representative.

In addition to being the first ever open trans legislator elected to a US state legislative seat, she also becomes the first elected trans state legislator since Althea Garrison accomplished that feat in neighboring Massachusetts 20 years ago

“I believe that at this point, the LGBT community will hopefully be inspired,” Laughton said Wednesday. “My hope is that now maybe we’ll see more people in the community running, maybe for alderman. Maybe in the next election, we’ll have a senator.”

Laughton said in an interview she also would like to work on legislation to make it easier for trans people to be recognized in the state, including measures that would make it easier for group members to change their gender on state-issued IDs and being able to use the restroom of their choice.

“The state needs to be welcoming and affirming and sending that message that we will be welcoming and you won’t be discriminated against in New Hampshire.” .

I sure hope so Rep-Elect Laughton, especially in light of the fact that just three years ago a trans rights bill was voted down 24-0 in a then Democratically controlled predominately female New Hampshire Senate after it passed by one vote in the New Hampshire House.   It was galling in light of the fact they had no problem passing a same gender marriage bill in the same session.  

Hopefully Rep-Elect Stacie Laughton can help change that.

'Bathroom Meme' Being Deployed Against Bill C-279

While we've been focused on our own electoral business in the States,  Bill C-279 was reintroduced in the Canadian House of Commons.  

It's the private members bill introduced by Randall Garrison, the NDP Critic on LGBT Affairs that would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code to include "gender identity" and "gender expression" as grounds for discrimination.

It's a reintroduction of the Bill Siskay sponsored C-389 private member's bill that passed the Canadian House of Commons in February 2011 but died while it was in the Canadian Senate due to the April 2011 election call.  

Liberal MP Hedy Fry of Vancouver Central also introduced her own private member's bill C-276 on September 19, 2011 which was an exact redraft of Siskay's bill that passed last year.  

Fry's C-276 bill underwent First Reading on March 27 and has the support of MP Garrison and MP Elizabeth May, the Green Party leader.

Bil C-279 has been advancing through the Conservative dominated legislature since its introduction on September 21, 2011.  It passed its First Reading on June 6 on a 150-132 vote with the help of a coalition spearheaded by the NDP that also included May, the Bloc Quebecois, the Liberals and 15 Conservative MP's.  There were also 17 Conservatives that didn't vote including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but the no votes against the trans right bill were all Conservative.

Bill C-279 has had second reading and is currently in the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights

Of course the harder core elements of the Conservative Party and right wing allies are determined to kill this trans rights bill.  Predictably Conservative MP Rob Anders from Calgary West deployed an all too familiar to trans rights activists around the world tactic of conservative leaning legislators seeking to kill trans human rights legislation, the bathroom predator meme.   

Anders is circulating a petition aimed at stirring up opposition to C-279 and falsely claimed according to the CBC that the bill's goal 'is to give transgendered men access to women's washrooms.'

Anders also played the 'protect the younglings' card and said it’s the duty of the House of Commons to protect children from any exposure or harm that will come from giving men this kind of access.

Yeah, right.  The Conservatives are learning well from their south of the border right wing brothers when it comes to opposing our human rights.  

Of course Canadaian trans activists pushed back against the bathroom predator meme pimped by MP Anders.

"The suggestion that this is somehow some … conspiracy of trans people to sneak into bathrooms deliberately to harm people it’s ludicrous," trans activist Jan Buterman says. "Trans people have been using bathrooms all over Canada for decades with, as far as I know, zero evidence of any incidents whatsoever."
    
Will stay tuned to events north of the border to see if Bill C-279 passes the Canadian House.

GENDA Passes NY Assembly For Fifth Time

The New York state trans community is justifiably happy that GENDA, the Gender Expression Non Discrimination Act got out of the New York State Assembly for the fifth consecutive session on an 81-59 vote.

Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Ithaca, New York City and Rochester have passed transgender-inclusive non-discrimination laws, along with Westchester, Suffolk and Tompkins Counties.

But now GENDA goes to the Republican controlled Senate, where it has died in the last four consecutive sessions, including most gallingly last year when there was a major push by the GL community to get same gender marriage passed.

Where are those four Republican senators who crossed the aisle to vote yes for same gender marriage and are regarded as heroes by the GL community on human rights coverage for trans New Yorkers?   Mayor Bloomberg?  Gov. Andrew Cuomo?

And oh yeah, where is Lady Gaga for her trans little monsters when you need her?    She was front and center in the 2011 same gender marriage battle, but is MIA in 2012 when it comes to exerting the same energy to pass rights coverge for trans people in New York state.

This GENDA passage for the fifth time also comes on the heels of a groundbreaking EEOC trans employment ruling as well, but will it be enough to get the votes we need in the NY Senate to finally get GENDA passed and to Gov Cuomo's desk for his signature? 

The national trans community is watching and hoping it happens for our New York state trans brothers and trans sisters, but it remains to be seen if it does.

Whatever Happened To Toby's Act?

You may recall I briefly mentioned in one of the many posts I wrote tracking the progress of the federal Bill C-389 through the Canadian House of Commons that a similar effort was underway in Ontario.

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo introduced Bill 186 or Toby's Act for the third time since 2007 in honor of a trans parishioner and music producer named Toby Dancer at her church who committed suicide.  Toby's Act would amend the Ontario Human Rights Code to add 'gender identity' to it. 

The United Church minister and NDP rep for the Parkdale-High Park riding has represented the constituency since 2006 and was recently reelected to office in the Ontario provincial elections that happened October 7. 

But just an update to what happened with Toby's Act and what's going on at Queen's Park.   It received First Reading but has been stalled since then and I pick up the story with the help of Xtra. 

Just before TDOR 2010 there was a question period on the floor of the Ontario Legislature in which MPP DiNovo reintroduced Toby's Act and it was shot down by then Liberal Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley with members of the trans community sitting in the visitors gallery to watch the proceedings.

Bentley implied that trans people are already protected under existing law under 'sex' and it wasn't necessary to amend the Ontario Human Rights Code.  "It is not helpful in any way, shape or form to say that there is some challenge with the existing protection,” he said. “There are not. The protections are there for those who need them. And for those who even think they can discriminate: do not."

“The law prohibits it. The decisions are clear. The protections exist. We reject all forms of discrimination in this province.”



Um Chris, discrimination IS happening to transpeople in Ontario and everywhere else in Canada as well.  It's why the federal anti-discrimination legislation to cover trans people was introduced three times and has now been reintroduced at the federal level. 

Those of us who are members of marginalized communities already know that the only way to curb discrimination and bigotry aimed at us is to put explicit language in anti-discrimination laws to make it crystal clear to the bigots it won't be tolerated.

MPP DiNovo and trans activists in the province had a dissenting opinion about then AG Bentley's 'Implied coverage'. "The attorney general could make the change tomorrow,” she told Xtra at the time after it was over. “They have a majority government. They could change this tomorrow. Why won't they?"

“We are moving farther under a federal Conservative government on this issue than we are under a provincial Liberal one. It’s a sad day when Conservatives are more progressive than Liberals.”

Yep, sure is.  And the Liberals paid for it at the provincial ballot box by losing 17 seats.    

A blatant example of anti-trans discrimination just happened at the Trail's End Farmers Market in London, ON that gained international attention and put an end to the fiction that the 'implied coverage' under the Ontario Human Rights Act is enough to deter anti-trans bigotry.  

It has led to two human rights complaints being filed and also put an exclamation point as to why MPP DiNovo and trans rights advocates in Ontario have been pushing for the folks at Queen's Park to do the right thing on trans human rights coverage in the first place.

Perhaps new Ontario Attorney General John Gerretsen and the Liberal minority government will be more inclined to see it MPP DiNovo's way and pass Toby's Act when the new provincial legislative session gets started at Queen's Park.   

Karma And Election Consequences At Work In New Hampshire?

Remember in 2008 when to great fanfare a same gender marriage bill passed in New Hampshire while a trans rights bill that was up at the same time in the Granite State barely passed in the New Hampshire House thanks to the efforts of then Speaker of the House Terie Norelli (D) and was shot down 24-0 in a female leadership dominated Senate?

Fast forward three years because the karmic wheel may be turning in this case. 

In the November 2010 midterm elections the New Hampshire House flipped from a 216-174 Democratic advantage to a 298-102 Republican controlled chamber. The results were just as devastating in the New Hampshire Senate as it moved from a 14-10 Democratic majority to a 19-5 Republican one..

An effort is underway in the GOP dominated New Hampshire House to repeal the marriage equality law and replace it with civil unions despite polling showing that 62% of people in the state oppose those efforts.   HB 437 originally banned same gender marriages and civil unions but was amended by a 3-1 vote on September 14 to allow civil unions for gay and heterosexual couples.

The Judiciary Committee meets tomorrow to consider a subcommittee recommendation that they repeal the same gender marriage law that took effect last year. 

The amended HB 437 should it get out of committee tomorrow won't be voted on by the full New Hampshire House until the new legislative session convenes starting on January 4, 2012.

People who were married in New Hampshire won't have their marriages revoked, but should HB 437 take effect marriage would only be allowed for a man and a woman. 

New Hampshire Governor John Lynch is a Democrat, so if it does pass the House and Senate, it'll be up to him to veto or sign it.   If he does veto it, the GOP might have enough votes to override it and make it law.   

Elections have consequences people, and the sooner that people learn that lesson on the liberal-progressive side, the better.  Not voting is NEVER an option if you wish to not only have progresive change in society, but keep it.

Maine's LD 1046 Goes Down To Defeat!

Score one for Nicole and the Maine trans community.  Rep. Ken Fredette's (R-Newport) anti-trans LD 1046 went down in flames today.

The unjust bill designed to mess with trans Mainers was soundly defeated in the Maine House on a 81-51 vote which saw 15 Republicans join the Democratic minority in defeating the bill in a late Tuesday night vote.  

Rep. Charlie Priest (D-Brunswick) said the individuals "don't want to stand out," they only want to be accepted by the gender they identify with.   "It is a bad idea to unravel the Maine Human Rights Act in response to an unjustified fear," Priest said.

House Democratic Leader Emily Cain (D-Orono) where Nicole used to live, applauded the vote.   

"Passing this bill in any form , whether in the original form, the committee- amended form or any other form would be a step backwards for Maine and would put an obstacle in front of many people who are simply trying to get to work , go to school and participate like everyone else in our communities/"


Fredette tried to take it to the GOP controlled Maine Senate, where it went down on a 23-11 vote    Sen. Phil Bartlett (D-Gorham) called Fredette's bill mean spirited, potentially discriminatory and unworkable.

Thank you Maine legislature.   Too bad Kenneth Fredette doesn't get that.