Kalamazoo City Commission hears testimony on anti-discrimination ordinance

[Hazumu]

Supporters say ordinance will increase economic opportunities, opponents claim passage will lead to moral decay
By Todd A. Heywood

"Sold to the unsuspecting citizenry as tolerance, such amendments and policies lead directly to discrimination against people who believe that such behavior is not only wrong, but is completely antithetical to the proper healthy functioning and continuation of society," Balkema said. She claimed the ordinance would infringe on free speech and freedom of religion rights of citizens in Kalamazoo. She also claimed it would infringe on the right of privacy for women and children in public rest rooms.

Balkema claimed the inclusion of gender identity would allow a man to get his driver's license changed to identify himself as a woman, allowing him access to the women's rest room where women and children would likely be raped and assaulted. VanWormer said her group's research into that claim had found not a single case of a transgender person charged with or brought to trial under such a circumstance anywhere such legislation had been passed.

[NicholeW.]

VanWormer said her group's research into that claim had found not a single case of a transgender person charged with or brought to trial under such a circumstance anywhere such legislation had been passed.

Or anywhere else either. There was one charge in Portland, OR., (I think, consult Zoe Brain's blog for the exact locale) that had to do with some sort of indecency in a public toilet, but seems that was more to the fact that the person was in a restroom that they could not convince the authorities that they should be in. No rape, mutilation, abuse of any kind occurred.