Quote from: Zythyra on July 02, 2009, 07:23:38 AM
Transgender People Are Under Attack - Help Stop the Lies - Action Needed
July 1st, 2009
http://www.masstpc.org/?p=439
We are hard at work, running a grassroots campaign in support of
transgender equality. Meanwhile our opponents are spending thousands of dollars to spread lies and propagate fear about a bill that would quite simply protect everyone.
So, what are they saying?
Listen to the lies HERE.
What are we going to do next?
We are going to continue with an aggressive grassroots campaign,
asking our supporters to contact their legislators in support of the
bill.
Ah yes, the old bathroom argument surfaces yet again.
California has, for many years, required that those using gender segregated facilities (restrooms, locker rooms, etc) use the facilities appropriate to the gender identification specified on state issued identification, with only one exception. That exception allows females to use male facilities (applies to restrooms) when overcrowding conditions or maintenance issues exist with female facilities in buildings or areas where there is a disparity between facilities available to each gender. Also, certain facilities where genital exposure to others is likely are required to make reasonable accommodations to protect the privacy of transgender patrons and users.
While there have been no reports in California of transgender persons committing sex crimes while using the facilities appropriate to their gender identification, I guess anything is possible. After all, theoretical scientists can prove an elephant can hang off a cliff supported solely by its tail hanging onto a daisy. But, at least in my case and the cases of those I know, trans-persons tend to get in, do our business, and get out of gender segregated facilities (mainly because we are at serious risk of a hate crime in such isolated and private areas).
Since California is one of the first states to go this route (many years ago), it seems to me that the state's record on this disproves the claims made by the religious extremist. I would suggest that such groups are simply projecting their own desires, fantasies, and tendency towards sexual violence against women and children onto others. I suspect that one look into who is funding MFI (the group that sponsored the ad), and you may find all kinds of questionable support from groups associated with recent sexual improprieties against woman and children.
There are, I believe, several other states where trans-persons are allowed to use gender segregated facilities appropriate to their gender identification, where there are no reports of any sort of predatory sexual activities by trans-persons against others. In states where such facilities usage is determined by genitalia or the gender assigned at birth, however, there are far too many reports of transgender persons being victims of sexual assault and other violent crimes, as well as false arrests and malicious claims of sexual improprieties (prostitution allegations, mostly) directed against transwomen in particular. In states where transgender persons use the facilities appropriate to their gender identities, such claims are non-existent.
From what I can tell, allowing transgender persons to use the facilities appropriate to their gender identification significantly reduces the chances that said transgender person will become a crime victim, and has not increased by any measure the incidences of crimes against cisgender women or children (the massive majority of which are committed by cisgender males).
I have taken this particular issue on with several colleges in Southern California, and I've won based on these arguments. The nature of my current employment prevents me from doing more than posting these facts and hoping that you will use them wisely (and often) in the ongoing fight for basic equality.
I hope this helps.
Post Merge: December 12, 2009, 11:45:21 AM
Quote from: Emelye on July 05, 2009, 09:47:24 PM
What really annoys the crap outta me is that the MA press have helped the liars promote their propaganda by continually referencing the law as a "bathroom bill." I've been sending protest emails to the media that do this and hope others will as well.
One thing progressives are up against is that corporate media is largely owned by neoconservatives who profess (but often do not practice in their own lives) evangelical fundamentalist "Christian" values. That same media is funded by corporate advertising, which claims to hold similar beliefs and values.
You have to link the one sided biased coverage to the advertisers themselves, in order to get at least some of them to use their financial power over the media to put an end to such obvious bias. Advertisers do not like having their brand name associated with things that upset their customer base, and in this economy they are very quick to take their advertising dollars elsewhere.
Just a thought.
