Mississippi lawmakers quietly kill bills to restrict legal recognition of transgender people

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mississippi-lawmakers-quietly-kill-bills-to-restrict-legal-recognition-of-transgender-people/ar-AA1nWHIg?ocid=windirect&cvid=3e6ebd7f34ad476faffbbf07cbba1548&ei=58

Story by EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS (30 April 2024)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi's Republican-led Legislature will not take final votes on two bills that attempted to restrict legal recognition of transgender people.

The bills died quietly when House and Senate leaders failed to agree on compromise versions before a Monday night deadline. Lawmakers were working on several other complex issues at the time.

One bill would have restricted transgender people's use of bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings, including university dormitories. The other would have specified that sex is defined at birth, and that "there are only two sexes, and every individual is either male or female."

The House and Senate previously passed different versions of both bills. The Republican-controlled chambers would need to agree on a single version of each bill before it could go to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves.

In 2021, Reeves signed legislation to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls' or women's sports teams. Last year, he signed a bill to ban gender-affirming hormones or surgery for anyone younger than 18.

The Mississippi proposals were among several bills being considered in state legislatures across the U.S. as Republicans try to restrict transgender people's access to gender-affirming care, bathrooms and sports, among other things.

Lawsuit challenges Arkansas policy that removed option to allow gender neutral marker on IDs

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/lawsuit-challenges-arkansas-policy-that-removed-option-to-allow-gender-neutral-marker-on-ids/ar-AA1nWJ52?ocid=windirect&cvid=dd3e60727e664d338609cba530b39434&ei=46

Story by Ryan Reynolds (30 April 2024)

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arkansas filed a lawsuit against the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), fighting against a rule that restricts the ability of transgender and nonbinary Arkansans to self-identify their gender on driver's licenses.

ACLU filed the complaint on behalf of five people, which argues that the emergency rule was implemented "without any documented justification or compliance" under the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act. According to the organization, there should've been a 30-day public notice and comment period.

"The law requires agencies to listen to the people affected by their rule," ACLU of Arkansas Legal Director John Williams said. "Agencies cannot fabricate emergencies to evade that responsibility. Having failed to seek public input as required by law, DFA will now hear from us in court."

Arkansas officials announced on March 12 a revision to a state policy that previously allowed a person to use an "X" marker instead of a gender on their license or ID card. The new policy will only allow someone to choose "male" or "female" on their identification.

Red read

Happy birthday to each of you!

Chrissy

Happy birthday Natalie Rene!

Chrissy

It is nice to have the basic makeup needed.

If anyone is fearful to buy makeup for the first time, you can explore for a long time at large grocery stores as many have a cosmetics aisle.  But do not expect any help to learn anything for what is best for you, for that go to a cosmetic store.

Chrissy

Looking

More Republican states challenge new Title IX rules protecting LGBTQ+ students

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/more-republican-states-challenge-new-title-ix-rules-protecting-lgbtq-students/ar-AA1nWoGP?ocid=windirect&cvid=a008b37c8ff54c6cb7471a40ca48f76f&ei=11

Story by COLLIN BINKLEY (30 April 2024)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Another six Republican states are piling on to challenge the Biden administration's newly expanded campus sexual assault rules, saying they overstep the president's authority and undermine the Title IX anti-discrimination law.

A federal lawsuit led by Kentucky on Tuesday asks a judge to halt and overturn the new policy. The suit is joined by Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. It follows other legal challenges filed by Monday by nine other states including Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.

The lawsuits are the first to challenge the administration's new Title IX rules, which expand protections to LGBTQ+ students and add new safeguards for victims of sexual assault. The policy was finalized in April and takes effect in August.

Central to the dispute is a new provision expanding Title IX to LGBTQ+ students. The 1972 law forbids discrimination based on sex in education. Under the new rules, Title IX will also protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The states involved say it amounts to an illegal rewriting of the landmark legislation.

They argue it will clash with their own laws, including those restricting which bathrooms and locker rooms transgender students can use, banning them from using facilities that align with their new gender identity.

Quote from: Oldandcreaky on Today at 03:19:20 AMNow is the time to gaze away at your navel, Allie, just as long as you don't become eternally fixated on it. No belly button is that interesting, unless, perhaps, you're Mark Twain or Abe Lincoln.

Grew up where the former spent much of his adult life and wrote many of his books, and am related to the latter ... so luckily I feel as if I have the perspective to avoid those particular pitfalls 😉

Used my birthday money to get some thin plywood to make interior panels for the Austin, managed to cut it up to get it into the Yeti. You can just get a 5ftx 4ft in with some bending! Now the fun started after cutting it to the correct shape to fit the headliner I had to lie on my back in the load space and hold it up on my own. Now with my back and knees it was hard to sit up once lay down to reach up enough, thought I would be suffering this morning but fine. Now comes some more fun of drilling holes so it can be fixed in place.
 At lest the weather is improving so far, warmed up enough for just a sweat shirt and polo .