News and Events => Opinions & Editorials => Topic started by: Hazumu on March 14, 2009, 11:31:52 AM Return to Full Version
Title: No rest for (trans)gender politics
Post by: Hazumu on March 14, 2009, 11:31:52 AM
Post by: Hazumu on March 14, 2009, 11:31:52 AM
By Jac Wilder VerSteeg
Palm Beach Post Deputy Editor of the Editorial Page
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.palmbeachpost.com%2Fcustom%2Fnospider%2Fimpl%2Fimages%2Fchannel_headers%2Fpalm_beach_post.gif&hash=1705b5744876bc4a3dd2364f76cf5bc0a7cdb39a) (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2009/03/14/a14a_versteegcol_0314.html)
Palm Beach Post Deputy Editor of the Editorial Page
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.palmbeachpost.com%2Fcustom%2Fnospider%2Fimpl%2Fimages%2Fchannel_headers%2Fpalm_beach_post.gif&hash=1705b5744876bc4a3dd2364f76cf5bc0a7cdb39a) (http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2009/03/14/a14a_versteegcol_0314.html)
QuoteThe ordinance twists itself in knots trying to solve the bathroom problem by describing circumstances under which bathrooms can be restricted to one gender. I think it's too complicated and vague to work. My problem with the law's opponents is that rather than fix that narrow flaw, they're trying to undo all of the city's protections for transgender people and, through subterfuge, also eliminate Gainesville's protections for gays and lesbians.
The ballot measure, if passed, would force the city's anti-discrimination ordinance to mirror the state's civil rights law. Gender identity isn't in the state's law. Neither is civil rights protection based on sexual orientation. So that also would be lost. The opponents, Citizens for Good Public Policy, deny that's their goal. But the group is allied with Florida Family Action, which is fronted by the people who brought us Florida's constitutional ban on gay marriages.