Some of the transgender news and views we came across on Tuesday …

#1 - Autumn spoke with Shannon Minter And Mara Keisling yesterday at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. You can hear that here. And, if it’s your cup of tea, there’s plenty more coverage of the DNC at Pam’s House Blend.

#2 - “Removing ’some’ of the inequalities” … “still a political problem” … “has enough lobbying been done?” … so, to whom do you think Barney Frank’s referring?

…

He added that the Employment Non Discrimination Act still presented “a political problem.”

It was originally designed to make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or promote a person based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The decision to remove trans people from the scope of the legislation caused anger among the LGBT community in the US, with many demanding an “all or nothing” stance.

“The question now is whether enough lobbying has been done to include people who are transgender,” Congressman Frank said.

“We need more lobbying on that. We had a very good hearing on that issue and it helped. Previously, we were running into problems getting it out of committee, and I think the hearing we had a major impact on that. It also depends on if we get more Democrats.”

…

Congressman attacks gays who support McCain

Kat Rose over at ENDAblog had something to say about “more Democrats” …

And wait for those 15 to be ‘educated’ by those who say that they have our best interests at heart.

And then wait for him to say 15 more are needed.

#3 - Joshua Lynsen of the Washington Blade spoke with Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley at the DNC in Denver on Monday. Lynsen asked O’Malley about Montgomery County’s (Md.) upcoming transgender rights referendum …

Blade: Last question. There is a transgender rights measure that is going to the ballot in Montgomery County in November. Do you expect to become involved in that battle at all to help protect the rights of transgender people?

O’Malley: You know, I think we passed a similar bill in the city of Baltimore when I was mayor, if my memory serves me correctly. So, you know, there are bills at the local level. There’s bills at the state level. I typically don’t get involved with local ordinances. I try to focus my attention on statewide bills. But we did it in the city of Baltimore and dogs and cats didn’t fall from the sky. You know? It was — I think these bills — I don’t know. I think it would probably be a good thing for Montgomery County to do. I don’t have the legislation in front of me, but if it’s like what we did in Baltimore, it caused no problems whatsoever.

Blade: So it’s got your thumbs up?

O’Malley: Yes.

O’Malley reiterates call for civil unions

#4 - We haven’t heard much about Susan Stanton since early April (”Wife Seeks Amicable Divorce From Ex-Largo Manager Susan“). As a follow-up to that news, the Tampa Tribune reported yesterday …

Susan Stanton, the former Largo city manager known as Steven Stanton before a sex change, has mediated his divorce from his wife of 18 years, according to court documents.

The agreement was signed off on by a Pinellas-Pasco judge on Aug. 6.

…

Transgendered Ex-Largo Manager Gets Divorce Terms

The St. Petersburg Times noted (”Stanton’s marriage comes to an end“) that Stanton “has a good relationship with her ex-wife, but she has lost most of her friends” and “has been unable to find work.”

#5 - In the UK, the late Lynne Braithwaite was honored last Friday …

A FLY-PAST of a lone Vulcan bomber across Morecambe on Friday was a
fitting tribute to a leading transgender activist, author and RAF veteran of 40 years.

The life of Lynne Janine Braithwaite BEM, who died on August 12, was celebrated at a packed Lancaster Cremator-ium where friends and family said their farewells to a remarkable person.

They included the Deputy Chief Constable of Lancashire police force, who gave a speech outlining Lynne’s involvement as a volunteer advisor on transgender issues, who toured the country speaking at various seminars and workshops – fighting for the rights of all transgender people.

The fly-past of the Vulcan bomber was in honour of the work carried out by Lynne as an engineer on the Vulcan to the Sky project – a campaign to get the Vulcan airborne again which was only achieved months before Lynne passed away.

Lynne, of Westfield Grove in Morecambe, certainly led an inspirational life.

She was born Lawrence James Braithwaite on July 1, 1934 in one of Beatrix Potter’s houses at Near Sawrey in the Lake District.

She left school to join the RAF in September 1949, retiring as a Flight Sergeant on July 1 1989.

Lynne was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Honours List in 1976.

Her expertise was maintenance of Vulcan bombers. It was with this experience that she was called out of retirement as engineering consultant to the Vulcan to the Sky Trust.

In early 2008 the Vulcan bomber XH558 passed its airworthiness tests and flew once again. Lynne was very proud of this achievement and it was therfore entirely appropriate that the plane was present at her funeral.

After leaving the RAF Lynne ran her own business making silver model aircraft until 1992, when it went bust during the recession.

Not long after her transition to female in 1994 aged 60, she contacted Lancashire Constabulary asking what policies and procedures they had regarding transgender people.

Lynne had significant input advising on best practice for trans people as service users and employees in the police service.

Until July 2008 she remained an active member of Lancashire Northern Police Division’s Independent Advisors Group where, over the years, she was consulted on a number of policing issues and policies. At the time of her death she was also an active member of Trans Lancs group – an advisory team for the constabulary, keeping them up to date with the legal and social issues affecting trans people.

She wrote several books including ‘Diaries of a Transfemale’ and ‘From Brigands to V Bombers’.

The Press For Change website, which campaigns for respect and equality for all transgender people, paid tribute to her: “Lynne was a vibrant, indefatigable person who was always active and approach-ed life with the enthusiasm of someone decades younger. She will be greatly missed.”

Fly-past tribute to RAF veteran

Transgender news and views for Monday …

#1 - Autumn flew into Denver yesterday where she will be covering the Democratic National Convention for Pam’s House Blend. Among the other trans folks in Denver for the Convention (as delegates) are Marisa Richmond and Vanessa Foster.

#2 - Testimony concluded last Friday in Diane Schroer’s bias suit against the Library of Congress …

A federal judge yesterday concluded a four-day bench trial in a lawsuit brought by a former Special Forces commander who lost a job offer as a terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress because he disclosed he was undergoing the medical process of becoming a woman.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson heard testimony from more than a dozen witnesses, including scientific experts, officials at the Library of Congress and Diane Schroer, the former Army colonel who brought the suit. Robertson said he would issue a ruling soon.

Schroer, who applied for the job in 2004 under the name of David and has since completed the medical transition to become a woman, testified that she was hurt when she lost the job offer after disclosing the transition to the person she thought would be her future boss. She filed the sex discrimination suit under the Civil Rights Act. The Library of Congress has argued that the Civil Rights Act does not prohibit discrimination against transsexuals or on the basis of gender identity.

Testimony Ends in Transsexual Bias Suit

#3 - JimK at Vigilance, who’s been closely following the fate of Montgomery County’s (Md.) recently-passed transgender rights law, expressed some exasperation yesterday with the wimpy, “croquet” tactics of the law’s supporters …

Look, this isn’t croquet we’re playing here, this is a fistfight. The other side has been throwing punches for months, and our side is waiting for funding so we can have a poll so we can decide what we want to tell people. “Making information available” is important and so obvious it shouldn’t need to be said. It is also not a persuasion strategy. People who want information need to be able to find it, I agree. But your average ignorant voter doesn’t care that much and isn’t going to look for it. If you want to give them information you’ve got to give it to them. In their face.

“Prohibit discrimination” is the wimpiest campaign slogan I can imagine. It’s got more syllables than impact. The people of our Blue county oppose discrimination, and would support this bill if they knew what it said. That’s why we elected the Council who passed it unanimously and the County Executive who was happy to sign it. But the anti-gay, anti-transgender bigots are making sure people don’t know what the law is about. They’re not conducting polls and adjusting their message for the “median voter,” they’re waving their arms and getting red in the face, telling lies and misrepresenting the law in any way that will get people’s attention. When one side is saying your daughter will be raped and dead girls will be turning up all over the county, “prohibit discrimination” is not an effective response.

…

Woman Fired For Wearing Pants

Over at the Maryland Politics Watch blog, Montgomery County trans woman Maryanne Arnow recounts the discrimination she has faced …

In the last year, I’ve had to face distinct increases in discrimination and denigration from the general public in the normal course of my daily life. This is occurring directly as a result of a local campaign from conservative groups that continually foster unwarranted fears, stereotypical misrepresentations, and highly negative references to transgender people, in the public eye of perception.

I have faced extreme social and workplace humiliations in the last several years since beginning my transition (change) of gender. I have applied at dozens of restaurants, retail stores, warehouses, and even major hotel chains such as Marriott, most located in Montgomery County.

…

As it now stands, it is both legal and apparently still socially acceptable to discriminate against anyone like myself in hiring, workplace, housing, public services, and public accommodations. I once again have no civil rights or legal protections at any level. Not federal, state, or county, and mainly as a direct result of the actions of these groups to force a referendum on this law.

We have been burned at the stake, in the use of guilt by association to other highly negative stereotypes such as pedophiles and sexual predators. This has nothing to do with transgender people whatsoever. This is an outright lie. It is a crass, cruel, and disgusting distortion. This is an utter fallacy to the fullest extent that it has been used by these groups.

As a fellow citizen, neighbor, wife, and daughter - as a warm and articulate person, and skilled professional Culinary Artist, I have found this intolerably painful. This is entirely unacceptable by any ethical standard that I know of. There have been direct, and deeply negative impacts on my life as a result of such discriminatory behaviors.

Enough is enough. Help restore my most basic civil rights, and overrule the falsehoods being spread by these groups, once and for all.

Living with Discrimination as a Transgender Woman

#4 - Over at Trans Universe, Angela Brightfeather would like a “simple question” answered …

That simple question is:

“Senator Obama, would you veto an exclusive version of the Employment Non Discrimination Act if it did not include employment protections for transgender people?”

It’s a tough question to ask a man who believes in not impeding any rights bill from passing, but it is an important question to ask. If the answer is anything but “Yes,” I will take my vote on November and either find someone else to vote for, or just sit this one out and encourage everyone to do the same until people come to realize that this makes common sense.

And, the big question for Senator Obama is . . . . ?

#5 - It’s raining a bit tonight in Asheville … it’s been so long I feel like streaking into the night. Night all.

Last month the City Council and mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan voted to expand that city’s antidiscrimination protections to include discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

When such protections have been enacted in other places in the country, such as Montgomery County, Maryland, it’s much too often the case that opponents are firm and unyielding in their opposition.

But, not in Hamtramck, where Ypsilanti resident Jay McNally has displayed such a generous grasp of the meaning and spirit of compromise to the locals , according to today’s Detroit Free Press [emphasis added] …

To Randy Groseclose, an antidiscrimination ordinance passed last month by the Hamtramck City Council sets a dangerous precedent.

“There’s concern about what impact an ordinance like this would have on traditional family values,” the 31-year-old married resident said, noting, “I definitely don’t support any kind of discrimination.”

To others, including Mayor Karen Majewski, the ordinance is a sign of compassionate governance. “The intention … is simply to recognize and ensure basic human rights, basic equality of treatment under the law for every resident of Hamtramck.”

The ordinance prohibits discrimination in housing, employment and city contracting against a wide range of groups, but its inclusion of protections covering sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression has put the city at the center of an ideological battle.

In addition to local interest, outside groups such as the American Family Association of Michigan and the Triangle Foundation have taken a strong interest in the debate.

Groseclose was one of several people who collected signatures for a petition that could allow residents to vote on the ordinance. The group needed 417 signatures from registered voters and collected close to 600. City Clerk Ed Norris said he expects to finish the certification process by Monday. If the group collected enough valid signatures, the City Council would be able to repeal the ordinance or put it on a ballot.

Sean Kosofsky, spokesman for Triangle Foundation in Detroit, said the fight in Hamtramck is the latest skirmish between those who support gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights and those who oppose them. He cited fights over similar ordinances in Ann Arbor, Ferndale, Ypsilanti and other Michigan cities.

He said opponents’ claims that the ordinance would target groups such as the Boy Scouts, Salvation Army and others because of their stances on gay rights are lies. “They’re going to try to pit neighbor against neighbor,” he said.

But Jay McNally, a former Michigan Catholic editor from Ypsilanti, disagreed.

McNally, who considers himself a member of the American Family Association, said council members likely did not understand “the disastrous implications of what the Triangle Foundation has in mind.”

Still, he offered what he considered to be a compromise: McNally said he could support the ordinance without references to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, points Majewski said were “nonnegotiable.”

Rights ordinance stirs debate

I’m, pardon the term, all fagged out (too bad some other folks aren’t), so this is going to be a quickie version of FTYNTKT …

#1 - Another original, WingNutDaily Exclusive …

‘Coed showers’ election urged
‘Citizens hurt when judges take away their votes’

#2 - Big news (yes, it’s worthy of an “orgasmic release” from the Empire State Pride Agenda) from New York on the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) …

By an overwhelming vote of 102-33, the New York State Assembly early in the evening of June 3 approved a bill affording civil rights protections to the transgender community.

…

“I’m numb, I’m pleased, I surprised, I’m impressed,” said Melissa Sklarz, the director of the New York Transgender Rights Organization, who also witnessed the vote. “I always heard that Albany was the place where good ideas go to die, and I figured even our LGBT elected officials would move the marriage bill, but that our bill would not happen. I’m thrilled that everyone who said they would help helped.”

New York State Assemby Approves Transgender Rights Law

#3 - Still no final results as I write this (Wednesday morning, a little after midnight here on the East Coast) on Victoria Kolakowski’s bid for a judgeship in Alameda County, California …

In Alameda County, four candidates - prosecutor Phil Daly of San Leandro, state Public Utilities Commission Administrative Law Judge Victoria Kolakowski of Oakland, public-interest lawyer Dennis Hayashi of Castro Valley, and criminal defense attorney Dennis Reid of San Leandro - vied for the seat vacated by Judge Kenneth Kingsbury, who retired.

In early returns, Hayashi and Daly had taken the lead in the hotly contested race, followed by Kolakowski and Reid. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the two top vote-getters will face off in a runoff in November.

Kolakowski, who hears cases at the PUC, said she would be the first known transgender trial court judge in the nation if elected.

Incumbent Mellon leading in S.F. judge race

#4 - Some not so good news this evening from Florida regarding transgender civil rights …

A tie vote ended discussion of additional amendments to Pinellas County’s human rights ordinance to include protection for transgendered people.

County says no to more human rights protections

#5 - Wanna bet this story doesn’t get a play from the likes of WWD, FOTF, CRG or such?

A man dressed in woman’s clothing was arrested and charged in the Superior Court of Guam.

Court documents state Ruben Cabral Jr. walked into the restroom at the Tower of London Pub and kicked open a stall door while wearing a high heeled shoe.

The woman inside the stall asked Cabral to leave the restroom because it was the ladies’ room and he was a man.

Cross dresser charged after allegedly assaulting woman in public restroom

… and on the lookout around public restrooms for the individual pictured here …

The View intuits from a higher authority that said individual could be “a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser.”

~~~~~

Related …

Ritter signs controversial anti-discrimination bill

~~~~~

Hecuba: Alas! Alas! Alas! Ilium is ablaze; the fire consumes the citadel, the roofs of our city, the tops of the walls!
Chorus: Like smoke blown to heaven on the wings of the wind, our country, our conquered country, perishes. Its palaces are overrun by the fierce flames and the murderous spear.
Hecuba: O land that reared my children!

The Trojan Women

Hills in the hometown, a Guy on dresses and … whatever …

We have hills in Asheville.

I was out running today. Most days I run. I’m no spring chicken anymore though. Weather’s getting warmer, I got out later in the day today, pushed the mileage. The motor’s still working. I’m not complaining. But …

We have Hills in Asheville …

I have enough years on the odometer that, as I commented here not long ago, I’m not particularly keen on any of the Presidential candidates remaining in this contest. But, Hills was here the other day, wooing and maybe wowing some folks in what has been a generally conservative CD (and first-term Democrat, Rep. Heath Shuler is a Republican in Dem drag, for what it’s worth) …

Sen. Hillary Clinton told a raucous and inspired Asheville crowd Thursday that as commander in chief she would end the war in Iraq while enacting universal health care and reviving a faltering economy.

This is not a comment about isolationism, global disengagement or any of that serious stuff, but, apropos of the setting (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium), America needs an Angel (whatever gender) to Look Homeward now.

Not leaving Hillary entirely behind as you’ll see, but off to the subject of fashion (There used to be, some years back, by the way, a group of local women from Asheville performing musically as “Crimes of Fashion.”) … where I’ll leave it to you, dear readers, to make your own political and fashion sense out of this …

Borrowing from the male wardrobe is hardly new …

the prevalence of mannish jackets represents a real shift from the girly dresses dominating runways in recent seasons - and may be a sartorial signal of something more. Judging from fashion history, masculine styles often signal a moment when women are looking for clothes that assert authority.

Designer Peter Som says he was thinking of Hillary Clinton …

The ‘boyfriend jacket’ comes on strong

… and …

Just look, Hil. All those pants.

It’s not exactly a state secret — the U.S. senator and presidential hopeful is pro-trouser. And why not? She looks good in them. (Better than those drab dresses …

Who’s wearing the pants here?

… and from a Guy’s perspective …

“The eye is looking for something new, and so is the psyche,” Anne Slowey, the fashion news director of Elle magazine, said last week from the set of “Fashionista,” a new fashion reality show in which she will play herself, a fashion editor, only meaner. “The dress has been done to death,” Ms. Slowey added, “not to sound really cliché.”

…

This prediction will come as a surprise, perhaps, to retail analysts like the folks at NPD Group, who not long ago termed 2007 the year of the dress, pointing to sales of more than $5 billion in the 12 months that ended last April, and a rate of growth in dress sales fully 30 percent higher than the year before.

“The first hint of chill in the air, and the full-legged, pleated high- and low-waisted legions will be out in the urban jungle,” said Ms. Slowey, already so adapted to her new television role that she speaks in thought bubbles. The expiration date for the dress, she claimed, “is end of August.”

This prediction will come as a surprise, perhaps, to retail analysts like the folks at NPD Group, who not long ago termed 2007 the year of the dress, pointing to sales of more than $5 billion in the 12 months that ended last April, and a rate of growth in dress sales fully 30 percent higher than the year before.

It may also come as unwelcome news to the female members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose wildly anachronistic Laura Ingalls Wilder frocks, Skechers and wave-pool hairdos have become as much an obsession in certain Manhattan circles as their polygamist habits and 416 children.

It is also, for what it’s worth, unwelcome news to me.

That is because, unlike Ms. Slowey, I am not eager for women to become “a little more hard-core, a little more androgynous, a little more butch.” Yes, gender play is fun, and trousers are a useful wardrobe default for the woman in business. But unless you are Thomas McGuane and find nothing sexier than a woman with crow’s feet, tight Wranglers and suede chaps, you will have to concede that, for flattering a woman’s body, nothing is quite like a dress.

Irwin Shaw covered all this is in his classic story “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses,” the tale that secured him a permanent place in anthologies if not exactly a perch on literary Olympus. And for all the creakiness of this warhorse about the fragile dynamics of love and desire, there remains in Shaw’s descriptions of the women on the streets of Manhattan, in their ripe young multitudes, something unexpectedly fresh and also recognizable.

Shaw wrote the story decades ago, in the era that directly preceded the feminist one that first killed off the dress, a time when women wore them all the time and not with irony …

Long Live the Dress (for Now)

… and then this comment on Guy’s piece …

Might as well throw some heterosexism in there too. And women wearing pants is “gender play”? I didn’t realize trousers were still a “man’s” piece of clothing.

…

The sad thing about this piece is that it won’t do anything but discourage women from wearing dresses this summer, despite some women’s love to wear them. (Ahem.) I guess they didn’t get the message that women wear their clothes for comfort and fashion, not someone else’s fancy.

NYT makes me never want to wear a dress again

(Before Vanessa’s time this. And though we probably should Goethe off this subject, there’s more … )

… and …

In today’s “Styles” section, Guy Trebay devotes a whole article to proving why Elle’s fashion-news director, Anne Slowey, could be wrong about the dress going out of style come September. Wishful thinking, he says, gathering quotes from trend forecasters, the fashion director of Barneys, and random dress-clad women on the street to make his case for the dress. And we must say he did so as compellingly as one can when covering such a topic, though it was kind of unfair he didn’t quote anyone who agreed with Slowey. Anyway, it felt like the perfect opportunity for the Cut’s first-ever point-counterpoint debate!

…

Is Anne Slowey Right About the Fate of Dresses?

And, not to neglect the guys, there’s this …

A few weeks ago, we told you about “Booty Pop Panties,” the padded underwear that makes your ass look bigger. Well, Kelly Ripa went nuts over them on Live With Regis and Kelly the other day so, not to be out-assed, Regis found a version of the undergarment for men called “Bottoms Up” and bandied them about on air today. Unlike the Booty Pop Panties, these appear to come with a padded back and a padded front. Here’s a product description:

• A defining centre back seam separates our butt pads creating an anatomically correct bottom for a more natural look.
• Our contoured front pouch, allows for comfort, style and support from the double layer of fabric…
• For first time optimum effect we suggest you put your jeans or pants on BEFORE you look in the mirror.
• The weight and fit of your pants compresses the pads — the most natural look is achieved with you pants on.

You can even purchase extra pads in “Quarterback,” “Halfback,” and “Fullback” sizes. Is this supposed to appeal to women? Because we think a nice cologne is a better route than sub-pant bulges.

Men Can Pad Their Nether Regions, Too

Moving on … from the Washington Blade today …

Equality Maryland is intensifying its efforts to protect a transgender rights law that may be in jeopardy.

Dan Furmansky, the organization’s executive director, said a review of signatures collected to overturn the Montgomery County law has been hastened so it can be completed by month’s end.

…

Legal battle over trans law intensifies in Montgomery Co.

… and, finally, from the Southern Voice …

On Friday, students at 6,000 schools around the country, including 130 here in Georgia, took part in the National Day of Silence — keeping quiet for all or part of the school day to protest the silence forced on gay people every day. One of those schools was my alma mater, Columbus High School.

Not too long ago, whenever someone asked me where my hometown of Columbus, Ga., is located, I would answer that it is “about 100 miles and 100 years south of Atlanta.”

It’s exciting to know that through the efforts of brave young people like those who joined in the Day of Silence, even towns like Columbus are changing for the better. And it’s amazing to think that some of the Columbus High students participating in the protest today were not even born in 1991, the year I graduated.

…

Would you have joined the Day of Silence?

Following state rules with signature gathering is perhaps the key component in referendum and initiative drives. As one could imagine, if petition gatherers don’t follow the rules when gathering signatures, then there is a legal question as to validity of the signatures gathered.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, attorneys working with Equality Maryland and allies have been checking the referendum petitions provided by the Citizens for a Responsible Government. (You know, the Citizens for a Responsible Government that has been working to overturn the county’s recently city council passed protections for transgender people.) Currently, the new law is on hold, as a referendum on the new ordinance is pending for November — the Board of Elections had validated the signatures and petions as qualifying the referendum to appear on the November ballot.

But, the issue of signature validity — and perhaps later the validity of whole, filled out petitions — has been assigned to a Circuit Court judge, with arguments tentatively scheduled for mid-June. The Washington Post gives up this update on where the signature and petition validation is at:

Lawyers involved in a challenge to the referendum on overturning the county’s new protections for transgender people were in court last week to talk about the scope and timing of the case. The issue has been assigned to Circuit Court Judge Robert A. Greenberg, and arguments are tentatively scheduled for mid-June.

Jonathan Shurberg, representing proponents of the protections, has challenged the Board of Elections’ decision to let voters decide in November whether the law should stand. He has questioned the validity of signatures on petitions submitted to the board and the process the board used to certify them.

“We believe we have information that will end this thing if the judge agrees with our interpretation,” said Shurberg, who represents Equality Maryland, a gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group.

Shurberg said Maryland’s election law requires that a petition signature include all elements of an individual’s name as it appears on the voter registration rolls. If a Montgomery voter registers using his or her middle initial, for instance, Shurberg said the petition signature must also include either the initial or the middle name. Shurberg and his team have reviewed thousands of signatures, and at last count, he said, nearly 4,200 signatures did not meet that standard.

…If Shurberg’s argument fails, he said there is another batch of petitions that fall short of a separate requirement for independent verification from a so-called circulator. When opponents signed petitions printed off the Internet, he said, there was often only the signature of the signer and not the required second signature of the circulator.

The Board of Elections’ decision to let voters decide whether the new law on transgender protections should stand is in serious question — June can’t come too soon.

I wonder if the CRG (Citizens for a Responsible Government) will be taking on another “shower issue” …

As Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett works to raise taxes and eliminate 225 jobs, a construction crew is installing a bathroom in his locked suite of offices, complete with a small sitting room and shower. The cost to taxpayers: $65,225.

Leggett’s aides said yesterday that his security detail did not want him using the public restroom because walking to and from the facility could expose him to harm. The shower was included, an aide said, because Leggett lives about 40 minutes away from the Rockville office and regularly attends evening events without having time to freshen up at home. “I don’t see this as a big expenditure,” Leggett (D) said. Describing himself as “the guy who flies coach and spends sparingly,” he said, “It’s not something I asked for.”

The timing of the project could be politically problematic. The bathroom budget was approved in June, but the construction coincides with his proposal to raise property taxes, offer employee buyouts and trim spending to close a $297 million budget shortfall.

“I can’t believe they would do that now. We’re taking it on the chin, and we’re looking for every dime we can find,” said County Council member Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring). “I think this is an extravagance, not something that has to be done.”

Ervin said she uses the public restroom on the sixth floor of the council building, although there is a bathroom with a shower available to council members and their aides in their secure suite of offices.

For almost all of his 12-year tenure, Leggett’s immediate predecessor, Douglas M. Duncan (D), used a public restroom. He had a private bathroom when he was first elected but scrapped it to create a kitchenette for employees. A major renovation of the executive’s floor in Duncan’s first year cost more than $1 million.

“We had perfectly good bathrooms right at the elevators,” he said yesterday. When asked whether he ever felt unsafe using the public restroom, Duncan chuckled, “Heck no.”

The rest of “County Executive to Get $65,000 Bathroom” can be read here.

British actor Paul Scofield, renowned for his stage and screen portrayal of Sir Thomas More in “A Man for All Seasons,” died yesterday. Mr. Scofield, the New York Times noted …

… made his debut as Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” on the school stage. “I had to wear an embarrassing blond wig,” he said. “But it was a turning point, because thenceforward there was nothing else I wanted to do.”

The Thomas More Law Center was also in the news yesterday. The TMLC has frequently been at odds with trans people, including …

• Opposing transsexual marriage in Kansas
• Opposing legislation against discrimination based on gender identity in Michigan
• Opposing trans-inclusive sex education in Maryland

I haven’t kept up with figure skating (since wanting to be just like Peggy Fleming … a long, long ways back), so until yesterday I had never heard of Mark Lund. Well, now I know that Lund evidently is not a fashion maven like Dick Button …

Weir’s outfits often sparkle like disco balls; in his short program he pretends to be a seagull. His total package has not only led to assumptions that he is gay — something not as taboo in figure skating as in other sports — but a controversy over his not being the right type of gay. During a figure skating broadcast last year, the announcer Mark Lund, who is openly gay, said, “I don’t think he’s representative of the community I want to be a part of,” and, “I don’t need to see a prima ballerina on the ice,” before praising Lysacek’s masculinity.

Figure Skating Rivalry Pits Athleticism Against Artistry

There must be some of the same something in the water in Ottumwa, Iowa as in Montgomery County, Maryland (JimK at the Vigilance blog today describes the most recent doings there)…

Listen, reconsider and amend. That’s what the City Council did Tuesday concerning the sexual orientation ordinance.

The ordinance was on Tuesday’s agenda for its second reading. At least 50 people packed council chambers and several spoke, for or against, the proposed city law, which was the last item on the agenda.

Those who favored the ordinance said it’s needed to prevent discrimination in housing and employment.

Citizens who spoke against it said the ordinance would enable a man to put on a dress, enter a women’s restroom and molest or kidnap a female youngster.

Ed Ball of the Ottumwa Human Rights Commission said the people doing that are pedophiles, not gays.

“These crimes are done by ‘normal’ people,” Ball said.

After public comment, Councilman Gordon Aistrope said he was also concerned about who would enter the restroom because the proposed ordinance includes “gender identity” as part of the protected classification.

“This does bother me. Sexual orientation, OK. Gender identity, no,” Aistrope said.

He moved to delete “gender identity” and Councilman Mitch Niner seconded the motion.

Councilwoman Shannon Addison said current medical journals and psychology publications have “clearly stated” it’s “not transgenders, not cross-dressers” who would molest youngsters in restrooms.

“A pedophile is a pedophile,” she said.

Police Chief Jim Clark also told the council that pedophiles and sexual predators are a “kind of their own.”

Clark said he hoped the council would delete either “gender identity” or “public accommodations” from the proposed city law.

Then the question was what happens next to a proposed ordinance that was just amended.

City Attorney Tom Kintigh said if the amendment passes, then the ordinance would move back to the first reading.

Addison said pulling “gender identity” out of the ordinance “won’t hurt.”

“If we do have an issue with gender identity, they can handle it at the state level,” she added.

The council voted unanimously to remove “gender identity” from the proposed ordinance.

On the first reading of the amended ordinance, Aistrope, Addison and Niner voted for it and Meyers and Councilman Keith Caviness voted against it.

Ottumwa City Council amends proposed ordinance — ‘gender identity’ deleted; law moves back to first reading

Speaking of water …

It’s in the Water: We’re All Transsexuals Now

Some of the trans people and happenings in the news the past week or so …

People …

• Former British paratrooper Jan Hamilton
• Transgender teen Rika Navarro
• Trans activist Jenn Burleton
• California administrative law judge Victoria Kolakowski
• Race-car driver Terri O’Connell
• British surgeon James Barry

Law, legislation …

• Philippine woman will have to remain a ‘he’ in birth certificate
• Legislation to bar discrimination in employment, housing or public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity was introduced in the Ohio legislature.
• Legislation to add sexual orientation to the state’s Human Rights and Fair Housing acts advanced in West Virginia.
• In Georgia, an anti-bullying bill, one which does not specifically address bullying based on sexual orientation or gender identity, advanced, while a hate crimes bill (which includes gender identity and sexual orientation) remains stalled.
• Council Bluffs, Iowa is considering adding the protection of sexual orientation and sexual identity to the city’s civil rights code.
• In Massachusetts, advocates turned out for a hearing on a transgender civil rights bill.
• In Montgomery County, Maryland, election officials have cleared the way for voters to decide whether to uphold broad protections for transgender individuals passed by the County Council in the fall. Proponents of the trans rights legislation said they expected to file a lawsuit to overturn the petition and stop the referendum.
• New York has a new governor, a man who has been supportive of trans rights.

Arts & media …

• The Lambda Literary Foundation announced its nominees for the 20th annual Lambda Literary Awards.
• “She’s a Boy I Knew” documents the transformation of Steven Haworth into Gwen Haworth.
• Out magazine focuses on trans lives and culture in the April issue.
• Mercedes Allen continues her series on trans history at the Bilerico Project.

Features …

• “Is society ready for this pregnant husband?” in The Advocate.
• “Transgender people step out” in the Dayton Daily News.
• “When Girls Will Be Boys” in the New York Times.

Remembering our dead …

• Luna