You know, those of you in Gainesville, Florida or Montgomery County, Maryland or elsewhere, you lost.  Here’s a new crusade (remember $4 gasoline?) you can embark on (leave, go, and just let transgender people pee in peace) …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Before her wedding last year, Huda Batterjee went abroad to buy her bridal lingerie — she just couldn’t bear the humiliation of discussing her most intimate apparel with a man.

She had little choice: there are almost no saleswomen in Saudi Arabia.

Now a group of Saudi women — sick of having to deal with male sales staff when buying bras or panties, not to mention frilly negligees or thongs — have launched a campaign this week to boycott lingerie stores until they employ women.

It’s an irony of the kingdom’s strict segregation of the sexes. Only men are employed as sales staff to keep women from having to deal with male customers or work around men.

But in lingerie stores, that means men are talking to women about bras or thongs, looking them up and down to determine their cup sizes, even rubbing the underwear to show how stains can be washed out.

The result is mortifying for everyone involved — shoppers, salesmen, even the male relatives who accompany the women.

“When I buy underwear in Saudi, some salesmen say, ‘This is not the right size for you,’” said Batterjee. “You feel almost taken advantage of. Why is he looking at me in this way?”

So for her wedding trousseau, the 26-year-old went to neighboring Dubai to shop. She now lives in Virginia with her husband.

Heba al-Akki, a businesswoman who supports the boycott, said when she shops for underwear, “I go to a store, pick this, this and that and leave quickly. It’s as if I’m buying illegal stuff.”

It’s not easy on the salesmen either.

At one lingerie boutique in a Riyadh mall Wednesday, salesmen blushed when asked about their jobs. All said they back the campaign to hire female sales staff.

“Even in such open regions as the U.S. and Europe, men do not sell underwear to women,” said store manager Husam al-Mutayim, a 27-year-old Egyptian. “I don’t let any of my female relatives buy underwear from men. It’s just too embarrassing.”

Mannequins — headless in keeping with a ban on realistic depictions of women — were displayed in the shop window dressed in modest pajamas. Inside, racks held an array of colorful bras, lacy panties and sexy nighties — along with more day-to-day undergarments.

Under Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, women are required to cover themselves head-to-toe in black robes in public. But in the privacy of their own homes — and bedrooms — they can wear whatever they want, and sexy undergarments are popular.

But buying them is another story. Fitting rooms are banned in the kingdom — the idea of a woman undressing in a public place with men just outside is unthinkable. So a woman is never sure she has chosen the right size until she gets it home.

“I have bras with sizes ranging from 32 to 38 because I can’t get to try them on,” said Modie Batterjee, Huda’s sister and one of the boycott organizers.

Even male relatives get dragged into the embarrassment. Women are allowed to shop without a male relative, but husbands or brothers sometimes insist on coming along — or the women want them there — to ensure salesmen stay respectful.

Modie Batterjee recalls how her husband fled a lingerie store because he could not bear to hear her explain to a salesman that she wanted high-waisted underwear to hold in her tummy after their daughter’s birth.

The boycott was launched on Tuesday by about 50 women who gathered in the Red Sea port of Jiddah at the Al-Bidaya Breast-feeding Resource and Women’s Awareness Center, which is run by Modie Batterjee.

The aim is to push for implementation of a law that has been on the books since 2006 which says only female staff can be employed in women’s apparel stores.

The law has never been put into effect, partly due to hard-liners in the religious establishment who oppose employing women in mixed environments like malls, where religious police are always on the lookout to keep men and women from interacting.

Hiring women would also deprive men of jobs in a country where more than 10 percent of men are unemployed.

“We are raising awareness and calling for the implementation of the law,” said Reem Asaad, a finance lecturer at Dar al-Hikma Women’s College in Jiddah, who supports the boycott.

The campaign calls on women to shop at the country’s few women-only lingerie stores. Usually stand-alone boutiques or located in malls that have women-only sections, these shops have no windows to ensure passing men cannot look in — and giving women the freedom to actually try things on.

How much impact the boycott call will have is unclear. Almost 1,700 people signed an online petition posted by Asaad on the social networking Web site Facebook. A few Saudi papers have written about it, but the campaign depends mostly on word of mouth.

Not all women support the idea. At the Riyadh lingerie shop on Wednesday, one woman — only her eyes visible through the black veil covering her face — said she is suspicious of women-only lingerie shops.

“Bad things happen there,” she said.

What might that be?

Women can sneak a picture of you changing with their mobile phones, she replied and refused to give her name.

Saudi woman launch lingerie shop boycott

Well, not exactly, but I can’t help but believe that one of “the usual suspects” will put some of that spin on this news story …

COEUR D’ALENE – Police in the Lake City are investigating a reported rape on North Idaho College’s campus involving a cross-dressing man who attacked a student in a bathroom.

Coeur d’Alene police are not commenting on their investigation at this point only to say they do not feel students are not in danger because the victim said she knew her attacker.

NIC student Janea Kelso heard about the alleged rape from a friend who got an emergency alert on her phone.

“It’s scary considering this is a small school,” Kelso said.

The text message said a man dressed as a woman was hiding in the first floor bathroom of the Meyer Health and Science Building and raped a woman last Friday. Kelso says teachers warned female students to be careful.

“They just said be careful when leaving class go in buddy system,” she said.

The victim told police she knows the rapist, who is described as being white with brown hair and is clean shaven. The attacker is 48-years-old and is not an NIC student. Police are not releasing the man’s name and no one has been arrested

NIC administrators notified students of the attack and said security officers are watching for suspicious people but they are not adding additional patrols.

“We have no indication since this was according to police someone known to her, we don’t believe nor does our security or police that is someone looking for targets at this time but still urging everyone to be vigilant,” NIC vice president John Martin said.

Police have declined comment on the case but did say that a rapist is not roaming the streets.

Students on guard after alleged rape at NIC

I’m referring here to the news coverage of the City of Gainesville, Florida’s anti-discrimination ordinance, which City Commissioners passed just about one year ago.

The Associated Press news story, “Fla. conservatives fight transgender restroom rule” (and there are headline variations) is getting a great deal of attention.  (I follow transgender-related news every day — have for many years — and that’s a lot of attention.)

With the economy going down the toilet, I don’t find it very surprising that many of the folks who cheerleaded for those who brought it on — are ramping up diversionary societal acrimony.

It’s been going on in Montgomery County (Maryland) too, among other places, and I expect it will become (even more so) staple fare for the LaBarberas, the Barbers, the Sheldons and the like.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A blond girl heads from a playground into a women’s restroom. A scruffy man, lurking outside, darts in behind her. ”Your City Commission Made This Legal,” the words on the TV screen read.

The dark ad came from opponents of a gender identity provision added last year to the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance, which now allows the city’s roughly 100 transgender residents to use whichever restroom they’re most comfortable using.

Foes want to repeal the new protection with a March 24 ballot measure that has divided Gainesville, a generally gay-friendly university city surrounded by staunchly conservative north Florida.

Those who support the transgender protections say their opponents are really unleashing a broader attack on the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals in general.

The city commission approved the restroom provision by a 4-3 vote a year ago. Before the ink could dry, Bible-quoting opponents angrily began working for its repeal.

”You are trying to operate in a realm you do not have the authority to operate in,” one pastor, George Brantley, told the commissioners.

The debate is expected to become noisier as the ballot nears with opponents resorting to more TV ads and campaigns pegged to such slogans as ”Keep Men out of Women’s Restrooms and vice versa.”

Organizations defending transgender rights are mustering their own campaign.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force notes 108 cities and counties nationwide have similar transgender protections. An attempt to repeal an ordinance in Montgomery County, Md., failed when a court ruled opponents did not collect enough signatures to place it on the ballot.

Citizens for Good Public Policy, the group behind the commercial that aired last summer in Gainesville, collected more than 6,000 signatures last summer to win a referendum. If approved, the repeal measure would also prevent the commission from adding protections beyond what the state requires: race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability and marital status.

Cain Davis, chairman of Citizens for Good Public Policy, said the issue is about regulating a ”government gone wild” and ensuring public safety, charging that sexual predators could now simply enter a women’s restroom claiming to be a transgender individual.

”We know when men go into women’s restrooms, bad things can happen,” Davis said.

City Commissioner Craig Lowe, leader of a group called Equality is Gainesville’s Business, called the ads from Davis’ group a grossly distorted attempt to whip up fears.

Lowe’s group believes anti-discrimination protections for people who change their sexual orientation are good for business and foster diversity. He noted that 433 of the Fortune 500 companies have policies covering sexual orientation and 153 cover gender identity.

Since the ordinance took effect, police have reported no problems in public restrooms stemming from the law.

Retired postal worker Donna Lee, who became a female with surgery in 2001, moved to Gainesville from Ocala last March after hearing about the anti-discrimination ordinance. The 60-year-old is working to save the protections.

”We just want to live our lives with the basic civil rights that everyone else has,” Lee said.

But some are taking no chances.

Computer programmer Clare Holman, who was born male but now lives as a female, said she simply stays away from public toilets.

”I don’t want to run afoul of the law by using the wrong restroom,” Holman said.

——

On the Net:

Equality is Gainesville’s Business: http://equalitygainesville.com

Citizens for Good Public Policy: http://citizensforgoodpublicpolicy.org

~~~~~

Related …

The View From (Ab)Normal Heights

City of Gainesville: Gender Identity Anti-discrimination Ordinance Legislative History (PDF)

City of Gainesville: Meeting Agenda (1/28/08) (PDF) [see pages 40-42]

City Of Gainesville: Ordinance No. 051225 (1/28/08) (PDF)

Transgender ordinance backlash (2/3/08) (St.Petersburg Times)

News and views for Sunday, December 21st through Tuesday, December 23rd …

[CA, USA] Transgender art student Micha Cardenas recently spent 15 days in a virtual world: ” … the bigger surprise is how well Cardenas says she’s adapted to living almost entirely in a virtual world. Reality and unreality occasionally blur. Online interactions feel as immediate as those in the lab. This is a revelation since one of Cardenas’ project goals is answering the question of whether the requirement that transgender people spend one year living as the opposite sex before gender reassignment surgery could be supplanted with living for a year in a virtual world … The answer, though, isn’t quite so clear-cut. “The real life requirement is about dealing with the hardships, rejections and bias that transgender people experience.” In Second Life, Cardenas says social mores tend to be more tolerant: Everybody can be anybody.” — Online-world immersion probes ‘possibilities of transformation’

[MD, USA] Montgomery County’s transgender rights law barely avoided a ballot challenge last month: “Just one vote on the state’s highest court kept a challenge to Montgomery County’s new ban on discriminating against transgender individuals off the ballot on Election Day. Explaining its Sept. 9 order blocking the referendum attempt, the Court of Appeals on Friday revealed its vote had been 4 to 3. The majority said the law’s opponents had not gathered enough valid signatures to force a popular vote. The court also held the law’s backers had not waited too long to contest the Montgomery County Board of Elections’ decision to permit the referendum.  “It would have been nice [to have had it] 4-3 the other way,” said Kevin Karpinski, a partner at Karpinski, Colaresi & Karp P.A. in Baltimore, who represented the elections board before the court. The controversial law, which went into effect shortly after the court’s order, bans discrimination against the transgendered in employment, public accommodations, housing, cable television and taxicab service.” — Top court explains why it kept transgender-law challenge off ballot

[NV, USA] “It has been a bizarre year in golf … At the recent RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship here at Mesquite Regional Park, the year grew even stranger … it is odd but true that the new women’s world champion is a 55-year-old bartender who used to be a man. Although golf is a sport largely without controversy, the reign of long-drive queen Lana Lawless, who lives in Palm Springs, Calif., is expected to be neither tranquil nor uneventful. For starters, there is her startling honesty. “This is who I am. This is my life,” she said firmly. “That other person, that 245-pound SWAT cop I used to be, he’s gone. He’s not coming back.” — Long-drive champ shares her secret

[TX, USA] Jennifer Gale was honored at a memorial service Sunday in Austin: “A homeless advocate, perennial mayoral candidate and vivacious character to Austin was remembered Sunday. Jennifer Gale was found dead early Wednesday morning on an Austin street. Her cause of death has not yet been determined, but homeless advocates hope her death sheds light on those shivering in the shadows.” — Austin community remembers Jennifer Gale (Video), Memorial Service honors Austin original Jennifer Gale

[USA] “The Bush administration, in its final days, issued a federal rule Thursday, Dec. 18, reinforcing protections for doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other procedures because of religious or moral objections … Transgender advocates say the new rule could have a huge impact on health care for transgender men and women. “Transgender people already experience tremendous hostility and discrimination in the health care setting,” said Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund Executive Director Michael Silverman said. “We oppose HHS’ new regulation and call upon President-elect Obama and the new administration to rescind this policy as soon as they take office.”” — Trans advocates protest Bush’s 11th-hour HHS rule change

[USA] “The vast majority of brutality against gays is carried out by young men, usually acting in groups, said Riki Wilchins, executive director of Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, a Washington nonprofit that works in schools to address discrimination. Their victims most often are other young men with feminine demeanors or transgender women, said Wilchins. “These assailants are looking to eradicate and exterminate something that enrages them, and that is what makes them hate crimes,” he said … Many of the incidents that have captured headlines this year — from the February shooting death of a gay teenager at his Southern California middle school to this month’s slaying of a Brooklyn man who was fatally beaten while walking arm-and-arm with his brother — fit Wilchins’ profile. Larry King, the 15-year-old shot by a classmate, wore feminine clothing and makeup. Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, was beaten with a baseball bat in Brooklyn and kicked by three men who jumped out of a car yelling anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs.” — Many suffered from anti-gay violence in 2008

[Netherlands] “A new investigation into the tangled sex lives of deep-sea squid has uncovered a range of bizarre mating techniques … The study also identified the first known transgender squid: Ancistrocheirus lesueurii. Some males of this species studied for the survey not only resembled the opposite sex in size and appearance but were found to have developed female sex glands. One possible explanation is that the males impersonate females to sneak undetected among potential mates, Hoving said. Alternatively, it may be that waterborne residues from human contraceptive pills or other “gender-bending” pollutants known to be affecting fish and amphibians are also harming the squid, Hoving said. Previous studies have suggested “contaminating chemicals are slowly getting into the deep-sea food web,” Hoving noted.” — Bizarre Squid Sex Techniques Revealed

[Netherlands] “Amsterdam hosted a Christmas celebration for its gay community on Sunday featuring a nativity tableau with a male Mary in drag that church organizations denounced as an affront to traditional values. Organizers said the event was meant to raise Amsterdam’s profile as a gay capital at a time when homosexuals feel threatened. Christians for Truth, an independent religious group, had asked the city council to cancel the “Pink Christmas,” event, saying it made a mockery of Christian tenets. The city did not comment. A male entertainer known as Wendy Mills posed as Mary in a blonde wig and high-heeled black boots and holding a plastic doll. Another man played Joseph in black leather trunks and a silver shawl … “By portraying Joseph and Mary as homosexuals, a twisted human fantasy is being added to the history of the Bible,” Christians for Truth said in a statement ahead of the event.” — Amsterdam’s gay Christmas features Mary in drag

[Vatican City] From Time, “”The celebration of the birth of the Lord is at our doorstep …” Thus began Pope Benedict XVI in his annual pre-Christmas address to top Vatican officials. But rather than a pro forma holiday wish of good tidings, the pontiff delivered his latest heavy-hitting discourse on everything from ecology to ecumenism, with carefully chosen citations from past Popes and even Friedrich Nietzsche. The topic that most grabbed press attention came about halfway through the 30-minute long address: transsexuals. Without actually using the word, Benedict took a subtle swipe at those who might undergo sex-change operations or otherwise attempt to alter their God-given gender. Defend “the nature of man against its manipulation,” Benedict told the priests, bishops and cardinals gathered Monday in the ornate Clementine hall. “The Church speaks of the human being as man and woman, and asks that this order is respected.” The Pope again denounced the contemporary idea that gender is a malleable definition. That path, he said, leads to a “self-emancipation of man from creation and the Creator.”" — The Pope’s Christmas Condemnation of Transsexuals

[UK] “Now … there is no word in the English language, that I am aware of, for the smegma-like mixture of dead skin cells, gynaecological lube, stale urine (gives it its distinctive smell) and sweat that is sometimes present as a white residue on the end of a dilation stent when a post-operative trans woman withdraws the stent after dilating her neovagina. I propose rectifying this linguistic oversight. I propose naming this mixture, “bindel”. All those in favour, say “Aye” (and better still, link to this post so that Google finds it).” — Coining Petty Neologisms for the Sisterhood

[South Africa] “South Africa hosted the first ever African Strategy Workshop for transgender activists last week … There is only one transgender organisation, Gender DynamiX, on the whole continent. The African Strategy Workshop was designed to help activists, “document human rights abuses against transgender people, derive best practices for human rights advocacy, and share information on gender identity, reassignment surgery and hormone treatment.” … Activists focused on the case of South African Daisy Dube, who was murdered in Johannesburg after requesting that she not be called istabane (a derogatory Zulu slang word, similar to faggot).” — Trans activists attend first pan-African meeting

News and views for Tuesday, November 18th …

[MD, USA] ” If all humans are created equal, then why do only two Maryland jurisdictions have laws to protect a group that includes hundreds of Marylanders? It’s a statewide conflict over transgender discrimination. Sally Thorner reports people close to the issue say it’s time for a change.” — Top Model Talks About Being Transgender

[TN, USA] “The videotaped beating of a transgender woman in police custody in Memphis last February led to charges against two officers and national condemnation from gay rights groups. The officers were fired, and the Police Department overhauled some of its procedures and began sensitivity training for the entire force. But a week ago, the woman, Duanna Johnson, 43, was found fatally shot near downtown. Ms. Johnson’s death has revived scrutiny of the case as the department is under pressure to find the killer. “Duanna Johnson’s case was tragic before, and now it’s an almost unimaginable loss,” said Jared Feuer, the Southern regional director of Amnesty International. “Her treatment demonstrates a culture of violence against transgender people that must be addressed.” — Murder of Transgender Woman Revives Scrutiny

[MN, USA] “On the November 14 edition of his Minneapolis radio show, Chris Baker repeatedly referred to Thomas Beatie, a pregnant transgender man, as a “mutilated lesbian.” He also referred to Beatie as a “freak.” Baker also stated: “If a lesbian gets pregnant, I’m fine with it. I’m OK. Just stop alternating reality and trying to force me to buy into your psychosis.” Baker made the comments while discussing Barbara Walters’ interview of Beatie and his wife, Nancy Beatie. Guest co-host Nicole Remini said of Walters’ interview, “[S]o Barbara goes, ‘Are you pregnant again?’ Like, bluh. Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth on the radio.” Remini added: “It’s disgusting. I really have a problem with it.”" — Radio host Baker referred to Thomas Beatie as a “mutilated lesbian”

[NH, USA] Virginia Prescott of New Hampshire Public Radio interviewed journalist Hanna Rosin, whose article about a transgender child, “A Boy’s Life,” appeared in the November 2008 issue of Atlantic Monthly. — Transgender Children

[CA, USA] “A transsexual former California state prison inmate, who claimed to have suffered repeated sexual assaults and beatings at the hands of two cellmates, should be allowed to pursue a negligence damage claim against prison officials, an appeals court ruled on November 14, but she was not entitled to pursue damages under the “cruel and unusual punishment” provision of the state constitution. The plaintiff’s demand for injunctive relief was properly denied, ruled the court, because by the time of her trial, she had been released on parole … As a result of the ruling, Alexis Giraldo, who was sent to Folsom State Prison on January 4, 2006, while serving time for a parole violation, will be given a trial of her charge that prison officials were negligent in failing to protect her from attacks by her cellmates … Since Giraldo was released on parole before the trial, the state might take the prudential step of offering Giraldo a monetary settlement of her claim rather than have to go through a trial at which each of the named defendants would have to testify, especially considering the specific allegations of callous disregard on the part of some of them recited by the court.” — California Appeals Court Revives Transsexual Inmate’s Negligence Suit Against Prison Officials, but Rejects State Constitutional Claim

[MA, USA] “Remember that President-elect Obama has promised equal rights for the whole GLBT community — “T” meaning transgenders or transsexuals. (“Gender identity” is the code language used for trannies.) Clearly, there is no bottom to this pit of confusion, sadness, and perversion into which these people have fallen. Yet our leftist political leaders will encourage even more troubled people to fall in.” — Anti-Prop 8 Demo in Northampton Pushes “Transgender Rights”

[WI, USA] From Jillian Barfield, ” … I’ve concluded that the overwhelming majority of corporations that have been contacted by The Transgender Job Bank who are on the CEI 100% inclusive list are NOT inclusive and that I believe that the Human Rights Campaign organization is deceiving the public by representing that the problem of transgender workplace discrimination is not as prevalent as it truly is. At the same time The Human Rights Campaign accepts substantial financial support from these same organizations to promote their rich, white, gay, male agenda. The Human Rights Campaign has used their political ’scorecard’ system as a political weapon to disenfranchise the transgender community in Congress. I call upon the Human Rights Campaign to cease these practices immediately and to remove references to the transgender community from their public agenda.” — The Human Rights Campaign – Rich, White, Male, Agenda

[MD, USA] “Martine Rothblatt envisions you uploading a digital version of yourself that could live forever online. It’s not her first far-out idea … it’s a tough sell, that is, until you consider the other seeming impossibilities Rothblatt – who has a doctorate, a master’s degree in business administration and a law degree – has already achieved. When she was young, she dreamed of tiny satellite antennas that could fit on the tops of cars; she later launched Sirius Satellite Radio and won recognition as one of the inventors of the medium. She was born male, but felt female, and in the early 1990s underwent a sex change operation and became an advocate for transgender rights. With no drug development background, she started a biotech company to find a treatment for her daughter Jenesis’ primary pulmonary hypertension, a rare, life-threatening disease that elevates the pressure on blood vessels in the lungs. Today, Silver Spring-based United Therapeutics has a stock market value of about $2.6 billion and gave Rothblatt a compensation package worth $25 million in 2007.” — Virtual immortality

[USA/Australia] “New research suggests transsexualism is indeed a genetic trait. But how conclusive is the study?” — Discovery of a “Transsexual Gene” Raises More Questions Than Answers

[Spain] “The Spanish monarchy is upset that the cranky things their Queen says to them all day managed to get written down and have said that she was quoted “inexactly” and apologized if Grandma’s nutty rants upset any of the local homosexual peasantry. The Spanish Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexual accepted the apology, failing to mention that come Madrid Pride, you can bet half the gays will be dressed up as sexy, glittery Sofía’s.” — Spanish Queen Doesn’t Understand Parading Queens

[South Korea] “Transsexuals should be allowed to change their legal gender without undergoing a sex-change operation, South Korea’s rights watchdog said Monday, suggesting the Supreme Court amend its transgender guidelines. The top court’s guidelines stipulate that transsexual people have to have sex reassignment surgery in order to officially change their gender. The guidelines were made in 2006 to maintain judicial consistency amid concerns that rulings had varied according to judges’ social leanings since the first case for a male-to-female transsexual person was approved in 2002. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea said such court guidelines, however, overlook the expenses and health risks transsexual people have to bear for surgery. “A sex reassignment surgery is very expensive, and its results sometimes can have fatal effects on one’s health. Considering those concerns, it is too excessive a demand for the judiciary to require surgery, while there can be other medical methods for sexual transition, like hormone therapy,” Yoon Seol-ah, the commission spokesperson, said. A 2006 survey by the rights commission suggests many transsexual people live in poverty due to prejudice and discrimination. Their monthly income averaged 700,000 won (US$497), it found, while a sex-change operation costs up to 100 million won. No official data exist, but the commission assumes there are about 4,500 people in South Korea who identify with a physical gender different from the one with which they were born. Those who have had gender reassignment surgery number 300 to 400. The watchdog also said other guidelines, such as requiring applicants to be 20 or older and unmarried, or to have finished the military service or be exempt from it, violate their human rights and should be abolished. “Their lives will be better off if their gender gets changed early and their identity forms early,” Yoon said. The watchdog also said judges should rule over transsexual cases with legislation rather than the top court guidelines and suggested that the National Assembly speaker establish a special law on the issue. — Transsexuals should be allowed to change legal gender without surgery: watchdog

[Nepal] A real Shangri-La? “Close on the heels of an international furore over the state of California’s decision to ban same-sex marriages, the apex court of nascent Himalayan republic Nepal has given its nod to such unions. “My eyes were filled with tears when I read the Supreme Court decision,” said Sunil Babu Pant, Nepal’s first publicly gay lawmaker and a gay rights icon in South Asia … Also striking a blow for transgenders, who were the butt of abuse for crossdressing, the court has ruled that crossdressing is not perversion but an individual’s freedom of expression.” — Same-sex marriage gets court nod in Nepal

… is (eternal, it would seem) vigilance … and gasoline for the car. Thanks to Jim for his continuing work and commitment to transgender rights in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Heard outside the Giant at Neelsville Village Center today, September 13, 2008: “Would you like to sign a petition to keep men out of women’s bathrooms?”

Yes, the shower-nuts are still at it. We had a comment here on the blog from someone who described an encounter with petition signature gatherers in Germantown this afternoon, so I went out there.

Let me explain. The Citizens for a Responsible Whatever wanted to have a referendum to relegalize gender identity discrimination. The highest court in the state said no, there will be no referendum. The law went into effect immediately this week. It’s in effect now, you can’t discriminate against someone on the basis of their gender identity. The deadline for filing for a referendum has passed.

[...]

There was another lady there. As I walked up she stopped somebody and said, “Would you like to sign a petition to keep men out of women’s bathrooms?”

The second lady tried to hide her face when I pointed the camera at her, but I got her before he raised her clipboard. “Too late,” I said.

She wants to gather signatures to retain the right to discriminate against a group of people but she doesn’t want you to see her face. May I suggest the white robe with matching hood?

“May I suggest … ”

Check out the rest of his post, “The Shower-Nuts Are Still At It,” here.

Yes, it is time for them to move on, but it sure didn’t happen this weekend at the Neelsville Village Center and it may not happen for quite a while yet.

In a “news” story today entitled “MD voters ‘up the creek’ on gender identity law,” OneNewsNow reported that [emphasis added] …

Under the controversial “gender identity” law, a man would be allowed to walk into a women’s restroom or shower room claiming he believes himself to be a woman, essentially opening the door for rape or sexual molestation. In July a lower Montgomery County court agreed more than 900,000 petition signers had the right to see it on the ballot to choose whether to overturn it — but it was appealed.

Putting aside the rape/molestation/sexual predator canard, and just focusing on the math, I’d suggest OneNewsNow (and fellow wingnutter, WorldNetDaily, which has done the same thing) check some numbers …

• The total population of Montgomery County is not much more than 900,000 persons.
• The total number of petition signatures (valid or not) submitted back in July was under 27,000.

A (appropriately fuzzy) screenshot of the ONN story from their website …

Maryland’s transgender “anti-discrimination law will take effect immediately.”

Some of the early news coverage …

• Court upholds Mont. Co. trans measure
• Md. Court Blocks Referendum on Transgender Rights
• Court blocks transgendered law referendum

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 Lose Weight Exercise 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.