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

An interesting story in the news today from Uganda via All.Africa.com.  It sounds like transgender Georgina has been re-educated, and it reads like a parody propaganda piece.

Sadly, whenever some progress regarding GLBT rights is glimpsed on the civil level (not just in Uganda), you can generally count on a response like this from fundamentalist religionists.  Kampala today, Gainesville (ought to be some wicked sermons next Sunday) tomorrow?

A man shocked parents on Sunday when he confessed to recruiting school children into homosexuality as part of a programme to promote the practice in Ugandan schools.

George Oundo said funders gave them “much money” and training abroad and that he would target mostly the needy children who had problems of tuition and pocket money and “others who like outings.”

Oundo warned parents to know their children’s friends. Homosexuals, he added, were targeting mostly children “because they are easy to initiate and they like easy things”.

Oundo said he got seriously involved in promoting homosexuality in 2003. “I was taken to Nairobi for training,” he said. “I used to supply pornographic materials in form of books and compact discs showing homosexuality to young boys in many schools,” he explained.

The training, he said, was facilitated by Gay and Lesbian Coalition. “I also got the pupils’ telephone contacts. We used to meet with both girls and boys in schools during ceremonial parties,” he asserted.

He said he only stopped his activities after becoming a Born-again Christian. He told all this to about 50 parents attending a seminar at Hotel Triangle, Kampala on Sunday. It was organised by Family Life Network, a local charity which promotes family values.

Oundo said he got saved at Pastor Martin Sempa’s church, the Inter-Faith Rainbow Coalition against Homosexuality, based at Makerere University Kampala.

Oundo asserted that he had been a renown gay and lesbian activist for five years and had operated under the umbrella group, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). He said he had taken on the female role and his name was Georgina.

“Praise God. Recently I realised that I have been victimising young people into devilish ways,” Oundo said. “I confess before the parents of the victimised children and they should forgive me.”

He hoped to go back to his former school, Muyenga High (Jinja), where he recruited many students and repent.

He said he was initiated into the vice at 12 by friends like Victor Mukasa, a gay activist, after his parents separated and he was being raised by a single mother.

“I was brought up in a poor family. Lack of parental care, love and the loneliness may have led me to join gay activities,” he added.

Oundo said he experienced a transgender transition because he “wanted to be a woman”. “Just go to the Internet and Google the name Georgina and you will see how I have been defending gay activism,” he explained.

Oundo said homosexuality was spread by international human rights organisations. He said after he denounced the gay activities, he received threats from a gay activist who accused him of betrayal.

George ‘Georgina’ Oundo and another gay activist, “Brenda” Kiiza, were arrested on September 10, 2008, for “recruiting homosexuals”. But they were released on September 18, 2008 after their lawyer and the international human rights organisation, Human Rights Watch, protested.

In July 2005, local government officers raided the home of Juliet Victor Mukasa, the former chairperson of SMUG. They seized documents and arrested another lesbian activist. Mukasa sued for torture and court awarded her damages.

Gay rights activists have become more vocal in their campaign for recognition and have featured prominently at international conferences, particularly relating to HIV/AIDS.

Last year, education minister Namirembe Bitamazire announced an investigation into homosexuality in schools following complaints by MPs that the illegal activity was rampant in schools.

The Uganda AIDS Commission chief, Kihumuro Apuuli, also noted at the time that schools had become a breeding ground for the vice, which targets youth aged between 15 and 24. He said parents and guardians had a big responsibility to inculcate African values into their children.

Sodomy is a crime under the penal code and the Constitution prohibits “marriage between persons of the same sex”.

Pastors of Pentecostal churches last week called for a commission of inquiry into allegations of sodomy and homosexuality in churches.

Other pastors yesterday told journalists in Kampala the war against sodomy would be long and challenging but must be fought.

Uganda: Homosexual Admits Recruiting Students

It seems I’m always posting “bathroom news” at Transgender News, most recently various news and commentary on the flap involving the women-only gym in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Well, we should be seeing quite a bit more “bathroom news” shortly.

Coming up on March 24th, voters in Gainesville, Florida will decide whether “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” remain protected in the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.

A while back, as a means to convince (flimflam) the citizens of Gainesville that they should strip gay and transgender citizens of their civil rights, Citizens for Good Public Policy chose to turn this into a “Keep Men out of Women’s Restrooms” fight and aired their now infamous television commercial, “The Pervert.”

“The Pervert” is longer available on YouTube (you can see that if you try to play it here).  The other day though a reader of Transgender News pointed out to me a “commercial” (by Ed) that is available on YouTube, one which seems timely and topical …

No doubt, be considerate of Sandy’s sense of esthetics and get a (“complete”?) make-over — before using the Ladies’ Room in Gainesville …

~~~~~

Related …

Fla. Conservatives Fight Transgender Restroom Rule

Stop right there, ma’am … er, sir

Let me repeat myself:

I get angry reading about the same tactics over and over again against LGBT civil rights legislation – You just can’t sell me that this isn’t about hate when were seeing these same, hateful “Christian” mistruths and fear tactics used over and over again. When do we develop some good answers to his and his “Christian” peers’ lies and fear tactics?

The ad below, by Citizens for Good Public Policy, is a for a Gainesville, Florida referendum to repeal a civil rights ordinance:

I don’t look like that actor behaving like a predator shown in the ad when I go to use a public restroom; I don’t act like a predator when I go use a public restroom — I just go to the bathroom. So do other trans people. And hey, sexually predatory behavior in any public bathroom is unlawful everywhere in the U.S. — despite what the ad says and the ad implies, the behavior shown in the ad isn’t legal.

If there were documented cases of transpeople having acted like predators in public bathrooms, or documented cases of male predators dressing as women to molest women and children in public bathrooms that organizations like Citizens for Good Public Policy would be citing the cases.

As it is, my trans peers (and I personally) are portrayed as potential predators — facts to support the claims and implications appear not to be needed. Frankly, it sucks raw eggs.

~~
H/t: Queerty

~~~~~
Related:
* White Male Privilege & Women’s Fear Of Crime Intersecting With Gender Expression & Public Restrooms
* When It Comes To Transgender People & Civil Rights, It Really Is Always About The Bathroom
~~
* AFA Michigan’s Gary Glenn Up To The Usual Fear Tactics — This Time In Kalamazoo
* A Further Update: Why A Commission Is Investigating The Suspension Of A Trans Student
* MA Haters Using Prop 8 Celebration to Fundraise Against Trans Rights
* The Ambiguous Feelings About Peeing In Public Restrooms
* The Predator Argument Doesn’t Work With Transgender Fifth Graders
* Kevin Moore’s Take On Colorado’s “Bathroom Police”
* If Dr. Dobson Were King, We’d All Be Wearing Depends
* The Non-Trans Woman Thrown Out Of A NY Women’s Restroom Sues
* Outing #2: When You Endanger A Child For The Sensationalism Of It
* Latest Attacks Of Teh HomoSEXual Agenda’s Transgenderededs’s Bullet Points

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 Thursday, December 4th and Friday, December 5th …

[FL, USA] “On March 24, registered voters in the city of Gainesville will decide whether the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance should be the same as Florida state anti-discrimination statute. If local law were altered to mirror the state statute, the change would eliminate the words “sexual preference” and “gender identity” from the classes of people in Gainesville who are granted equal access to housing, employment, public accommodation and credit. Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan emphasized Thursday that without the city’s added protections, it is perfectly legal for a business owner to refuse to serve a gay person or for a landlord to deny housing to a transgender individual. She said the city has chosen to protect these people from discrimination. “If you take away your community’s right to do that and cede that right to the state, then you defacto say, that, ‘OK, we are willing to allow those discriminations.’ “” — Commissioners OK amendment wording

[NY, USA] “Rejecting a trial judge’s objection that a gendered name-change would cause “confusion,” a unanimous panel of the New York Appellate Division in Albany ruled on November 26 that the person formerly known as Earl William Golden III should be allowed to take the name Elizabeth Whitney Golden. However, the appellate court also ruled that Justice Jeffrey A Tait, the Broome County trial judge who had denied the name-change petition, should include in his order a statement that the name change could not be used as proof of a change of sex.” — Trans Name Change Win

[OH, USA] In Cleveland, the “City Council is well on its way to including transgender people in the city’s non-discrimination code and creating Ohio’s third domestic partner registry. Ordinances to do both were been approved on December 1 by council’s Legislative Committee and will likely be passed by the full council at their December 8 meeting. Mayor Frank Jackson is expected to sign both the registry and the measure to add gender identity to the city’s equal rights ordinances, said his spokesperson Maureen Harper. The equality ordinances have included “sexual orientation” since 1994 … The bill’s sponsor, [Council member] Joe Santiago, asked if there was a need to add the phrase “and expression” after “gender identity” in the bill’s wording. [ACLU staff attorney Carrie] Davis said adding “expression” would be a broader definition and more inclusive. After discussion, however, Santiago and the members agreed that the measure’s definition of “gender identity” essentially includes “expression.”” — Partner registry and TG rights bills approved

[OH, USA] And, in Columbus, “Ohio’s capital city is considering changes to its human rights ordinances to add protection based on gender identity or expression. The proposed ordinance will be introduced December 8 by councilor Priscilla Tyson, who chairs the administration committee. Tyson was appointed to city council in 2007 to fill the seat vacated by openly lesbian Mary Jo Hudson, who resigned to become the Ohio insurance commissioner. The ordinance updates sections of city code covering employment non-discrimination, fair housing, public accommodations and ethnic intimidation.” — Columbus prepares to add gender identity protections

[USA] From today’s Washington Blade editorial: “In the fight for ENDA last year, many members of Congress who agreed to vote for an ENDA bill that protected gays and lesbians wouldn’t vote for the bill if transgender people were included. No demand by the House leadership was going to get their votes for two reasons: First, many didn’t really understand the meaning of transgender; second, some felt that even if they understood they couldn’t justify that vote to their constituents who didn’t in the next election. In the future, if we can harness the energy displayed by members of our community and our straight allies after the defeat of Prop 8, we have a chance to change this outcome.” — Now what?

[USA] Michael Gross is not the only person who’s angry. From a cynical and angry Vanessa Edwards Foster, “However, the trans community’s movement – simply the essential desire of being able to survive and earn a living – is currently being overwritten, completely occluded from public sight and vanishing before our very eyes. ‘[W]e are angry, probably not least at ourselves for our own complacency and cowardice, for not working as hard as we could, for not giving as much as we could, and for letting so much slip from our grasp.‘ Nearly forty years after the late Marsha P. Johnson, former NTAC member Sylvia Rivera and others created this current popular movement’s flashpoint at Stonewall, the trans community anger will not be quelled, nor will we be sated. Will we simply allow ourselves to disappear? Those of us who’ve had virtually nothing to begin with will not relinquish our grasp on what little we do have. There are far too many of us that remember, far too many of us that are still left out. We will not go quietly into that dark night. Enter the Retributive Era.” — Trans Rights Movement Is Disappearing Before Our Eyes

[USA] We’re not just angry, we’re “thrilled” too. — Homosexual/Transgender Lobby Thrilled With Obama Team

[Australia] “The Federal Government’s human rights arm plans to invent a new official status called “intersex” adding it to male and female as a legally recognised gender. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission wants people to be able to change their gender on their passports and driving licences even if they do not undergo surgery. And transgender lobby groups say that even this does not go far enough and are demanding a fourth legal gender called “other” for people who feel like their gender is indefinable or changes from day to day. The extraordinary proposals are contained in a discussion paper quietly issued to transgender and transexual advocates by the commission, a statutory body that advises the Government on such matters. The paper, entitled Sex Files – The legal recognition of sex: Proposed reform, says the introduction of the new “intersex” gender is a “key feature of the reform proposal being developed by the commission”. “Recognition of intersex: Persons who cannot or do not identify as either male or female would be able to choose to be identified on their birth certificate and passport as intersex,” it says. “A person who cannot or chooses not to undergo surgery would not be automatically ineligible to request a change in their legal sex.”" — Government human rights arm pushes for third gender

[Canada] “Transgendered porn star Buck Angel —who bills himself as “the man with a pussy” —makes a lucrative living selling and starring in adult DVDs (Buckback Mountain, Buck Off) and streaming videos. The demographics of his audience offer some surprising insight regarding gay and lesbian desires. “Eighty percent of my customer base is gay men. Twenty percent is female —bisexual, straight and gay,” explains Angel. “I get a lot of gay men writing me letters about how they are so turned on by me and they can’t believe it and what does that make them, are they now straight? My vagina freaks people out, especially gay men,” he says. “They are attracted to me as a person but because I have a vagina, it just totally throws them for a loop, they can’t wrap their head around it.” Angel says he has seen and heard many horror stories about the treatment of trans folks by gays and lesbians. “Twenty years ago, I identified as a dyke. When I started transitioning, the dyke community ostracized me; every single one of my friends wanted nothing to do with me. There was no knowledge about what was going on then. “Funnily enough, a lot of people have called me since then, asking me how they go about transitioning now.”" — The evolution of desire: How trans people are challenging our understanding of same-sex attraction

[UK] “The applause was heartfelt, but few of the hundreds of immaculately dressed ladies celebrating at the NatWest Everywoman Awards at the Dorchester yesterday were aware that entrepreneur Kate Craig-Wood, who won one of the main prizes, started life as a man. She certainly doesn’t feel she got the award under false pretences, telling me: ‘I officially became a woman two years ago.’” — A woman’s winning touch

[UK] The Endocrine Society has published its draft guidelines for the endocrine treatment of transsexual persons. The conclusions set forth in the guidelines were as follows: “Transsexual persons seeking to develop the physical characteristics of the appropriate gender require a safe and effective hormone regimen that will 1) suppress endogenous hormone secretion determined by the person’s genetic/biologic sex and 2) maintain sex hormone levels within the normal range for the person’s gender. A mental health professional (MHP) must recommend endocrine treatment and participate in the ongoing care throughout the endocrine transition. The endocrinologist must confirm the diagnostic criteria the MHP used to make this recommendation and collaborate with the MHP in making the recommendation for surgical sex reassignment. We recommend treating transsexual adolescents (Tanner stage 2) with suppression of puberty with GnRH analogues until age 16 years old, only after which time cross-sex hormones may be given. We suggest suppression of endogenous sex hormones, maintaining physiologic levels of gender-appropriate sex hormones and surveillance for known risks and complications in adult transsexual persons.” — Endocrine Treatment of Transsexual Persons: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline (PDF)

[UK] The New Scientist‘s write-up on the Endocrine Society guidelines: “Young teenagers with extreme gender identity disorder should be given drugs to block puberty so that they don’t have to experience distressing changes to their bodies which they perceive to be out of line with their true gender. So say draft international guidelines (pdf format) issued by the Endocrine Society this week – the first to offer advice to doctors on this controversial issue. The hope is that by delaying puberty, young teens will be given valuable thinking time in which they can decide if they are sure they want to begin gender reassignment using cross-sex hormones at the age of 16. Ultimately, this strategy would also make it easier for them to live in their chosen gender. For example, potential male-to-female transsexuals will not have developed the deep voice, facial changes and body hair associated with adult masculinity. Gender-reassignment surgery should be avoided until the age of 18, the guidelines say.” — Delaying puberty could help gender-confused teens

[UK] A question that perhaps you’ll never see on the U.S. Census: “Members of the public are to be questioned about their sexual orientation in a range of surveys by Government statisticians which will create the first accurate estimate of the size of Britain’s homosexual population … Future studies could also ask Britons if they have had sex swaps or are “undergoing the process of gender reassignment”. The Office for National Statistics, the organisation that collates data for use by Government, says the new questions are essential to meet equality laws and to find out if people from minority groups are discriminated against. The answers received will also create the first comprehensive picture of how many homosexuals live in Britain, in which areas, and how old they are.” — Office for National Statistics to calculate size of Britain’s homosexual population

[UK] From a review of a new biography, “Moreschi: the Angel of Rome”: “The castrato craze was one of the most bizarre phenomena of the European Baroque period. In the middle years of the 16th century eunuchs began to be prized in the courts of Italy for their peculiar vocal power and brilliance. By 1600, Pope Clement VIII could solemnly declare that “the creation of castrati for Church choirs is to be held to the honour of God”. A century later the gelded male, whether soprano or alto, dominated the Italian operatic scene. Stars such as Senesino, Caffarelli and Carestini earned huge salaries in the course of glittering international careers, while the legendary Farinelli, by singing the same five arias nightly for 23 years to two schizophrenic kings of Spain, became their éminence grise and, as some believed, unofficial ruler of the Spanish empire. “Long live the knife!” bawled Italian theatre audiences, and for many an impoverished family the operation seemed like a passport to financial security.” — The last castrato

With civil rights and protections for gender identity and expression seeming to frequently hinge on the predator arguments of the religious right community (with a number of second wave feminists apparently in agreement with many of the arguments), it seems civil rights activists need to pay attention to what’s happening in the news regarding bathrooms and locker rooms.

- Transgender-law challengers submit 8,600 signatures

Moments before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline, the group challenging Gainesville’s anti-discrimination ordinance turned in its final batch of petitions, totaling about 3,000 more signatures than required in order to get a citywide vote on the issue.

According to Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Pam Carpenter, more than 8,600 signatures were turned in, well above the 5,581 signatures required to place the “repealing” charter amendment on a city election ballot, likely in spring 2009.

From a related article:

According to Cain Davis, president of Citizens for Good Public Policy, fears are centered around the fact that under the law a biological man who has an “inner sense” of being a woman could legally use the women’s restroom.

“Tell the woman who gets raped, tell the family who gets their spouse killed, that it’s no big deal,” Davis said.

Per usual, no examples of when this has happened has been provided — as there are no examples of this ever having happened.

- From WingNutDaily: Judge rules voters can decide ‘coed showers’ plan; ‘Like all American citizens, Maryland voters have right to have voices count’:

A judge has ruled that voters in Montgomery County, Md., will be allowed to determine the future of a “discrimination” ban that family advocates say simply opens up all public facilities, including restrooms and locker rooms, to individuals of either sex, depending upon their “gender identity.”

“Like all American citizens, Maryland voters have the right to have their voices count,” said Amy Smith, a litigation attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, which is arguing the case.
“Justice was served … as more than enough valid signatures were collected for the petitions, and the plaintiffs clearly failed to file their suit before the statute of limitations expired,” she said.

Maryland County’s The Gazette adds:

‘‘We’re disappointed, but the court concluded that we were right but were too late in filing,” said Jonathan S. Shurberg, an attorney for Equality Maryland. ‘‘If I didn’t think we had a strong chance to win, I wouldn’t recommend to my client that we appeal.”

Shurberg plans to request a review by the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. If the review is denied, he will ask for an expedited review by the Special Appeals court before the Aug. 18 deadline for ballot changes.

[Below the fold: Pre-Op Transsexual fighting to use women's locker room; Thai Schools trans restrooms]

Read the rest of this entry »

* Sigh * — From OneNewsNow/’s Moral debate now a public safety issue:

Citizens in Gainesville, Florida, are trying to repeal an ordinance that lets anyone reject their biological sex simply by stating that they “feel like” a member of the opposite sex. At least one citizen argues that introduces some serious safety concerns for the public.

…In fact, Davis’ group has been collecting reports of such incidents, including one in which an elderly woman using a wheelchair complained when an adult male followed her into the women’s restroom at a local grocery store.

“And the manager said, ‘He can legally do it,’” Davis relates. “The manager didn’t even ask this person if he had a sexual or gender identity issue. So just by having this law, men are walking in — and managers, because of the liability associated with questioning people who are protected by the law, they don’t even ask questions.”

The difficulty with the public safety aspect of this argument is that there have been no news stories — no documentation to support the premise — that predators have ever tried to use a public accommodation law in an attempt to cover sexually predatory behavior in a women’s restroom — despite this undocumented, factually bare anecdote given in this article.

What we’re really discussing here is a fear of predatory behavior by cross-dressed males in public restrooms vice actual, documented examples of predatory males actually engaging in any otherwise unlawful behavior in public restrooms — while at the same time being cross-dressed when they attempt to use public accommodation laws as cover for their predatory behavior.

Let’s be frank, here. If there had ever been any documented examples of cross-dressed individuals attempting to use public accommodation laws in an attempt to cover unlawful predatory behavior, I’m absolutely sure we’d have heard about it — it would be a very, very newsworthy story.

The burden of proof that this happens at all — that crossdressing males going into women’s restrooms constitute a real, documentable public safety issue in municipalities, counties, or states that have passed public accommodation laws, and that these allegedly existing predators used public accommodation laws as legal cover for their allegedly predatory behavior — should be on the conservative Christians who claim it as fact, vice falling on us transgender people and allies to prove the negative; vice falling on transgender people to prove that this scenario has never been adequately documented.

Names, dates and times, incident reports and police reports — If conservative Christians want to claim gender identity and expression specific public accommodation laws facilitate predatory behavior and constitute a real, public safety issue, they need to show us palpable evidence that indicates this really is a public safety issue. Otherwise, it’s just transgender bashing based completely on hearsay and/or fear.

~~~~~
Related:
* White Male Privilege & Women’s Fear Of Crime Intersecting With Gender Expression & Public Restrooms
* When It Comes To Transgender People & Civil Rights, It Really Is Always About The Bathroom
* The Predator Argument Doesn’t Work With Transgender Fifth Graders
* Kevin Moore’s Take On Colorado’s “Bathroom Police”
* I’m Going To Colorado In August With PHB; I’m Going To Make Use Of Public Accommodations
* If Dr. Dobson Were King, We’d All Be Wearing Depends
* The Non-Trans Woman Thrown Out Of A NY Women’s Restroom Sues
* Outing #2: When You Endanger A Child For The Sensationalism Of It
* Latest Attacks Of Teh HomoSEXual Agenda’s Transgenderededs’s Bullet Points

This could end up being judged “just” another assault case, not a hate crime. At this point, it would seem that there could be obvious differences here — Blanton is not a juvenile, the alleged victim may not be unwilling to testify — if this gets to a trial. It will be interesting to see where this story goes from here …

Deputies arrested a Gainesville man Thursday after a Micanopy [mick-a-no-pee] store employee accused him of kidnapping and molesting her earlier this week, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Investigators have categorized the case as a hate crime because the victim is transgender. The victim told officers two men attacked her and used slurs after they apparently became angry when they discovered she was anatomically male.

Jared Elijah Blanton, 20, was being held Friday at the Alachua County jail on charges of aggravated battery, kidnapping, sexual assault, vehicle theft and robbery, jail records showed. A $160,000 bond had been set on those charges. Blanton also was facing a probation violation. No bond had been set on that charge.

Deputies said they questioned Blanton on Thursday after an employee at a Micanopy business alleged two men came to the store shortly before midnight Tuesday and chased her. She said she fled into the business’ cooler, where she was pushed by one of the men, according to deputies.

The men took money from the store and removed a portion of the business’ video recording system while telling the employee to finish closing up so that everything appeared normal, according to an arrest report.

Then the two men made the employee chauffeur them to different locations and later forced her to engage in a sex act, deputies said. During the assault, the men realized the woman was transgender, she told officers. She was kicked in the head and neck by the two, who were wearing boots, and called names, according to the arrest report. Her next recollection was waking up nude at the back of her home, deputies said. The victim was able to identify Blanton from a photo lineup, officers reported. Officers found damage at the business and blood at the victim’s home, according to deputies.

Blanton has denied anything happened that night and told officers he knew the woman and that they had previously been involved in a consensual relationship, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Keith Faulk. “There are still some blanks that need to be filled in in terms of exactly what happened. There is enough there to substantiate the charges against him,” Faulk said about the ongoing investigation.

Deputies still were searching Friday for the second suspect, Faulk said.

Assault case called a hate crime

Some of the gender and transgender-related writings we’re reading today …

At Towleroad …

Hillary Clinton on ENDA, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, McCain, and Coulter

At (Ab)Normal Heights …

Donna Rose Comments On The LGBT Americans For Hillary Steering Committee

At Gender and Life’s Paths …

Transgender: Why Don’t We Matter

At Phred’s Blog …

Human hatred on display in Gainesville

At Bilerico Project …

The Gender Anarchist

What Man and What Woman?

And at Intersex Pride …

Elizabeth Reis defames and trivializes intersex people

DSD: North American Medical fascism and manufacturing consent

Some of the recent transgender-related legal and legislative actions and happenings affecting trans people …

* In Florida, Miami-Dade County voters passed a bill of rights …

The bill of rights, which received little attention, contains a clause that bans the city, directly or indirectly, from discriminating based on race, sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. City employees who violate the code could loseWeight Exercise their jobs, and other residents could file civil lawsuits.

* Also in Florida, Gainesville City Commissioners voted to pass an anti-discrimination ordinance for transgendered people …

Commissioners voted four to three.

The ordinance is mostly addressing housing and employment discrimination, but the part of the ordinance that created much controversy; allowing transgender people to use whichever restroom they wanted in public settings.

* Again in Florida, mirroring what happened at the Federal level, there are competing versions of a proposed statewide anti-discrimination bill …

Gay political organizations are clashing over the best way to pass GLBT-friendly anti-discrimination bills through the Florida Legislature. The head butting is taking on strategic tones similar to those that emerged last year in the fight over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the U.S. Congress.

Gay rights organizations are taking different stances on whether to support a two-pronged effort that sends separate anti-discrimination bills through the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate. If passed, House Bill 47 sponsored by Kelly Skidmore (D-Boca Raton) would ban employment and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation as well as gender identity and gender expression. Senate Bill 572, introduced by Ted Deutch (D-Delray Beach), bans discrimination based on sexual orientation only. Both bills are expected to go before the Florida Legislature during the spring session, which begins March 4.

* In Utah, a statewide GLBT anti-discrimination bill apparently has been put on hold …

A bill prohibiting employers from discriminating against gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered people hit a wall today. While the bill is still officially active, it is not clear when – or if – it will be re-considered this session. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Christine Johnson, says the bill is intended to protect everyone in Utah from discrimination.

* In Massachusetts, the mayor of Boston is supporting …

… H.B. 1722, which would expand the state’s non-discrimination and hate crimes statutes to include protections based on gender identity and expression. In letters sent to both O’Flaherty and Creedon, Menino notes that he signed similar legislation for the City of Boston in 2002. “All citizens of the Commonwealth deserve equal protection against discrimination,” Menino wrote, “and I hope that you will help spread that message with passage of this legislation.” The bill, filed by state Reps. Carl Sciortino and Byron Rushing, is awaiting action by the judiciary committee.

* Finally, in Maryland, Montgomery County school’s new sex education curriculum withstood a challenge …

A state court judge has ruled in favor of new sex education lessons in Montgomery County middle and high schools, dismissing a legal challenge from religious conservatives who said the county school board violated state law by teaching that sexual orientation is innate.

“They are few in number, but sometimes it is the few in number who need the most protection.”
– Craig Lowe, a Gainesville, Fla., city commissioner, arguing in favor of a measure to protect transgender residents there from discrimination, while other commissioners argued the bill amounted to ”special rights” before the standing-room-only public hearing Jan. 28, which saw one member of the audience yelling that trans advocates have ”blood on [their] hands.”

A new civil rights ordinance that mostly addresses housing and employment discrimination against transgender people in Gainesville Florida has become controversial, because it allows transgender people to use public restrooms appropriate to gender identity vice restricting rest room usage based on genitalia. Critics are saying the ordinance that passed this week on a 4 to 3 vote isn’t written clearly enough to explain how this law will effect transgender people’s public bathroom usage, or how it will impact businesses that must comply with the ordinance. At least, that’s how the public argument goes.

Writing an ordinance that addresses transgender civil rights, especially addressing transgender bathroom use, always boils down to Christian faith, the charge that transgender people are mentally ill (in a similar way to LGB people were considered mentally ill by the American Psychological Association prior to 1973), and that sexual predators dressed in women’s clothing will invade women’s restrooms.

“When you boil it down the issue is that because of some people who have some sort of emotional or psychological issue, others have to change,” [Commissioner Ed] Braddy said.

~~

Amid comments claiming religious damnation for the commissioners who voted yes on the ordinance, two transgender women stood up to talk about the struggles of daily life.

“I disagree with us being diagnosed as ‘mental cases,’ ” said Michelle Phillips who is a women’s studies major at the University of Florida. “I just wish that people would understand that we are not predators.”

I wish people would too.

[Discussing restrooms in terms of "male predator" and "perpetrator" after the fold]

Read the rest of this entry »

For Sunday, a non-ENDA inclusive edition where we catch up with some of the other recent news …

#1 – AfterElton did a feature on the “TV Landscape Changing for Transgender Characters” …

The portrayal of transgender characters on television these days seems to be sort of a glass-is-either-half-empty-or-half-full situation. For years television has presented a steady stream of “transsexual” prostitutes, murder victims, and other assorted minor characters that usually appeared for one episode and were portrayed as little more than a collection of stereotypes to advance the plot or get a cheap laugh.

A recent example of that aired this past summer on HBO’s hit show Entourage. In the episode “Sorry, Harvey” a secondary storyline centered on Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) trying to get the sad sack mayor of Beverly Hills (played by Groundhog Day’s Stephen Tobolowsky) hooked up with a beautiful woman in order to curry his favor. At a bar to which he takes the mayor, Drama thinks he has succeeded with a woman named Anika — at least until he learns that she is actually transgender.

The mayor turns out not to mind, but the show portrays this as due more to his being so pathetic rather than a message of acceptance. This impression is further underscored by the main characters’ clearly being repulsed at the idea of a transgender person, and by the episode’s big “reveal” when Anika’s male genitalia are shown during a panty-less Britney Spear’s-type incident.

On the “half-full” side of the equation there is ABC’s Ugly Betty. Last season the hit dramedy included Alexis Meade, a transgender character portrayed as self-accepting, not desperate for the approval of a man, and who wasn’t a prostitute. Audiences loved the character.

Already the most diverse network when it comes to LGBT representation, ABC deepened their diversity with two new transgender characters introduced this fall, one each on Dirty Sexy Money and Big Shots. Neither are regulars at this point, and while the Dirty Sexy Money show continues to build on the progress of Ugly Betty, thus far Big Shots is a throwback to more stereotypical portrayals of transgender women. (There are no transgender men – female to male – characters currently on network TV.)

Despite setbacks like the recent episode of Entourage, Mara Keisling, Executive Director for the National Center for Transgender Equality, believes things are improving when it comes to transgender representations on television. “I’m really, really optimistic. Things are changing so much so fast. Oprah has had so many sensitive shows. Montel has done some good shows. Larry King does show after show, and that’s just really educating the public.”

As to what is driving that change, Keisling stated, “It’s just natural that as there are more and more trans people visible in public, that’s going to be reflected in popular culture.”

The rest of that feature can be read here.

Monica Roberts at TransGriot had some thoughts about the role of Dontrelle in Entourage …

It figures that we transsistahs once again get stuck being painted by the hooker brush while white transwomen are seen running a magazine or being the love interest of a US senator.

As the late Esther Rolle said in her Good Times role as Florida Evans, “Damn, Damn, Damn!”

Memo to Hollywood: Is it so hard for you to create an African-American transgender character that fits the reality of the 90% of us who don’t partake of sex work to make our living? Is it that difficult for you to craft an African-American transgender character that isn’t the punchline of a joke or doesn’t end up dead in the first five minutes of the show?

And, by the way, Oprah Winfrey has an upcoming show this week (Friday, 10/12) entitled, “Trangender Families” …

Meet transgender individuals who had the courage to say “this is who I am.” What happens in a family when Dad becomes a woman? Oprah talks with the new American family.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thursday edition …

#1 – Barbara Santiago Solla is running for a office …

A Puerto Rican transsexual said yesterday her candidacy for a seat in a municipal assembly is a sign the island territory has become more tolerant.

Barbara Santiago Solla was chosen by the pro-statehood New Progressive Party to be included among a slate of municipal assembly candidates in the city of Carolina.

“I don’t think discrimination will be a factor. I think this is something Puerto Rico wanted, to take a step forward,” said Santiago, 59.

She said she had surgery to become a woman 35 years ago in New York and legally changed her gender in her public records in her native Puerto Rico.

Sex-switch candidate named to ballot list

#2 – What’s up with bathrooms and gender identity and expression in Gainesville, Florida …

The issue of gender-neutral bathrooms has been gaining attention across the nation and is now growing in the South as well, said Bob Karp, who is on the board of directors for the Human Rights Council of North Central Florida.

…

Karp said unisex bathrooms could allow transgender individuals to feel safe from harassment, but Gainesville does not require public facilities to install these restrooms.

…

Gainesville is considered a tolerant place to live, but the law does not protect gender identity and expression, said Karp, who is gay.

He said if Gainesville does not give transgender individuals full rights, then “all you can do is cross your fingers and hope nothing bad happens.”

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, UF provides separate, unisex stalls on campus where people can enjoy more solitude, said Nora Spencer, the director of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs.

She said she thinks UF is working hard to become more progressive and safe, but she would like to see gender identity and expression included under its nondiscrimination clause.

In the spring semester, 68 percent of students voted to add gender expression and identity to the Student Government’s nondiscrimination clause, said Student Body Vice President Vanessa Goodwin.

Karp said the Human Rights Council of North Central Florida is hopeful there will be some movement in the next couple of months to include gender identity and expression in Gainesville’s nondiscrimination code.

More unisex bathrooms would be a step in the right direction.

…

Bathrooms between genders

#3 – Priscilla might be headed to Broadway …

The New York Post’s Michael Riedel reports that the hit Australian musical adaptation of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert may trail feathers to Broadway or the West End.

Citing the high commercial possibilities of the show, Riedel writes: “Australian producers have begun laying the groundwork for London and Broadway …

Last fall, the musical version of “Priscilla” – directed by Simon Phillips – opened in a $6.5 million production in Sydney. The musical is based on Stephen Elliott’s 1994 film–in which two drag queens and a transsexual man hop aboard the bus of the title perform a cabaret show in the middle of the Australian outback.

…

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert Musical Headed for Bway?

#4 – A story about an intersex baby born in India, where — as the article points out — “no one knows how many such babies are born because of the secrecy shrouding such cases” …

Hundreds are flocking to a house in Orissa’s Balasore district to glimpse and even worship a baby born with both male and female genitalia, being described as an incarnation of Hindu gods Shiva and Parvati.

The baby, now five-and-a-half months old, was born to Baijayanti Singh in Ayodhya Nagar Patana village in Balasore district, around 200 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.

‘When the child was born (Feb 11) we thought it is a boy. But two days later we found that it had both male and female sex organs,’ she said.

‘We feel the baby is part of both Shiva and Parvati as it was born just four days before Maha Shivratri,’ added Guru Gobinda Singh, the child’s father.

Baijayanti had a normal delivery and the baby is healthy.

Describing the phenomenon, senior gynaecologist S.N. Sahu told IANS: ‘It is called an intersex (congenital anomaly of the reproductive and sexual system) baby and such incidents may happen.’

Though such a condition does not lead to ill health or cause physical pain, it is a serious health issue that needs to be treated medically, he said.

‘Surgically correcting the appearance of intersex genitals will not change the underlying medical needs,’ Sahu said.

The couple has a son and was expecting a daughter this time.

After news of the newborn spread in the locality, hundreds started flocking to their house to see it and offer prayers to the baby.

‘We have never seen such a baby before, not even heard of one,’ said Bishnu Prasad Mohapatra, a resident of nearby Remuna village.

‘We heard that Shiva-Parvati have arrived in this village, so we came here to offer prayers to the baby,’ added Katimani Singh, a local resident.

Meanwhile, doctors in the district headquarter hospital say the baby needs proper medical examination.

‘We have to verify whether the baby has testis or uterus and ovary and which organ is fully operational. It can be a normal baby after its inactive sex organ is removed,’ Sahu said.

‘I will discuss about the baby with the chief district medical officer. If possible we will carry out medical tests and keep the baby under observation,’ he said.

Social activists working in the health sector say no one knows how many such babies are born because of the secrecy shrouding such cases.

‘It is estimated that about one in 2,000 children, or five children per day, are born in the United States as visibly intersex. This figure is yet to be calculated in India,’ according to Dilip Kumar Parida, secretary of a local non government organisation.

Unusual baby draws crowds, worshipped as divine

#5 – This week’s Metro Weekly features an in-depth interview with Simon Aronoff of the National Center for Transgender Equality …

Simon Aronoff remembers being a child who would go to sleep with an expectation of waking up in a boy’s body, rather than the female one he had. As for the name, Jill, that could be changed a bit more easily. While the physical transformation didn’t took place, Aronff says he always had that identity that leaned toward the male end of the spectrum, even if he didn’t quite know what it meant. So, despite coming out as a lesbian at 15, Aronoff still felt more like a big brother than big sister to his younger sibling, Daniel.

”I taught him how to shave his face and we’ve always played in the dirt and things like that,” says Aronoff. ”I stopped picking on Daniel when he got bigger than me. I’m definitely his little big brother. He’s almost 6 feet tall.”

Though the older Aronoff brother may ring in a couple inches shorter than most men his age, he’s a giant when it comes to advancing transgender equality and other progressive issues.

You can read the rest of “Simon Says” here.