President Barack Obama meets with Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, in the Oval Office Wednesday, May 20, 2009. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)
The White House press release also urged reporters to take note of the President's position on the legislation.
This week, the House of Representatives is expected to consider H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance - legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action.So the Qs of the Day :
Will hate crimes legislation pass? If so, will it be by a wide margin?
Is that all we're going to see in terms of equality legislation in 2009? Is that "the plan"?
***
By the way, I emailed the White House contact about whether there was going to be any follow up for the media regarding Kerry Eleveld's question at the 5/18 presser when she asked Robert Gibbs if the President had a timeline for initiating a push to repeal DOMA. My email:
I noticed that Press Sec Gibbs took a question about DOMA today; he hadThe answer I received --
no idea about the timeline on action on DOMA and said he would "check on it" -- I'd like to follow up to request that timeline. When will this be addressed?
"Looking into this."I guess I need to be specific and ask for a timeline on a question about a timeline.
Well, this one occurred in central Maine:
AUGUSTA, Maine - The Maine Human Rights Commission decided Monday that a transgender woman was discriminated against at a Denny's restaurant in Auburn when management would not let her use the ladies room until she had sex reassignment surgery.While the lawyer representing the Denny's owners said that the 3-2 decision could have far-reaching, negative consequences for all Maine businesses with shared restroom facilities, it was hailed as a civil rights victory by the Maine Civil Liberties Union and advocacy organization Equality Maine.
"It's important to know that people have rights, including transgender [people], and that businesses are not free to discriminate," said Zachary Heiden, the legal director of the MCLU.
More below...
Of course the usual predatorial fear-mongering technique was attempted- but fortunately it was unsuccessful.
The incident in question happened on Oct. 25, 2007, when Brianna Freeman of Lewiston - formerly known as Bruce - used a locked stall in the ladies room while "dressed clearly" as a woman, according to the investigator's report.
Another customer complained to the manager about sharing a public restroom with a man, said attorney Chad Cloutier, who represents the Rockport company Realty Resources Hospitality LLC.
"The customer was very upset, was irate, had threatened to call police," he said. "A few days later, management decided that it would be in the best interest of Denny's to ask the customer to use the men's room until sex reassignment surgery."
Freeman was a regular customer of the restaurant. After being banned from the ladies room, Freeman filed a complaint with the commission on April 17, 2008.
Cloutier argued to the commission that a discrimination decision would require that Maine businesses essentially decide whether a person is transgender or if they might want to use a particular restroom or locker room for purposes of "sexual perversion."
Making this accommodation is a violation of a woman's right to privacy, he said in a press release, as well as a "significant risk to the health and safety of [the restaurant's] customers, particularly children."
"It's almost an untenable position for businesses," he said. "It really is a slippery slope. This claimant may be perfectly safe and use the bathroom in a perfectly normal way, but what's to prevent a perso n of some devious intent ... the right not to share a bathroom?"
For the millionth time, people- what the bloody hell do you think people DO in a restroom? Can you show documentation of attacks occurring in public restrooms? Can you demonstrate a real risk?
No- because NONE EXISTS. A person goes into a restroom to relieve themselves, not on the off-chance of being able to attack a woman or child.
But perhaps EqualityMaine's Betsy Smith said it best:
"How does it pose a risk to children that someone uses the bathroom? That assumes that that person somehow harms children," she (Equality Maine executive director Betsy Smith) said. "It's so outrageously discriminatory."
Smith said that forcing a transgender woman to use a men's room is not safe.
"This company needs dids diversity training to understand what it means to be gender-nonconforming," she said.
Absolutely true.
crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
While lgbts around the country are tussling over issues like marriage equality and Don't Ask, Don't Tell, South Carolina's lgbt community took a stand against a bill with an added amendment designed to exclude us.
Last week, a bill was pushed through the SC House of Representatives that required schools to create teen dating violence prevention policies.
The bill was a good idea, but it got tainted when a state representative, Greg Delleney, pushed an amendment through requiring the bill to pertain to only heterosexual relationships.
Delleney said he did this because he was afraid that without this requirement, schools would have to teach children about same-sex relationships.
That's why a group 0f us along with two other state representatives, Ken Kennedy and Gilda Cobb-Hunter, held a press conference today.
There were so many things I liked about the press conference: we had a good crowd, good media participation, and it is playing well on television.
Also, the comments section on our local news page's webpage is buzzing and it looks like folks understand our point of view.
So all in all, the press conference was a success in garnering positive attention.
But for me as a gay black South Carolinian, there were more successes today.
Both legislators who spoke at our press conference were African-American and they both personalized the issues.
Their acknowledgements weren't the usual "we stand with gays in the spirit of the civil rights movement"< ;/em> statement that the lgbt community sometimes receives from black allies.
Kennedy said that he has lgbt relatives in his family and the issue affects them.
Cobb-Hunter's speech was also excellent but she did something that I will never forget. Before the press conference started, she turned to us and said "thank you for standing up and showing everyone that this is your house too."
I'm ashamed to admit (it's my pride - sue me already) that when she said this, I was very close to tears.
It feels damn good to be respected for who you are instead of having to fight the petty stereotypes that people have of you.
So I guess I went away from the press conference feeling good about South Carolina. This state gets a lot of flack when it comes to gay rights.
While a lot is justified, I hate it when people say things like "SouthSouth Carolina is so homophobic" and "Gays need to move away."
I've never had any use for people who say things like this; those folks who, when faced with a huge wall of ignorance or intolerance, will either throw up their hands in defeated resignation or wrap themselves up in the shroud of indifference and apathy.
I love this state and intend to fight for my place in it despite the fact that it may seem like a lost cause.
Sometimes lost causes are the best things to fight for because they aren't lost at all but only misplaced.
I learned that lesson today.
So what happens now?
My guess is that the bill will be taken up again by the state Senate but won't pass. Apparently our beloved Governor Sanford vetoed the entire state budget so all attention will be focused on that.
Who would've thought that Governor No would be good for something?
It's just a day of miracles.
Editor's Note - The South Carolina Progressive Network, South Carolina Equality, SC Pride Movement, and the Columbia chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays deserve huge kudos for pulling the press conference together. Harriet Hancock of PFLAG also deserve big kudos for speaking at the press conference.
Subscribe to Reader feed
Subscribe to daily Email
No comments:
Post a Comment