Ending Transgender Discrimination About ‘Fundamental Fairness’
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch spoke out against transgender discrimination during an interview with BuzzFeed Friday.
In the interview, she showed concern for transphobic legislation making its way through states such as North Carolina and Mississippi, which have both passed laws this year that target the trans community. “Our transgender family members and friends are also incredibly vulnerable to discrimination, in terms of the laws that we see, but also to abuse,” she said.
“We decided over 200 years ago that we wanted to be an inclusive society, and we wanted to guarantee equal rights for all,” she told BuzzFeed‘s Chris Geidner. She went on to explain her position:
“For that to mean something, we have to be careful, we have to be vigilant, so that when people, for whatever reason, are either [made to] feel like they’re on the outside — a particular group — or are placed on the outside, that that doesn’t happen. And transgender issues are no different, to me, in that regard.”
Texas is joining the bigotry parade, following in the footsteps of Alabama:
Rockwall Mayor Jim Pruitt
Texas is poised to become the next battleground in the debate over transgender bathroom use.
Rockwall Mayor Jim Pruitt, a Republican, proposed legislation on Friday that would fine trans people up to $500 for using the bathroom that most closely corresponds to their gender identity. The ordinance restricts bathroom access strictly to members of the same “biological sex,” described as the “physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person’s birth certificate.”
“Citizens have a right to quiet solicitude [sic] and to be secure from embarrassment and unwanted intrusion into their privacy,” the legislation reads, as the The Dallas Morning News reports.
Apparently, they literally copied Alabama, incorrect spelling and all.
“I just think that it’s insanity not to have those protections in place,” Pruitt told Dallas TV station, WFAA. “These folks aren’t transgender that this is targeting. This is targeting folks of the opposite sex that are going into those restrooms under the guise of being transgender and having access … This is not about sexual orientation or anything of that nature. It is about privacy and the protection of our children.”
As Mark Hicks, who serves as a city councilman in Lufkin, Texas, argues, the reason that towns like Rockwall are drafting such legislation is in response to Target’s recent decision to provide affirming restroom use for trans staff and customers in all its locations.
“I am among those who believe that the potential for abusive behavior by voyeurs, exhibitionists and sexual predators is increased exponentially with the implementation of this policy,” Hicks wrote in a letter to the editor published in The Lufkin Daily News on Sunday. “It creates an unsafe environment, and it should not be allowed or encouraged. I do not believe my wife or three young daughters should have to be concerned about using public facilities anywhere — and certainly not in a neighborhood staple like Target!”
There’s more here, if you can stomach it.
