Trans people in Washington State are staring down the barrel of a bill that will strip vital protections from them.
A bill that would eliminate Washington’s new rule allowing transgender people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings consistent with their gender identity passed out of a Senate committee 4-3 Wednesday.
Our Republican menaces are using the same exhausted arguments as those in other states, pretending they care about the safety of women, while ignoring the fact that literally no transgender person has ever attacked a woman in a restroom. On the other hand, plenty of trans folks have been assaulted just trying to pee. They need laws that allow them to pee in peace.
So first thing: we need to shut this shit down. You can send this letter to Washington state legislators for a start.
If you can make it to the hearing in Olympia on Monday at 1:30, please do go. If you are in the Seattle area and need a ride, I can take up to three people. I would only need you to chip in for gas. Let me know by end of day today if you want to carpool with me.
If you live in Washington state, you can comment on the bill here.
And, also importantly: we need to vote these bigoted fuckers out. Here is the list of spons0rs:
Representatives
Graham Hunt (R), 2nd Legislative District
Shelly Short (R), 7th Legislative District
Luanne Van Werven (R), 42nd Legislative District
Jay Rodne, 5th Legislative District
Gina McCabe (R), 14th Legislative District
David Taylor (R), 15th Legislative District
Jeff Holy (R), 6th Legislative District
Matt Manweller (R), 13th Legislative District
Matt Shea (R), 4th Legislative District
Maureen Walsh (R), 16th Legislative District
Elizabeth Scott (R), 39th Legislative District
Dick Muri (R), 28th Legislative District
Norma Smith (R), 10th Legislative District
Joe Schmick (R), 9th Legislative District
Mark Harmsworth (R), 44th Legislative District
Bob McCaslin (R), 4th Legislative District
Linda Kochmar (R), 30th Legislative District
Cary Condotta (R), 12th Legislative District
Drew MacEwen (R), 35th Legislative District
Vincent Buys (R), 42nd Legislative District
Dan Griffey (R), 35th Legislative District
Lynda Wilson (R), 17th Legislative District
Liz Pike (R), 18th Legislative District
Jesse Young (R), 26thLegislative District
Brad Klippert (R), 8th Legislative District
Brad Hawkins (R), 12thLegislative District
Larry Haler (R), 8th Legislative District
Joel Kretz (R), 7th Legislative District
J.T. Wilcox (R), 2nd Legislative District
Hans Zeiger (R), 25th Legislative District
Tom Dent (R), 13th Legislative District
Mark Hargrove (R), 47thLegislative District
Teri Hickel (R), 30th Legislative District
Melanie Stambaugh (R), 25th Legislative District
Michelle Caldier (R), 26th Legislative District
Dave Hayes (R), 10th Legislative District
Kevin Parker (R), 6th Legislative District
Every single one of these fuckers needs to go. Please vote accordingly.
There must be some sort of commonality among the bill’s sponsors… I wonder what it is…
The obsession over bathrooms is one of the weirder conservative issues I’ve run into.
They don’t want a trans man (who may look by all outward appearances as a man) to use the “men’s” bathroom, but instead want them to go in the “women’s” bathroom (looking like the man he is) so that it would supposedly make it more difficult for cis men to go into women’s bathrooms. How does that work? Wouldn’t that just normalize the idea that people who look like men should be allowed to go into women’s bathrooms?
And what are the specific rules? Is the room you go to based on your genitals? Chromosomes? Hormones? If you change your genitals but still have your old chromosomes, do you still go in the same bathroom? What about circumcised men? Since they cut off part of their penis do they now have to use the women’s room? Is there a certain amount of their penis they have to cut off before switching rooms?
It would be ridiculous if it weren’t for the fact that such laws would be used to harass others.
And just how would reporting such a crime work? Would you call the police and tell them you think someone has the wrong genitals? Would they be required to look? If a person claims to have seen my genitals and reports me to the police, can I file a complaint about them being a peeping tom?
Can I demand the police look at the genitals of anyone I don’t like and uses a bathroom?
What on earth do those representatives get up to in their bathrooms, that they are so worried the rest of us will be doing?
Kengi, trans men are like lesbians in that they barely register as existing in bigots minds. Almost every argument I’ve ever encountered with homophobes through the years has centered on gay men (AIDS! STIs! Anal sex ew!) and it’s even worse with transphobes who seem to be almost 100% fixated on trans women.
As I was writing this comment, something interesting occurred to me. Both bring up “protecting the children”, but the homophobes only seem to care about pedophiles who target boys and the transphobes only seem to care about pedophiles who target girls. Weird, because homophobes and transphobes tend to be the exact same people.
There are currently 5(!) different bills at various stages. SB 6443 was discussed last Thursday and was passed to Rules Committee for second reading. HB 2589 is probably not going to receive a reading as it missed a deadline. SB 6548 will be heard tomorrow. Don’t know yet about the other 2.
SB 6548 and HB 2589 are about people’s genitals (panty police in every public location?). HB 2782 is about either anatomy or DNA. (Panty police plus spit-tests everywhere! Nothing says America more than that.)
SB 6443 and HB 2935 are about overturning an existing code without defining criteria regarding who should use which facility. Only that identity doesn’t have to be accepted as sufficient.
I have used my Washington address to write to my legislators and comment; they don’t need to know that I’m moving out of state before the next election.
It took the GOP almost fifty years to come back from the wilderness. I expect that it will take at least twenty-five years to roll back the GOP wave that exploited the Southern Strategy. Keep your powder dry, choose your fights, don’t assume it will be easy. Settle in for a long war with many reversals.
This is a huge reason why I wish I didn’t have to move to Ellensburg to get the degree I want: the town is in the 13th District, and both of its representatives are sponsors of this bill. It is also in the 8th Congressional District, with former fascist sheriff turned fascist Republican, Dave Reichert. Mind you, I am leaving the 43rd Legislative District, one of the most consistently liberal in the state, and I have been represented in Congress for 20 years by the irreplaceable Jim McDermott, one of the most liberal members of the House.
The only upside is that I will be able to participate in the August primary election at my current address, and will be moved in time to register and vote in the November general election. Not sure if it will make any difference, but it might.
I’m in the 30th and the three people in my household voted against the scum who won. We just have too low of participation from the people who matter the most – the impoverished majority who suffer from republican policies. I’ve considered going door to door in my apartment complex encouraging people to vote against gop assholes, but ugh, that is daunting.
See here for updated status of the various bills.