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Trans equality at a turning point: Obama Administration takes on North Carolina


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May 10 2016

 

The movement for transgender rights entered a new phase yesterday with Attorney General Loretta Lynch's announcement that the Obama Administration was filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against North Carolina over its discriminatory House Bill 2 - the so-called "bathroom bill."

In a powerful speech that will go down as a pivotal moment in the struggle for trans rights, Lynch reminded North Carolina's government that "state-sanctioned discrimination never looks good in hindsight." Linking the movement for trans equality to earlier fights for civil rights, she placed HB2, which seeks to legislate what bathrooms trans people are allowed to use, alongside Jim Crow segregation. "It was not so very long ago," she declared, "that states, including North Carolina, had signs above restrooms, water fountains, and on public accommodations keeping people out based upon a distinction without a difference."

With this strong declaration and action in support of trans equality by the Justice Department, Pride Month 2016 promises to be another historic one, following on the steps of the Supreme Court's June 2015 ruling on marriage equality.

 

HB2: A "trick bill"

HB2, officially known as the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, was rushed into law following a vote by the Charlotte City Council in February passing a new ordinance prohibiting discrimination in the city's public facilities and services on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Though it extended to services such as taxis, accommodations, and city contracts, discussion of the ordinance quickly narrowed on public restrooms and the right of transgender persons to use the toilet that accords with their gender identity.

That ordinance was due to take effect on April 1, but the Republican-dominated state legislature passed HB2 in late March. Democratic Senators walked out of the legislative chamber in protest during the final vote, but by the end of the day on March 23, Governor Pat McCrory signed it into law.

The most blatantly discriminatory language in the bill states that, in public buildings, individuals are only allowed to use the public restroom that corresponds to the sex listed on their birth certificate, regardless of what gender they represent publicly. In its quest to snoop into people's underwear, HB2 has been called the "most anti-LGBT law in the U.S." by Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts.

Reverend William Barber, leader of the "Moral Monday" movement in North Carolina, has been an outspoken ally in the coalition against HB2. "This is not really a bathroom bill," he recently said. "This is a hate bill, where the transgender community is being used the same way that Jesse Helms used *** people and race in '84... This is a poisonous brew. It's old-line, again, white Southern strategy politics."

He has also been vocal in spreading the message that the bill represents not just an attack on the trans community; it is part of a divide-and-conquer strategy playing out nationwide in which the right wing uses local anti-discriminatory laws as a wedge to advance its broader agenda.

Another section of the bill, for instance, prohibits cities in the state from passing ordinances that could raise the local minimum wage, from providing sick leave and other benefits, or instituting living wage requirements in contracts. The bill is thus anti-democratic as well as anti-LGBTQ.

Barber characterized HB2 as a "trick bill," and said that "the transgender community is being used the same way black people were used in the past or Latino people." "They are being scapegoated," he continued, "in order to pass all of these anti-poverty, anti-labor, and anti-living wage parts of the bill."

 

History in the making

A lot is at stake for the broad coalition of progressives and labor with HB2, but the attack on the trans community remains at the core of the bill and is thus the focus of the Justice Department's federal civil rights suit.

On May 4, Justice notified North Carolina that HB2 was in violation of Titles VII and XI of the Civil Rights Act and gave the state five days to withdraw it. McCrory and the state's Republicans refused and responded by suing the federal government, thus putting $1.4 billion of education funding and $800 million in student loans on the line - this on top of the economic fallout already inflicted in terms of lost investments and boycotts by the bill.

North Carolina's refusal left the federal government with no other option but to pursue legal action against enforcement of HB2. The civil rights suit that was filed yesterday represents the firmest declaration yet by any U.S. administration in support of trans equality. "Gender identity is innate," it states, "...a transgender man's sex is male and a transgender woman's sex is female." It is a clear statement that identity goes beyond birth certificates and cannot be legislated.

The suit is the latest in a string of moves by the Obama Administration as it makes good on the President's 2009 pledge that the LGBTQ community would be pleased with the progress made by the end of his time in the White House. In addition to last summer's marriage ruling by the Supreme Court, there has also been the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, Executive Order 13672 banning discrimination in federal hiring, and the appointment of numerous LGBTQ officials to public positions.

Even more powerful than the language of the lawsuit itself, however, was the speech made by Attorney General Lynch in announcing it. Her remarks are already being called "the most important speech ever delivered on the topic of trans rights by any government official."

She encouraged Americans to not turn away from each other, but to learn from the mistakes of the past and to "write a different story this time." The most poignant part of her speech came when she addressed the transgender community directly:

"Some of you have lived freely for decades. Others of you are still wondering how you can possibly live the lives you were born to lead. But no matter how isolated or scared you may feel today, the Department of Justice and the entire Obama Administration wants you to know that we see you; we stand with you; and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Please know that history is on your side. This country was founded on a promise of equal rights for all, and we have always managed to move closer to that promise, little by little, one day at a time. It may not be easy - but we'll get there together."

It is now becoming increasingly certain that historians will look back on the years 2009-2016 as a period of rapid advance for LGBTQ equality in the United States. For the trans movement in particular, the nation now seems to be approaching the point of critical mass - there will be no going back.

2transgendersolidarityAP520x300

Photo: Demonstrators protested against House Bill 2 outside the Governor's Mansion in Raleigh, N.C., on March 24. Jill Knight | The News & Observer | Associated Press

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/trans-equality-at-a-turning-point-obama-administration-takes-on-north-carolina/

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Dean James AMERICA’S FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Liberals say that young girls should be forced to share bathrooms and locker rooms with young man that identify as female and vice versa.

They insist that it is safe and no one will be sexually attacked or “emotionally traumatized” even though the name ‘Trump’ written on sidewalks at colleges in chalk has caused a firestorm of controversy with hundreds of student claiming the are traumatized. This makes no sense- but we are talking about the demented left.

Now North Carolina agrees that it would be healthy for these youngsters to be exposed to members of the opposite sex, naked at an early age. What’s particularly disturbing about this is that one of the main players behind getting this insane law passed has a shady past, to put it lightly. He is a sex offender!

If you need to be convinced of the real purpose this law was pushed, you need look no further than the person who was instrumental in having it passed. His name is Chad Sevearance-Turner.

6024

The former president of Charlotte’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce has resigned after he came under fire from a conservative group, which noted that he is on a sex offender list and questioned his role in supporting the city’s expanded nondiscrimination ordinance, Red State reports.

Chad Sevearance-Turner had been the president of the chamber, which supported the newly expanded ordinance that gives legal protection for ***, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals.

Chad Sevearance-Turner was arrested in 1998, when he was 20, and charged in Cherokee County, S.C., with a “lewd act, committing or attempting a lewd act upon a child under 16.”

A 2000 story in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal said Sevearance-Turner had been a youth minister at a church in Gaffney. A jury there found him guilty of fondling a 15-year-old teenage church member while the boy slept.

There you have it- the dude is a perverted liberal pedophile and criminal.

Unbelievable.

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I really do not understand why the 5% of our population, with Media & Hollywood support can not see why this makes 0 common sense?

Yes, I bet 99% of the trans gender men who think they are female are not child molesters! Yet, they are still equipped like a male.

Yes, most men who identify as a man are not child molesters either. I do not want either of these two to have access to girls or women in a private bathroom setting!

If I were a father of a young daughter, and she needed to use the restroom while we were out shopping - what assurances do I have that the man who thinks he's a woman that goes into the restroom while she is alone & vulnerable will not take advantage of the situation?

Does it not make sense to error on the side of protecting our children & ladies? This is taking my tolerance too far! Who cares what you decide to do with, or to yourself in your home, or out in public. Asking me to be tolerant - while possible risking a sexual assault on my child is total insanity. :(

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26 minutes ago, ladyGrace'sDaddy said:

No ! Common sense does. 

Also, that would be the same common sense that has put a non-conservative Republican pretender one election away from the White House.  What's next.....Texas secession?  Trump builds the wall farther North and makes Texas pay for it?  :facepalm:

GO RV, then BV

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1 minute ago, Shabibilicious said:

Also, that would be the same common sense that has put a non-conservative Republican pretender one election away from the White House.  What's next.....Texas secession?  Trump builds the wall farther North and makes Texas pay for it?  :facepalm:

GO RV, then BV

just goes to show you how little Common Sense Americans really have.

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3 hours ago, Shabibilicious said:

Also, that would be the same common sense that has put a non-conservative Republican pretender one election away from the White House.  What's next.....Texas secession?  Trump builds the wall farther North and makes Texas pay for it?  :facepalm:

GO RV, then BV

I am pretty sure if Texas succeeded they would build their own wall and happily pay for it themselves.  And if that happened I would repeat Crockett’s famous line, “Y’all can go to hell, I’m going to Texas”.

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30 minutes ago, RV ME said:

I am pretty sure if Texas succeeded they would build their own wall and happily pay for it themselves.  And if that happened I would repeat Crockett’s famous line, “Y’all can go to hell, I’m going to Texas”.

Which brings me to my next question.......In Crockett's day, did the Alamo have separate outhouses?  :huh:

GO RV, then BV

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6 hours ago, Shabibilicious said:

Which brings me to my next question.......In Crockett's day, did the Alamo have separate outhouses?  :huh:

GO RV, then BV

I believe that with the old one holers, there was never a problem.

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michelle-obama-transexual-lgbtq.pngMichelle Obama Claims Upcoming Interview With ‘OUT’ Magazine Will “Shock The World” -

 

The First Lady will be making a candid announcement in next month’s issue of ‘OUT’ magazine; The cover of which Mrs. Obama will also adorn.

During an interview with NBC, Michelle reluctantly opened up about the piece saying, “I cannot get into specifics, but this will be a giant step for the LGBTQ community. It’s going to transform people’s perspectives around the world, primarily where the rights of transgendered individuals are concerned.”

Michelle Obama’s proclamations have left many speculating what the bombshell could be.

Immediately after being sworn into office, Mr. and Mrs. Obama have faced allegations that

. Considering the context under which Michelle plans to make her upcoming announcement, it easily lends to the belief that she will be coming out as a transgendered woman.

Several different sources have postulated that Michelle Obama was, in fact, born a man.

. Inquiries involving these rampant speculations have largely been evaded by the President and the First Lady, as well as White House officials. Nevertheless, the rumors continue to persist.

Several noteworthy trans-gender activists have expressed their support upon learning of Michelle Obama’s looming broadcast. Erza Lightfoot, who is the head editor for the long running Los Angeles publication ‘Transgender Times’, had the following to add when she was informed of Michelle’s statement. “This would be a groundbreaking revelation. To have the first openly trans-gender First Lady? This is just what the trans community needs to revolutionize the way in which trans-gendered individuals are perceived by the public at large.”

 

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