Posted on 03/28/2006 3:54:51 AM PST by GOP Poet
Civil-rights protection OK'd for transgender individuals
By Sharon Pian Chan
Seattle Times staff reporter
Transgender individuals will now enjoy the same civil-rights protections as other minorities under legislation passed by the Metropolitan King County Council Monday.
The council added gender identity to laws already prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation, sex, race and religion.
The legislation will protect transsexuals, transvestites and any other individuals with a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth.
"It's going to make employers aware of discrimination," said supporter Smitty Petersen. "People generally don't do things if there are consequences."
The council's action would protect the county's sexual minorities if an initiative proposed by Tim Eyman makes it on the fall ballot and overturns the state's gay-rights measure, which passed in January. Voters would decide this fall if enough signatures are gathered to place it on the ballot.
Five Democrat council members — Larry Phillips, Bob Ferguson, Larry Gossett and Dow Constantine from Seattle and Julia Patterson from SeaTac — voted in favor. Republican council members Kathy Lambert of Redmond, Pete von Reichbauer from Federal Way, and Jane Hague and Reagan Dunn, both from Bellevue, voted against it.
King County Executive Ron Sims first introduced the legislation more than a year ago but could not find enough support on the county council.
Before the vote, Patterson said that arguments against the measure ranged from "this will be hard on business" to "we shouldn't force landlords to rent to certain people."
"The same arguments were made 40 years ago," Patterson said. "It wasn't right to discriminate based on race, and it isn't right to discriminate based on gender identity. It's not right and it's cruel."
Lambert said she rejected the measure because the law was poorly written.
"It's not written clearly, regardless of what it's about," Lambert said. "It's not a homophobic kind of thing."
The council voted after listening to testimony from several citizens, most of whom supported the proposed law.
Roxanne Skelly, a software developer and transgender woman, said, "I've found it difficult to get even average-paying work" after her transition. "When I go to the restroom, the decision for which door I go into, is that up for debate?" She said concerns faced by transgender individuals range from discrimination at hospitals to treatment from police officers.
A pastor from Cavalry Church West Seattle, Randall Leskovar, spoke against the measure. "By this definition, a male teacher in a kindergarten class could come in dressed as a woman, and there would be no discipline," he said. "In my view, that's lunacy."
The ordinance standardizes the rules applying to discrimination cases. Complainants may take cases to court without first pursuing a county civil-rights complaint, and the county Office of Civil Rights would have subpoena powers.
Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company
I guess this means they will have to put urinals in the ladies rooms, since guys with cranks and a dress on have rights to go there.
>>>>>>>>The legislation will protect transsexuals, transvestites and any other individuals with a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth. <<<<<<<
By the way , what right did God have assigning them a sex without asking. This needs to go to a "Higher Court".
How many individuals are there in the country really who qualify for this protection?
LOL! Yes. How dare He!
The gender confused are not just transexuals, they are more of a battling back and forth within themselves group that dresses more androgynous. Something a kin to--next thing you know that woman with short hair, that seems kinda manly at work is a woman at 10AM and wants desperately to be honored as a man at 2PM and damn it wants the right to be themselves in all this even at work. I am sure that is just one description and there are many other descriptions and ways of being gender confused. I am no authority, so consider the source.
There are so many taking over the Seattle area. Los Angeles was a breath of fresh air. Tells you how bad it is up there. More will come out of the woodwork with this new law too. San Francisco all over again, in time. Mark my words.
Is pedophilia a mental disorder
Schmidt quotes Kinsey and the Rind et al. research to lay the foundation for the second statement. The first statement, however, describing the risk of trauma, places the pedophile in a dilemma.
The dilemma is tragic because the pedophile's sexual orientation is deeply rooted in the basic structure of his identity. Pedophilia is as much a part of him as is love for the same or opposite sex for the homosexual or heterosexual man or woman, the difference being that the one is accepted, while the other is categorically forbidden and virtually impossible to realize.
In view of the pedophile's burden, the necessity of denying himself the experience of love and sexuality, he deserves respect, rather than contempt.
I feel sorry for your brother, he is a sick man, it must be some sort of self-loathing that makes a man mutilate himself.
Of course like any other sickness ,such as cancer, we never stop loving our relatives just because they are sick.
Afterthe operation he will still be your brother despite what he thinks he is.
The whore of Babylon shakes her head and laughs in triumph.
Cases where both biologic sex organs are present in some form are truly rare. But this law requiring the acceptance of other people's delusions is the stuff of Alice (or is it Alex?) in Wonderland.
hes going though all kinds of thing to remove his manly attributes electrolasis on his face and such, when he's done you will think he is a girl. He's 5'6" and like 115lbs
Except for being able to bear children (I'm guessing).
My guess is that we are talking about 10,000 to 20,000 true transgender individuals in the entire country.
"The same arguments were made 40 years ago," Patterson said. "It wasn't right to discriminate based on race, and it isn't right to discriminate based on gender identity."
The two cases are completely different. You can't choose what race you are, but you CAN choose whether you want to play dress up.
I submit that nobody has ever changed their gender. Even those rare cases born with two sets of sexual organs do not change, but (with medical help) choose one or the other. Gender is not just a social/political construct. It's biologic reality.
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What a freakshow! Coming to a public restroom near you! Watch your children.
The fiancee and I were talking about this last night - not so much the "discrimination" end, just about "transsexuals" in general.
She was telling me that these poor unfortunate people (my words, not hers) truly believe that they are men or women trapped in the body of the opposite sex. They think they were born with the wrong set of reproductive organs.
My reply was, how is that any different than me saying I was born in the wrong body, because the body I *feel like* I belong in is about 6'8" tall, pure muscle, with none of this premature balding going on?
Bottom line is, I don't see any difference between "gender confusion" and ordinary wishful thinking.
Hey, should a person who has cosmetic surgery to look like a dog or a cat or a tortoise be able to get protection from discrimination and get coverage under the animal cruelty laws?
His name used to be Bob, but now it's Rover.
I lose sympathy when they try to compel others via the coercive power of the state to deny/ignore reality. The right to free speech and thought--the right to speak the truth--is at stake here.
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