Tag Archives: transgender

All Posts, justice, lgbtq, north carolina, public education

THE TRANSGENDER CULTURE WAR

6 Comments

The United States Departments of Justice and Education have notified state governments and publicly funded schools across the nation that they will lose billions of dollars in federal funding if they discriminate against transgender students.  Amidst the flurry of lawsuits, threats, corporate relocations, event cancellations, and propaganda arising from North Carolina’s infamous  HB 2, this is the most meaningful of interventions because it is national in scope and it has big teeth.  I’ll attempt to describe the federal intervention and the rationale behind it.

I was stunned by the brevity and clarity of the federal correspondence.  It’s only 5 pages long. The law is equally understandable and only 9 pages long. The US Court of Appeals decision that documents federal authority to intervene is long and complex but understandable to non-attorneys.  The sample practices raised as many questions as answers, and didn’t seem particularly helpful, but they were distributed only as information not as advice or rules.  My suggestion is that people who are truly interested read the documents for themselves.  Here, in my opinion, are the key points.

From the letter:   “The Departments treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations. This means that a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity.” …  “As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others’ discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.”

From the law (Title 20):   Compliance … may be effected … by the termination of or refusal to grant or to continue assistance … to any recipient (for) a failure to comply …

The US Court of appeals supported the federal policy that “…a school generally must treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity.”

All of the interested parties would be better served by calm and open discussion of the issues.  Public policies and laws that protect the rights of transgender people while being sensitive to the modesty, privacy and safety concerns of all parties can best be created when there is mutual respect and trust.  Instead we have threats and misinformation.  Our national behavior is disappointing but not surprising.  It’s consistent with how human rights evolve and social change happens here.  Similar events accompanied emancipation of slaves, reconstruction, women’s suffrage, organized labor, school integration, civil rights laws, and marriage equality.

In every case change began in a few local communities and states.  Then a conservative backlash brought legislation to embed discriminatory traditions deeply into public policy.  Reactionary leaders used fear and traditional prejudices to rally support then used raw power and secrecy to impose their will.  In the case of HB 2, a few Republican legislators cooked up the scheme then called an emergency session of the legislature to pass it without public debate.  The public, the press, and many of the legislators who voted for it were not even allowed to read the law until the day it was passed.

Similar ideas have emerged in several Republican dominated states. That is the environment into which the federal government has stepped – just as it ultimately stepped into the other human rights issues that I listed.  That intervention can create a baseline of fair practices to protect transgender people, but it is far from ideal.  Instead of allowing local creativity and cooperation, reactionary intransigence has forced federal intervention and poured gasoline on the always smoldering American culture war.  Federal action will, at best, prevent discriminatory practices.  It can’t produce ideal local results or tolerance.

The debate is over.  Transgender people are entitled to the same protection of laws as people born to that gender.  As we learn to collaborate on the best ways to move ahead it is good to remember that during war, safe and nurturing places often become battlefields where innocent bystanders are victims of the conflict. That is true of culture war as well as military warfare.  Our best course is to plan and accommodate changes that are constructive and safe for everyone.  We can achieve that if we learn together and collaborate toward that goal.

All Posts, health, lgbtq, north carolina

Exposing the Republican Bogeyman

8 Comments

A law passed by NC Republicans bans the two transgender Americans in the picture above from restrooms that match their physical appearance unless they can get revised birth certificates. 

READ THE NEW NORTH CAROLINA LAW HERE HB 2

The bogeyman will get you if you don’t watch out!  As a child, I heard that myth from adults who wanted me to be properly frightened of dark places, new ideas and people who looked or sounded “different”.  I never met him, but somehow I inferred that the bogeyman was a lot like the Jews, Negroes, Catholics, and Gypsies that we were expected to fear.  Children learned, without being explicitly taught, that some of “those people” were nice but many of them were dangerous and “we” should avoid them.  When I was a little older, I began to hear about “queers” and the awful things that they did to boys, so if anyone acted “that way” I should stay away from him.  Most people of my age learned some version of the myth.  If not from parents, it seeped in from the world around us.

By now I’ve been fortunate to have personal and work relationships with individuals from those groups. I learned that there is nothing about their religions, race, culture, ancestry, sexual orientation or gender identity that makes them dangerous or threatening.

The City of Charlotte passed an ordinance which extended its non-discrimination policies beyond the traditionally protected groups to include discrimination based on “marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression”.  The new rules apply to public accommodations, public transportation, and the practices of businesses that have contracts with the City. North Carolina’s Republican legislature and governor have called the bogeyman back into service to overturn that ordinance.

With only stories and fear-mongering, the Republicans created the myth of the transgender bogeyman who will “get” you or your children if you don’t watch out.   Then they called an emergency legislative session and introduced him to justify passing a law that not only overruled Charlotte’s ordinance; it also banned local governments from setting minimum wages and took away existing rights of individuals to file discrimination suits in state courts.  By eliminating the role of state courts in protecting many civil rights, they turned discrimination concerns over to the federal government.  They did all that in only one day.  When you’re running from the bogeyman there is no time for thoughtful deliberation.

Janet Mock, a transwoman who was born male is not allowed to use womens restrooms in NC unless she gets a revised birth certificate.
Janet Mock, a transwoman who was born male is not allowed to use women’s restrooms in NC unless she gets a revised birth certificate. The new law allows her to use only men’s restrooms. If she complies, will most NC men be more comfortable with her than with Teo Drake, below?

 

 

In more than 250 American cities that have laws similar to Charlotte’s, there is no evidence of an increase in sexual assaults and no pattern of men pretending to be transgender so they can commit crimes in women’s restrooms. In reality, transgender people are generally the victims, not the assailants.  About half of transgender people have been victims of sexual assaults.

Teo Drake, a transman who was born female is not allowed to use men’s restrooms in NC unless he gets a revised birth certificate. The new law allows him to use only women’s restrooms. If he complies, will most NC women be more comfortable with him than with Janet Mock, above?

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, IBM, Red Hat, and others among the crown jewels of the North Carolina economy want the law repealed.  Because of the law,  Pay Pal announced today that it has cancelled plans to locate their global operations center in North Carolina. The state lost 400 new jobs.  Leaders of these companies are realists who know that discrimination, hate, and fear are bad for business.  But the most serious damage is not to the  economy.  It is to the lesbian, gay, transgender, and bi-sexual people who have been clearly told that they are not welcome in North Carolina.

My niece and nephew are raising a bright, energetic transgender teenager.  He looks like a slender teenage boy but because he’s anatomically female North Carolina Republicans insist that he use the women’s washroom.   His mother shared these thoughts with me,  “As a mom with a transgender child, I feel anything but protected or safe.  Quite the opposite in fact.  I am a mom and he is my child and I worry about something as simple as him walking into a bathroom. Unfortunately, some people think that a bathroom is related to sexual behavior and predators…Predators are criminals who won’t stop because there is a sign on the door that says men or women only. If criminals obeyed signs, we could use them to get rid of heroin! Seriously? Criminals don’t work like that. As you know, my son is looking at a university in NC. Now, we’ll have to consider whether it is safe for him to travel there and stop for a restroom. It’s sad. Very, very sad.”

Years ago, public acceptance of marriage equality left North Carolina’s Republican leadership behind.  Their constitutional amendment to prevent it yielded only unnecessary expenses and animosity.  This Deja-vu law is similar.  It might be funny if it wasn’t so painful.  Sadly, the new bogeyman sports an American flag and a Christian cross on his lapels while he demands laws to hurt people who are different from him.  He’ll get you if you don’t watch out.