WATCH: Janet Mock Sounds Off on InTouch's Bruce Jenner Cover
The author, commentator, and trans advocate calls the tabloid’s Photoshopped cover of Bruce Jenner ‘shockingly insensitive, sensational, and inaccurate.’
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/01/16/watch-janet-mock-sounds-intouchs-bruce-jenner-cover
Proposed Bill Would Let Students Sue If They See Transgender Students In Certain Bathrooms
One Kentucky state senator wants to make sure that transgender students are only allowed to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their biological sex.
Earlier this month, state Sen. C.B. Embry (R) filed a piece of legislation that would force schools to “provide separate, private areas designated for use by students based on their biological sex” in settings where students could be in a “state of undress.” Embry reportedly filed the legislation on behalf of the Family Foundation of Kentucky, a conservative organization that opposes issues like gay marriage. The foundation approached the politician about sponsoring the bill after a high school in the state approved a policy allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, reported local outlet WBKO-TV.
One part of the legislation would allow students to recover thousands of dollars if they encounter a transgender student in a bathroom that does not fit the student’s biological sex. The bill says that if a student sues over the issue, they could gain $2,500 from the school for every instance that “he or she encountered a person of the opposite sex while accessing a school restroom, locker room, or shower room designated for use by the biological sex of the aggrieved student.” The bill allows for these lawsuits if the school did not take steps to prevent transgender students from using the bathroom of their choice.
The bill is named the Kentucky Student Privacy Act. It says that “because situations currently exist in which the privacy rights of students are violated, an emergency is declared to exist.”
If passed, the bill would allow transgender students to use private bathrooms if their guardian provides written consent.
Embry told US News and World Report that he has received backlash over the bill, but he does not view it as offensive.
“They’re certainly welcome to live their lives as they choose, if they want to dress as the opposite sex and the school is OK with that, that’s fine,” he told the outlet.
He also said he does not think gay and lesbian students should be prevented from using the same locker rooms and restrooms as same-sex peers, but that steps should be taken to make sure transgender students do not make others uncomfortable.
“I have a friend, and we can all say these things, who is a homosexual and she agrees that she doesn’t want men in her bathroom,” he told the outlet.
Embry did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Huffington Post.
Thomas Aberli, principal of a Kentucky school that allows students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, told Kentucky outlet the Bowling Green Daily News that the school hasn’t had problems implementing the policy.
“It’s a non-issue in this school,” Aberli told the outlet.
HRC: “Kill Them” Anti-LGBT Message of Hate Does Not Represent Mississippi Values
Today, HRC responded to a disturbing message advocating for violence against LGBT people spray-painted in big letters on the wall of a building in downtown Jackson.
HRC.org
Attorney General Eric Holder: Dept. of Justice Will Ask SCOTUS To 'Make Marriage Equality A Reality For All Americans'
Attorney General Eric Holder, hot on the heels of news from the Supreme Court today that it will hear four challenges to same-sex marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, announced that the Department of Justice will file an amicus brief with the Court asking the justices to recognize marriage equality as the law of the land:
“After the Justice Department’s decision not to defend the constitutionality of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, the Supreme Court sent a powerful message that Americans in same-sex marriages are entitled to equal protection and equal treatment under the law. This landmark decision marked a historic step toward equality for all American families.
“The Supreme Court has announced that it will soon hear several cases raising core questions concerning the constitutionality of same-sex marriages. As these cases proceed, the Department of Justice will remain committed to ensuring that the benefits of marriage are available as broadly as possible. And we will keep striving to secure equal treatment for all members of society—regardless of sexual orientation.
“As such, we expect to file a ‘friend of the court’ brief in these cases that will urge the Supreme Court to make marriage equality a reality for all Americans. It is time for our nation to take another critical step forward to ensure the fundamental equality of all Americans—no matter who they are, where they come from, or whom they love.”
In case you missed it, check out our legal editor Ari Ezra Waldman’s analysis of today’s news from the Supreme Court. And in case you’re wondering what happens should we lose the cases before the Court, Lambda Legal has spelled out what could happen HERE.
Sean Mandell
Austria: LGBT tongues lock after ‘homophobic’ cafe boot out gay couple
Around 2000 protesters staged a ‘kiss-in’ outside a cafe in central Vienna Friday, where a lesbian couple were refused service and asked to leave after sharing a kiss. ———————–…
Supreme Court Will Hear Marriage Cases
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear four marriage equality cases from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld marriage bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/01/16/supreme-court-will-hear-marriage-cases
What Will 2016 Mitt Romney Say About Gay Marriage?
Political pundits have been abuzz over — and bewildered by — Mitt Romney’s statements pointing to a likelihood that he will actually run for president again. He’s touched off lots of discussion about his past positions and the holes he’s dug for himself — like the infamous “47 percent” line.
And one vexing issue with which Romney will have to grapple is what to say about homosexuality and marriage equality in a world where gay marriage will likely be the law of the land in every state. Unlike those of the other possible candidates of the GOP establishment, Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, Romney’s positions on gays have been more defined and extreme — and more consistent and reiterated much more recently, especially since he veered far right in the primaries in 2012. Any change will be seen as a yet another major flip-flop by a candidate who’s already got a dozen he’s been juggling for years.
While Jeb Bush made ugly statements about gays in 1994 — claiming that “sodomy” shouldn’t be “elevated to the same constitutional status as race and religion” — it was 20 years ago. When the comments surfaced recently, his spokesperson quickly put out a statement saying the comments “do not reflect” Bush’s opinion today. Bush is still repugnantly dog-whistling to conservatives by saying we must “safeguard religious liberty” even as we should “respect” gay and lesbian couples seeking to get protections, but unlike Romney he was able to take back his most extreme rhetoric because it was two decades old.
Christie has opposed gay marriage and said it should be voted on by residents of each state. But in the end he blinked and didn’t take a state court ruling in favor of gay marriage to the New Jersey Supreme Court, letting it stand. He also signed legislation making New Jersey one of only three jurisdictions that bans the practice of “conversion therapy” on minors by licensed therapists. Both issues will haunt him with religious conservatives in the primaries if he runs, and he’ll no doubt be doing his own dance, as will all the GOP contenders, who will try to run from the gay issue while also trying to appease social conservatives.
But it’s worse for Romney, who, in the 2012 campaign, supported a federal marriage amendment, certainly not just leaving the issue to the states. As I wrote during the 2012 campaign, as recently as 2005, as Romney focused on running for the presidency, he gave a speech to conservative voters in South Carolina saying, “Some gays are actually having children born to them. It’s not right on paper. It’s not right in fact. Every child has a right to a mother and father.”
That was a year after he had battled with the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics as the governor of Massachusetts, directing that state office — after marriage equality had come to the state — not to revise birth-certificate forms for babies born to same-sex couples. He directed the office not to change the box labeled “father,” for example, to “father or second parent” and said it should simply be changed with a pen, obviously marking these children as different for life and making them open to charges of fraud every time they had to show a birth certificate.
Romney never backed away from any of these past positions during the 2012 campaign. And even after the race was over, in 2013, he continued in the same vein, saying, “I believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman, and that’s because I believe the ideal setting for raising a child is where there’s a mother and a father in the home.”
Obviously Romney’s positions carried him through the GOP primaries in 2012, and if he remains in the same place, perhaps he can use those positions as a wedge against Christie and Bush in the 2016 primaries. But with Utah, seat of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now a marriage-equality state, and with marriage equality sweeping across the land, Romney looks like a relic from the past on this issue, particularly to GOP establishment donors. Yet any change, even a nuance, will add to his reputation of putting his finger in the air on issue after issue. The more Romney runs, the more evident that becomes.
Canned Homophobic Fire Chief Joins Christian Protestors To Rally Against The City Of Atlanta
“Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are under attack!” was the motto of protestors rallying outside the Georgia state capitol this week.
The protestors, who are being lead by the Family Research Council, are upset over the recent termination of Atlanta’s homophobic fire chief Kelvin Cochran.
Cochran was let go from his job with the city after it was discovered he had self-published an e-book called Who Told You That You Were Naked, in which he refers to homosexuality as unclean, inappropriate, vile, and vulgar.
This week, the FRC and its devout Christian followers delivered a petition with nearly 40,000 signatures to city hall in support of Cochran.
“The naked truth is that the actions taken against the chief are designed to send a message that will silence Christians and in effect force them to check their faith at the door of public service,” Tony Perkins, president of the FRC, said.
Cochran himself made an appearance at the rally. In a rousing speech, he denied accusations that his religious beliefs created a hostile work environment, as some have claimed, and said that no member of the LGBT community was discriminated against under his watch.
“There are grave consequences for publicly expressing our faith,” he told the crowd, “and having the audacity to believe that sex was created for procreation and should be in the bonds of holy matrimony between a man and a woman.”
“All people, groups are welcomed and embraced in the city of Atlanta,” he continued, “except the groups that believe the scripture regarding God’s purpose for sex.”
But city officials insist Cochran’s termination has nothing to do with his religious beliefs.
“The city’s nondiscrimination policy is nonnegotiable,” mayor Kasim Reed said in a statement. “Neither race, nor gender, nor religion, nor creed, nor sexual orientation, nor physical ability, nor gender identity will be used to discriminate against any city of Atlanta employee.”
Reed has explained multiple times that the city requires all employees to first seek permission and obtain approval before publishing a book, which he says Cochran never did. Reed also claims the way in which Cochran handled the situation (i.e. rallying on the steps of the state capitol with one of the most notorious antigay groups in America) has demonstrated an “irreconcilable lapse in judgment.”
“His actions around the book, his statements during the investigation, eroded my confidence,” Reed said.
Of course, Cochran isn’t buying the mayor’s excuses.
“One thing we should not have to sacrifice are the freedoms inherit in our great nation,” Cochran told the crowd this week, “Free speech and freedom of religion.”
Related stories:
Atlanta’s Fire Chief In Hot Water For Self-Publishing Creepy Antigay Book Online
Homophobic Fire Chief In Atlanta Gets Canned Over Antigay E-Book
Graham Gremore
