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Our Attention May Be Elsewhere, But The Transphobes Never Sleep

Marilyn Drew Necci | March 23, 2020

Topics: American Civil Liberties Union, anti-trans legislation, Ben Shapiro, birth certificates, Cherie Buckner-Webb, gender identity, Gender markers, Idaho, Lambda Legal, LGBTQ youth, Trevor Project, youth sports

In Idaho, two bills attempting to roll back civil rights for the state’s transgender community are headed to the governor’s desk. Advocates urge him to veto both, but with the news consumed by coronavirus, will their pleas be heard?

There’s no denying it: coronavirus has got us all messed up. Whether we’re worried about friends, family, and ourselves coming down with the disease or panicking over the devastating effect social distancing-related closures are having on the economy, it’s hard to shake it from our minds and pay attention to, really, anything else.

But that doesn’t mean that people with anti-LGBTQ agendas are ceasing in their efforts to roll back our rights around the nation. And if you needed proof of that, look no further than what happened in Idaho late last week, as the state’s legislature approved two bills that, if passed, will have a seriously negative effect on transgender people living in that state.

The first bill, the Fairness In Women’s Sports Act, seeks to ensure that high school sports programs for women “shall not be open to students of the male sex.” One would have to assume that this act is intended to bar transgender girls from participating in school sports programs, though this wording is based on a lot of assumptions, if you ask us. However, clearly the legislature knew this, as there is additional language within the bill requiring that any student disputing whether they should be barred from women’s sports activities at the high school level must submit a statement from a doctor that established their sex based on “the student’s internal and external reproductive anatomy; the student’s normal endogenously produced levels of testosterone; and an analysis of the student’s genetic makeup.”

Ah yes, that old “I can misgender you based on your chromosomes” argument so beloved by belligerent conservatives like Ben Shapiro. Of course, gender (and sex) are much more complicated than that, but once such things are written into law, those complications seek to have a legal relevance, regardless of whose rights get taken away.

Boise Senator Cherie Buckner-Webb called the bill “repugnant,” and said, “This bill is rooted in fear and misinformation,” according to East Idaho News, but she ultimately was unable to convince her fellow legislators to vote it down, and the bill passed by significant margins in both houses of the Idaho state legislature.

“Idaho has not seen any issues with trans girls competing in the girls sports,” American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho policy director Kathy Griesmyer told the Washington Blade. “This unconstitutional and mean-spirited bill prevents trans girls from finding community and self-esteem in sports and will certainly result in litigation to defend the civil rights of Idaho’s transgender community.”

Five former Idaho attorneys general actually sent an open letter to Idaho Governor Brad Little urging him to veto the bill, saying that it seems particularly vulnerable to legal challenges. “The Attorney General has opined that the legislation contains a number of legal infirmities, making it subject to invalidation in federal court proceedings,” they wrote in a letter published by the Idaho Statesman. “The more serious concern is apparent conflict with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but other provisions of federal law are implicated.”

Sam Brinton, head of the Trevor Project, called the decision to move forward with the bill “shameful,” especially during a global pandemic. “Our elected officials should be expanding opportunities for trans students, not further marginalizing a group already at high risk for bullying and discrimination,” Brinton told the Washington Blade. “At The Trevor Project, we hear from LGBTQ youth in crisis every day and we know that affirming trans youth in their identities is critical to their health and wellbeing. Denying trans youth the ability to participate in school sports, which have shown to have a positive effect on mental health, will increase the kind of social isolation and stigma that contributes to the risk of suicidality.”

Meanwhile, another more wide-ranging anti-trans piece of legislation is also winging its way to Governor Little’s desk. This one is known as the Idaho Vital Statistics Act, and it prohibits the changing of gender markers on birth certificates for any reason besides “fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact.” This would eliminate the ability of transgender people to change the gender markers on their birth certificates as part of their legal transition. At this time, only Ohio and Tennessee have an outright ban on transgender people changing the gender marker on their birth certificates.

Image by Theshibboleth, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia

A variety of other states require proof of a medical procedure (gender confirmation surgery) in order to make this change; Virginia still does at this moment, but a bill currently before Governor Ralph Northam will end that requirement, assuming Northam signs it into law by the action deadline of April 11. Governor, if you’re reading, I trust you to do the right thing for us.

Back in Idaho, Representative Julianne Young, who sponsored the bill, told CNN that “safeguarding the accuracy of our vital records is a vital part of preserving the ability of the state to protect the public health and safety.” One assumes she considers it somehow inaccurate for a birth certificate to reflect a trans person’s actual gender identity.

The legislation follows a 2018 court order requiring Idaho to allow gender marker changes on birth certificates, and seems intended to overrule that order, though it could easily still be found unconstitutional by a future judicial ruling. Lambda Legal counsel Peter Renn, who worked on the 2018 case, was frustrated by the bill’s passage.

“Idaho lawmakers might as well try to tear down the federal courthouse if they have this much contempt for the rule of law,” Renn told the Washington Blade. “They are explicitly defying a court order and exposing Idaho taxpayers to footing the bill for significant financial consequences – all while putting transgender people back in harm’s way for harassment and even violence, and once again making Idaho a national outlier.”

Top Photo: Idaho state Capitol, by Maxbatt at en.wikipedia – Own work, Transferred from en.wikipedia, Public Domain, via Wikimedia

New Regulation Would Strip Federal Protections for LGBTQ People from All HHS Programs in Favor of ‘Religious Freedom’

New Civil Rights Movement | November 6, 2019

Topics: adoption, Department of Health and Human Services, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, National Center for Transgender Equality, Trump administration

The rule is specifically designed to focus on adoption and foster care, but will affect all federally-funded programs under Department of Health and Human Services control, including those dealing with HIV prevention and youth homelessness.

A proposed new regulation would strip all protections for LGBTQ people from all programs administered by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, and give special rights to entities or programs that are religious or “faith-based.” HHS, under the direction of Secretary Alex Azar, has a budget of $1.2 trillion affecting the health and well-being, directly or indirectly, of nearly every person in the country.

Lambda Legal says the proposed rule “would invite HHS grantees receiving taxpayer funds to discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion.”

This rule will openly encourage discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, AND religion in *all* HHS programs.

This is taxpayer-funded discrimination. Religion is NOT a #LicenseToDiscriminate.

— Lambda Legal (@LambdaLegal) November 1, 2019

While reportedly drafted to focus on adoption and foster care organizations, the Human Rights Campaign also says the proposed rule would extend far beyond those entities to all programs that receive funding from HHS.

“The Trump-Pence White House has proposed a horrific federal regulation that would permit discrimination across the entire spectrum of HHS programs receiving federal funding,” said HRC President Alphonso David. “This would permit discrimination against LGBTQ people, religious minorities, and women in programs related to foster care, adoption, HIV and STI prevention, youth homelessness, refugee resettlement, elder care programs and more. It is unconscionable that the Trump-Pence administration would prioritize advancing discrimination over the wellbeing of vulnerable people and expect taxpayers to foot the bill for their discriminatory policies. The Trump-Pence White House is relying on the same flawed legal reasoning they’ve used in the past to justify discrimination against LGBTQ people and other communities.”

The Washington Blade, noting the  proposed regulation “will have far-reaching implications,” reports the proposal would “undo an Obama-era policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation among federal grantees.”

According to  the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) the Blade says “the rule will allow anti-trans discrimination in HIV and STI prevention programs, opioid programs, youth homelessness services, health professional training, substance-use recovery programs and other life-saving services.”

“The proposal seeks to gut an Obama-era rule that barred entities receiving money under federal contracts, including adoption agencies, from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.”

HHS is reportedly granting only 30 days for public comment and review.

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image via NCRM

Senate Republicans Just Gave a Lifetime Appointment to One of the Most Anti-LGBTQ Judges Trump Has Ever Nominated

New Civil Rights Movement | June 20, 2019

Topics: Alliance For Justice, anti-LGBTQ discrimination, Federal District Court, First Liberty Institute, Lambda Legal, Matthew Kacsmaryk, Roe v. Wade, Trump administration

He thinks transgender people are “delusional.”

He sees the fight for LGBTQ equality as a “clash of absolutes” where “religious liberty and sexual liberty” are forever at odds.

He says the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is “weaponizing” the Supreme Court Obergefell marriage ruling against Christians.

He’s said that “preventing sexual orientation-based discrimination cannot justify serious burdens on…constitutionally protected religious freedom.”

He works for an anti-LGBTQ legal group that seeks to defend Christians against  perceived religious discrimination. Among their clients have been Christian bakers Melissa and Aaron Klein of Sweetcakes by Melissa.

And on Wednesday Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted 52-46 to give him a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.

Matthew Kacsmaryk of the very anti-LGBTQ First Liberty Institute will soon be U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk for the Northern District of Texas.

All Democrats and one just one Republican, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) voted against Kacsmaryk’s confirmation, as The Washington Blade reports.

Kacsmaryk is opposed by hundreds of LGBTQ and civil rights groups. The Leadership Conference, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations calls Kacsmaryk “a right-wing extremist who has made a career out of dehumanizing LGBTQ people, debasing women, and assailing health care rights. He has expressed staunch opposition to the Equality Act, marriage equality, and promoted the dangerous lie that being transgender is a ’delusion.’ He has attacked Roe v. Wade and challenged the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive access.”

Lambda Legal is part of a 75-group coalition that also opposes Kacsmaryk, saying in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein. The group notes that Kacsmaryk defended Melissa Klein of Sweetcakes by Melissa, and argued that “preventing sexual orientation-based discrimination cannot justify serious burdens on…constitutionally protected religious freedom.”

The Alliance for Justice published a six-page report on Kacsmaryk, concluding “Kacsmaryk has built his legal career opposing equal rights for millions of his fellow citizens. His harsh and demeaning rhetoric regarding LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights sends a clear message that he has little regard for established legal precedent in this area. Kacsmaryk often couches his opposition to equal rights in religious language.”

The AFJ added, “Kacsmaryk’s statements demonstrate beliefs that discrimination against LGBTQ Americans is valid and should be condoned.”

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Photo via NCRM.

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