Please Don't Feed The Meme

Nondiscrimination laws are established to mitigate the excessive hardship and suffering segments of our society can experience. My sense of morality based on my religious convictions stress the need to provide for social justice. Pope Francis expressed “Inequality is the root of social evil”. In the words of Vice President Biden, transgender discrimination is “the civil rights issue of our time”. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is taking claims of transgender discrimination to investigate and administratively adjudicate when warranted.  However there is opposition to providing anti-discrimination protection to transgender individuals because of misconceptions about gender and gender non-conformity, and over safety concerns in sex segregated spaces.  Yet because of prevalent and systemic discrimination, transgender and gender non-forming Marylanders have solid basis for why statewide protections in areas of employment, housing and public accommodations are required and should be codified into state law and thus any petition drive be rejected.

Currently seventeen states, with Maryland soon to become the eighteenth, and the District of Columbia provide for protections to transgender individuals representing 47% of the country. In Maryland, four jurisdictions, Baltimore City, Montgomery County, Howard County and Baltimore County previously established laws to provide protections for transgender individuals.These jurisdictions represent 47% of the state’s population. 

Injustice at Every Turn, the 2011 survey conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in conjunction with the National Center of Transgender Equality, found that 71% of Maryland participants reported experiencing harassment or mistreatment on the job, while 42% experienced an adverse job action, such as being fired, not hired, or denied a promotion. Additionally 12% of respondents had a household income of $10,000 or less, compared to 4% of the general population. These are clear, persistent and overwhelming examples of discrimination against transgender Marylanders which deny them the opportunity to fully participate in public life, a life other Marylanders receive. The non-establishment of codified protections in the State of Maryland for individuals based on their gender identity and/ or expression will leave some Marylanders without full and equal protection which are afforded most other Marylanders.

In Macy v. Holder, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission handed down a ruling in favor of Mia Macy, a transsexual woman denied a position the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives after disclosure in a background check showed Ms. Macy was transitioning from male to female. She was prior to discovery of that fact,  been promised the position over the phone pending the background check. The EEOC stated

 “[T]he Commission hereby clarifies that claims of discrimination based on transgender status, also referred to as claims of discrimination based on gender identity, are cognizable under Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibition….”

The scope of the EEOC ruling providing protections to workers is limited. It is also an administrative ruling and as such subject to change. It is but a tool to seek a remedy. Real protections happen when statutory law is implemented fully including the enforcement vehicle. In Maryland, that vehicle is the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. Having spoken to MCCR’s General Counsel, Glendora Hughes concerning MCCR pursuing claims after the Macy decision, she assured me until gender identity is added to the Annotated Code of Maryland, her office will not take claims based on gender identity discrimination. I have also spoken to the Executive Director of MCCR, Cleveland Horton specifically about the implementation of the Fairness for all Marylanders Act, and they are prepared to take a lead role in that charge.

Opponents to codifying protections into law have stated as their primary oppositional claim that such laws will open sex segregated spaces up to predators and cause increases in rapes and assaults by men against women. In Maryland the first jurisdiction to pass protections for transgender residents was Baltimore City in 2002. There was no opposition as this City ordinance passed without any attention from opponents. However, by the time Montgomery County passed a bill to provide protections in 2007, opposition had formed and their narrative had been developed.  The claim presented by opponents to gender identity protections in Maryland, state that men will be allowed in the lockers and restrooms with women. Furthermore that such encounter will produce increases in sexual assaults. Dr. Jacob claims assaults by strangers in bath rooms will rise.

In 2012, Dr Jacobs while testifying in opposition to the Baltimore County ordinance, continued with her claim that 4 sexual assaults were committed in Montgomery County since the successful passage of their non-discrimination ordinance.  Fortunately, Montgomery County Police Chief, J. Thomas Manger, provided a letter to the County Council in which he stated

“I am writing to clarify information that has been brought to my attention regarding alleged sexual assaults in Montgomery County. It was brought to my attention that there is an allegation stating that since the Transgender Law was passed in our county we have experienced four (4) rapes by men dressing as women and lying in wait for their victims in ladies restrooms.

The Transgender Bill was passed by the Montgomery County Council on Tuesday, November 13,2007, and it became law shortly thereafter. Since this law has been in effect, we have had no reported rapes committed in restrooms by men dressed in women's clothing.”

How prevalent should the “predator” claim be, if what is being alleged is true?

According to the US Bureau of Justice statistics the percent of sexual assault committed by a stranger was 26%. In 2010 the total reported cases of rape/sexual assault were 188,380. This means approximately 49,000 sexual assaults were the sort which Dr. Jacobs claims. However, remembering back to the statistics in reference to how much of the country is currently covered by laws protections people based on gender identity, only 47% of the county is covered. So Dr. Jacob’s claim could only have weight on approximately 23,000 of these reported cases.

Statistics suggest that with approximately 23,000 sexual assaults potentially happening in 47% of the country where gender identity laws exist; there will be examples of assaults specifically attributed to any alleged “loop hole” or "flaw" in such bills. To date, no true cases can be cited. If there was just a one-tenth of one percent spike because the claim might be true, we could find 23 cases per year. These laws have been on the books since 1975. There should be literally hundreds of incidents. We wouldn't even be having this conversation if there were. The lack of verifiable evidence and no strong argument for making claims that gender identity laws will threaten the security of women and girls in sex segregated spaces demands we reject this false claim, once and for all.

Don’t give into the fear and the misinformation, don’t sign that petition.

Visit FairnessFacts.com to get the FACTS about the Fairness For All Marylanders Act.

What Fills Our Hearts

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex, but it takes a touch of genius to move in the opposite direction” – Albert Einstein

Here we are again. Our community has endured enough heartache and disappointment, however we are mobilized and unified for success.

In 2002, Then Mayor, Martin O’Malley, introduced and successfully shepherded through the City Council the Baltimore City ordinance which granted protections to all of its citizens and visitors based on their gender identity, and did so unanimously.

 Yes, every human being has a gender identity, and for many people it is in lock step with their physicality, and for some it is not. It’s just that simple.

 Baltimore’s push for such protections was based partly on the later regretted decision of Governor Parris Glendenning to exclude gender identity from the prior year’s anti-discrimination bill.  Governor Glendenning wasn’t the only one expressing regret. Del. Maggie McIntosh (D-43) expressed a similar regret about the 2001 bill after last year’s contested bill failed to convince Senate Leadership to allow its floor vote.

Yet 2002 was different. Mayor O’Malley knew an injustice took place and a remedy was in order. While most attorneys like to craft flowery pieces of legislation, the Mayor knew simplicity should rule the day.

"Gender identity or expression " means an individual 's having or being perceived as having a gender -related self - identity, self-image, appearance, expression, or behavior, whether or not those gender -related characteristics differ from those associated with the individual 's assigned sex at birth.”

In fact, this language is fairly consistent throughout the county where 43% of all Americans live in a jurisdiction which provides protections based on gender identity.  If almost half of the country has these laws on the books, then why not Maryland?

Leadership.

One week before the video of the beating at a Rosedale McDonald’s restaurant went viral, Senate President Mike Miller (D-27) stated HB235 (2011’s Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination bill) was “anti-family” and he was going to vote against it.  Some even suggest the Senate President killed the bill in retaliation for allowing the Senator to go on record with a vote on the Same Sex Marriage bill, only to have that bill fail embarrassingly in the House. It seemed like retribution for political ineptitude.

Governor O’Malley pledged support and stated he would sign a fully inclusive bill like 2010’s HB 1022, if such a bill which crossed his desk. The problem was no bill made it that far, or was so fashioned. So, the Governor in direct response the brutal assault on a member of the transgender community provided this vision and commitment:

“Even with Maryland's 'hate crimes' law, it is clear that more must be done to protect the rights and dignity of transgendered people. In the struggle for justice and equality for all, I'm committed to working with the Maryland General Assembly during the next legislative session to increase awareness and provide even greater protections for transgendered people.
“As some have noted, out of this awful beating has come a moment to foster a deeper understanding and respect for the dignity of all persons. We should not allow the moment to pass without greater action.”

Leadership.

The mouth speaks of what fills the heart.” – Matthew 12:34

WWTGSKWaHD? (What Would Tolstoy, Gandhi, Sakharov, King, Walesa, and Havel Do?)

I dread writing this post. Not because it is laborious, or texting on my personal resources, but because my sensibilities are afflicted by the subject matter.

It is neither my desire nor intent to further inflame an already hot topic. There are plenty willing and so capable of stoking that fire. It is my only desire to offer a consideration, a course of action which may or may not resolve the matter, but it will define us as a community and how others outside the community view us.

On July 1, 2011 the novice Managing Editor of a small Baltimore based LGBT biweekly newsletter granted a public forum to two radical feminist wishing to make the argument that “gender identity” is a concept, and that protections based upon gender identity will promote harm to “women born women”. The Baltimore based broadside followed this up with an additional elevation of hatred on July 29, 2011 in which one of the previous writers expanded her viewpoints on why gender identity protection through hate crime laws is unacceptable. This in direct response to the pending trial of Teonna Brown, the 18 year old woman accused of assaulting a transgender woman at a local McDonalds in April.  It is not the purpose of this commentary to debate these issues. They are receiving enough of that already. Nor is it to challenge the blatant transphobia proffered by the authors’ assertions. Yet this topic has now been advance to the United Nations and has set the debate ablaze.

It is my firm belief that it matters not what befalls our community, however what is of significance is how we, as a community, respond which, in turn will define us.

Above all the transgender community is without question the most misunderstood and maligned minority group in our society. Much of this manifests itself in a state of ignorance, short of enlighten reasoning and latent hatred in respect both gender identity and gender expression. Every human being possesses a gender identity and expresses gender. For most their gender is consistent with the physicality and for some it is not. It is that simple and we are that some.

Tolstoy, Gandhi, Sakharov, King, Walesa, and Havel are mortals which have offered us pathways to non violent actions that have liberated millions. Our deliverance may well follow in these models.

When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him. – Bayard Rustin



 Many members of the transgender community have suffered long and enduring abuses to our persons, our dignity and to our loved ones. These hate filled essays are no different than the hate fill spats to the faces, the hate physical assaults with the genitalia of others thrust unto our faces, the hate filled degradation and humiliation of being told we were less than human. One might be considered justified to retaliate in like kind. But it is my firm belief that we lose if we do so. That in my eyes, our only solution is as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington suggested, protest for dignity confers the very same dignity.

Non violent civil disobedience and direct action have proven to be the most successful tools to authoritarianism whether its from our government or members of the broader coalition communities. including TransTories. How that protest presents itself is for or community to decide. I pray the spirit of nonviolence prevails