Bill de Blasio signs order allowing transgender access to NYC bathrooms – LGBTQ Nation

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, signed an executive order on Monday that guarantees people access to single-sex facilities consistent with their gender identity at city facilities, including offices, pools and recreation centers, without the need to show identification or any other proof of gender. The move comes amid a continuing national debate over anti-discrimination laws.

“Access to bathrooms and other single-sex facilities is a fundamental human right that should not be restricted or denied to any individual,” de Blasio said. “Every New Yorker should feel safe in our city — and this starts with our city’s buildings.”
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The order does not apply to New York City’s public schools because there already is a policy that students must be allowed to use locker rooms or restrooms consistent with their gender identity. A bill currently pending before the city council would require publicly available, single-occupancy restrooms in both public and private buildings to be designated as gender-neutral.

Bill de Blasio signs order allowing transgender access to NYC bathrooms – LGBTQ Nation

New Kentucky bill would reward people for ‘catching’ trans students in ‘wrong’ bathroom

As Dan notes, all this bill is doing is rewarding bullying and harassment.

A bill in Kentucky is offering to pay students $2,500 if they “catch” a trans student in the “wrong” bathroom, meaning a bathroom designated for anything other than the students gender assigned to them at birth.

The bills sponsor, Republican state Sen. C.B. Embry says the bill is not bigoted and that he supports anti-bullying legislation and says he has a gay friend.

While claiming he supports anti-bullying legislation, he is sponsoring a bill that pays students to conduct such bullying. Bullying is not only physical assault, but is also the psychological abuse of shaming students for using the bathroom of the gender in which a student identifies.

New Kentucky bill would reward people for ‘catching’ trans students in ‘wrong’ bathroom

UPDATED::South Dakota Bill on Transgender Students’ Bathroom Access Draws Ire - The New York Times

The veto over-ride was unsuccessful, South Dakota House fails to override transgender bill veto 

UPDATE:: South Dakota governor vetoes law on transgender bathrooms

South Dakota‘s governor vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have made the state the first in the U.S. to approve a law requiring transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their sex at birth.

Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who initially reacted positively to the proposal but said he needed to research the issue, rejected the bill after the American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign insisted it was discriminatory.

In his veto message, Daugaard said the bill “does not address any pressing issue” and that such decisions were best left to local school officials. He also noted that signing the bill could create costly liability issues for schools and the state. The ACLU had promised to encourage legal action if the bill became law.
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Daugaard initially offered a positive reaction to South Dakota‘s proposal, but said he wanted to listen to testimony before making a decision. Last week, he met with three transgender individuals and heard their personal stories; before the meeting, the governor said he had never knowingly met a transgender person.

Opponents said the legislation an attack on vulnerable transgender students that would further marginalize them at school. They also criticized comments made by some lawmakers, including Republican Sen. David Omdahl.

“I’m sorry if you’re so twisted you don’t know who you are,” Omdahl said when asked about the bill last month.

“I’m telling you right now, it’s about protecting the kids, and I don’t even understand where our society is these days.”

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Proponents of the legislation say it would help protect children and ensure everyone’s privacy, but its passage has inserted South Dakota into the center of a national debate about transgender rights and access to restrooms and locker rooms.

It is among a number of bills addressing the rights of transgender people that are being pushed by conservative legislators in this state and others. Another South Dakota bill, which was shelved this week, would have required public agencies to accept only information on birth certificates, effectively preventing legal recognition of sex changes.

Mr. Lewis said the bathroom legislation, which was passed by the South Dakota Legislature last week, “creates more stigma,” increases the risk of bullying and sends a message to transgender students: “You’re so different, in a bad way, that you need your own bathroom, your own locker room, your own shower situation.”

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The South Dakota legislation would seem to put the state in conflict with the Obama administration’s interpretation of the federal Title IX law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that receives federal funds. Mr. Lewis said last week that he would probably continue to use the men’s restroom at school even if Mr. Daugaard signed the bill. Even supporters of the legislation acknowledge that a school district will probably be sued if it becomes law.

South Dakota Bill on Transgender Students’ Bathroom Access Draws Ire - The New York Times

Charlotte passes LGBTQ public accommodations bill despite threat from Governor – LGBTQ Nation

North Carolina‘s largest city has passed a law allowing transgender people to choose public bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity, which the governor had called a threat to public safety and warned that the General Assembly may step in.

The Charlotte City Council voted 7-4 Monday to expand protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, making it the latest frontier in a national debate on how businesses treat gay, lesbian and transgender customers. One of the revisions to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance allows people to choose restrooms corresponding to the gender with which they identify.

“I’m pleased that Charlotte has sent a signal that we will treat people with dignity and respect, even when we disagree,” Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts said moments after the vote.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory — a former mayor of Charlotte, one of the 20 largest cities in the U.S. according to census figures — said in an email Sunday that changing the policy on restrooms could “create major public safety issues.”

Charlotte passes LGBTQ public accommodations bill despite threat from Governor – LGBTQ Nation

See also:   McCrory: If Charlotte approves LGBT protections, ‘immediate’ state response likely

Mother poses in General Assembly bathroom with trans son to protest bathroom bill – LGBTQ Nation

 

Michelle Chapman and her transgender son Xander are ready for a fight.

The two, along with Xander’s girlfriend Taylor, are at the Virginia General Assembly right now ready to speak out against a proposed bill that would make it illegal for transgender students and adults to use the restroom aligned with their gender identity in public buildings, including schools.

“He had a huge amount of anxiety about even being in there,” said Chapman about her son in an email sent to GayRVA. “This ridiculous bill will effect these kids. So we fight.”

Mother poses in General Assembly bathroom with trans son to protest bathroom bill – LGBTQ Nation

California bill would open all single-stall restrooms to anyone – LGBTQ Nation

All single-person bathrooms in California would become gender-neutral under legislation proposed in the state Legislature.

Assemblyman Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat, says his bill would make bathroom access more convenient and fair for everyone.

“What we really want to do is have bathrooms be what they’re supposed to be about, which is convenience, but also have them be about fairness and safety,” Ting said Friday.

AB1732 would help transgender people, parents with children of different genders, and adults caring for aging parents without putting much of a burden on businesses, Ting said. The bill would not affect restrooms that have multiple stalls.

California bill would open all single-stall restrooms to anyone – LGBTQ Nation

Senate panel passes reversal of transgender bathroom rule – LGBTQ Nation

A bill that would eliminate Washington’s new rule allowing transgender people to use bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings consistent with their gender identity passed out of a Senate committee 4-3 Wednesday.

Democratic Senators Bob Hasegawa of Seattle and Steve Conway of Tacoma voted against the bill, saying the rule, created by the state Human Rights Commission, was protecting civil rights. Sen. Karen Keiser, a Kent Democrat, also voted against the measure.

But chairman of the Commerce and Labor Committee Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, said anyone interpreting the elimination of the policy as “some kind of judgment or castigation of the transgender community,” would be wrong. Baumgartner and many at an earlier hearing argued against the existing policy, saying people might use it to sexually assault women.

Senate panel passes reversal of transgender bathroom rule – LGBTQ Nation

See also::  Unjust Washington State Anti-Trans Bill Out Of Senate Committee

The unjust bill was sponsored by Senator Doug Ericksen (R-Ferndale) specifically to overturn a rule that allows trans people in Washington state to use gender segregated locker rooms and bathrooms in public buildings that correspond with their gender presentation.   Trans people have had their human rights covered in the state since 2006, and the December 26 ruling by the state's Human Rights Commission was simply a clarification of that anti-discrimination law.

But now that it's GOP policy to transphobically attack by legislative means the human rights of trans people, you could smell this legislative caca coming.

While this unjust bill may pass in the Republican controlled Senate, it is DOA when it arrives in the Democratically controlled House.   House Bill 2589, its companion bill and HB 2782, another transphobic bill that was filed to also attack the Human Rights Commission ruling, is bottled up in the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma) and she has made it clear that neither unjust bill will get a hearing in her committee.

Even if by some miracle either did get out of committee and pass the House, Governor Jay Inslee (D) is waiting with his pen to veto it.