Friday, July 21, 2017

TEXAS' BATHROOM BILLS--CLEARER PRESENTATION



Apparently, some readers did not understand some of the points I was trying to make about Texas’ bathroom bills.  My aplogies.  I’ll try again and look only at two of the worst bills and add comments.

“AUSTIN — Texas lawmakers are poised to debate bills that, if passed into law, are expected to spur court challenges that could define the "scope and limit" of the rights guaranteed to all transgender Americans.

On Friday, the Senate Committee on State Affairs will debate two so-called "bathroom bills" that would undo portions of city nondiscrimination ordinances and force transgender schoolchildren out of bathrooms that match their gender identity. The proposals could affect everything from convention center and stadium restroom policies to high school athletics. [State legislators tend to scream 'local control is better' when the feds try intervene. But heaven help the lower political subdivision that won't bow down to the state legislature.  Hypocrisy and 'it all depends on whose ox is being gorded'.]]

A few schools in Texas allow transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity, according to Joy Baskin, legal director for the Texas Association of School Boards. But Kolkhorst’s bills would force trans girls, for example, who are born male but identify as female to use either a private, single-stall bathroom or the boys' restroom.  [There is no requirement that single-stall bathrooms be created.  A female trans-gender student using a male rest room or locker room poses a REAL public safety issue]  School districts would also not be able to protect athletes from discrimination, unless they are already covered under state or federal law, such as Title IX. Courts in other parts of the country have ruled Title IX's prohibitions on sex discrimination against female athletes also apply to transgender students. [hence ammunition of lawsuits]. But there’s been no similar decision that applies here in Texas.

 

The legislation, a priority for Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick during the special session that kicked off on Tuesday, has been panned as discriminatory by businesses and LGBT rights organizations and unnecessary by law enforcement and school groups. It has backing from far-right conservative and religious groups that support the state's top Republican politicians.” . .

Senate Bill 3 and Senate Bill 91, authored by Brenham Republican Lois Kolkhorst, are nearly identical. They would both require public and charter schools to ensure that every multiple-occupancy bathroom, shower and locker room “be designated for and used only by persons of the same sex as stated on a person’s birth certificate.”  (emphasis supplied) . . .

“Penalties and legal questions

Under Kolkhorst's bills, attorney General Ken Paxton could sue any entity found to be in violation of the rules in Kolkhorst's bills, and recover costs and attorney’s fees in the process. [That’s the only penalty.  I thought this was a public safety issue] 

There would be no penalties for individuals who violate the law, so transgender Texans would not be arrested for simply using the restroom that matches their gender identity. Police would not have the authority to ask for a person’s birth certificate or other proof of identity to enforce the rules.  [The only good parts of the bill prevent it from being an effecive law enforcement effort.]

Patrick and Abbott have described the bills as public safety measures, with the former saying this week he's afraid of sexual predators "masquerading" as transgender women to gain access to the restroom. Far-right conservatives groups have gone further, doubting the existence of transgender men and women and questioning their mental health.

But so far, the state's top law enforcement groups have not taken a stance on the bills.

“All that scary stuff is already illegal,” said Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. “I have not heard from a police chief, from a sheriff, requesting this legislation, and I don’t know of a rank-and-file officer that set out and asked for his legislation to be carried.”

Emphasis and [ ] supplied by blogger.


Trump has not declared the Dallas Morning News ‘fake news’—yet.
 
What's REALLY going on here.  Religious and sexually conservative Texas Republicans want to stigmatize trans-gender people, and send a symbolic message that these people are unworthy.  Traditional sex-roles and traditional same-sex marriage are what God wants.

 

1 comment:

  1. The wishful thinking of those afflicted with gender confusion doesn't gainsay biology.

    Gender = sex = one of each. Confused? Check in your undies. You're either an innie or an outie. Innies use the bathroom for innies. Outies use the bathroom for outies.

    One's opinion about one's feelings is not superior to the reality of biology. Sorry about that...

    That should be simple enough for even a legislator to understand.

    Art

    ReplyDelete