Please sign this petition for the Mcdonalds TS

[MrsKellyPierce]

http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-that-the-employees-on-duty-at-mcdonalds-be-held-responsible-in-the-beating-of-a-transwoman#signatures

We can make a huge difference in this girls life! Please help!! I urge you!!

[TSPornFan]

The link isn't working. :(

Edit: Okay it works after I refreshed the page.

[Ben]

They should be charged with a Hate Crime.
What's equally disturbing is the person filming the brutal assault can be heard laughing at about the 1:50 mark.
I agree: "The employees that stood by ( and encouraged! ) this attack should also be terminated immediately and face some type of criminal charges...this was a HATE CRIME, after all."

[loren]

They should be charged with a Hate Crime.
What's equally disturbing is the person filming the brutal assault can be heard laughing at about the 1:50 mark.
I agree: "The employees that stood by ( and encouraged! ) this attack should also be terminated immediately and face some type of criminal charges...this was a HATE CRIME, after all.":iagree::iagree:Everyone working that paticular shift should be fired. The employee who filmed the attack and the manager should both be brought up on charges as well.

[MrsKellyPierce]

thanks!!

[Instrumental]

Jesus, I just watched that video. It's absolutely disgusting.

[Ben]

This is from this evening:

BALTIMORE (PIX11)—
Two women are charged after a video showing a brutal attack on a teenage girl at a Baltimore-area McDonald's (http://www.wpix.com/topic/lifestyle-leisure/dining-drinking/mcdonalds-PLENT000009.topic) restaurant surfaced on the internet Friday.
According to the Baltimore Sun, police have charged a 14-year-old girl as a juvenile, and charges are pending for her 18-year-old accomplice.

[BellaBellucci]

Signed.

~BB~

[robertlouis]

Signed.

~BB~

Has it reached the target yet, Bella?

[BellaBellucci]

Has it reached the target yet, Bella?

Sign it and find out. :dancing:

~BB~

[ed_jaxon]

wtf is the matter with people

[robertlouis]

Sign it and find out. :dancing:

~BB~

I already did an hour ago. Don't get smart with me Missy or I'll turn my Mr Hyde on you.

[robertlouis]

I already did an hour ago. Don't get smart with me Missy or I'll turn my Mr Hyde on you.

Oh fuck, what am I doing, threatening violence to a tgirl? I'm sure you'll see the irony there, BB. :(

[BellaBellucci]

Oh fuck, what am I doing, threatening violence to a tgirl? I'm sure you'll see the irony there, BB. :(

Which part's ironic? The fact that I could probably kick your ass? :dancing: :lol:

j/k

~BB~

[robertlouis]

Which part's ironic? The fact that I could probably kick your ass? :dancing: :lol:

j/k

~BB~

Fighting talk - I love it! Very difficult for you to kick my ass when I'm eight inches up it..... :dancing::dancing::whistle:

[BellaBellucci]

Fighting talk - I love it! Very difficult for you to kick my ass when I'm eight inches up it..... :dancing::dancing::whistle:

Nice. :fuckin: :lol:

~BB~

[robertlouis]

Nice. :fuckin: :lol:

~BB~

OK, we can fight first if you like, but the result will still be the same. :dancing::party::fuckin:

And while this is fun, let's not hijack a thread which for once is serious and deserves to remain so. I seriously hope that this girl gets justice and recompense and that the lawyers don't crawl their way out on technicalities.

[SmithXXX]

and again "someone" hi-jacked a thread....Please keep on the subject (aka don't respond to my post). I signed it about 3 hours ago. I also posted it on my facebook, and on mine and Willie Escaldes blog http://www.otola.net/blog

[BellaBellucci]

OK, we can fight first if you like, but the result will still be the same. :dancing::party::fuckin:

And while this is fun, let's not hijack a thread which for once is serious and deserves to remain so. I seriously hope that this girl gets justice and recompense and that the lawyers don't crawl their way out on technicalities.

Technicalities? The entire case would set a precedent. Other than calling 911, I don't think people are legally obligated to assist.


and again "someone" hi-jacked a thread....Please keep on the subject (aka don't respond to my post). I signed it about 3 hours ago. I also posted it on my facebook, and on mine and Willie Escaldes blog http://www.otola.net/blog

If you're referring to me you can kindly suck it. All I did was make a joke, not hijack anything. Don't be a dick. I know it's hard, but I think you can do it. I have faith in you. :dancing:

~BB~

[MrsKellyPierce]

Let's keep the signing going! Thanks to everyone who has signed!! A lot of my twitter followers and Facebook followers have! Pornstars mainstream and TS/GAY have been retweeting it.. Mainstream stars have as well like Rosie and Rachel Maddow

And we are currently at 2,342 signatures!

[BellaBellucci]

And we are currently at 2,342 signatures!

That's it? :(

~BB~

[166]

Proudly signed.

For those of you that haven't yet, read McDonald's press release. It's as watered down as their Coke. "We're working to investigate the matter". It's not the crux of the issue, as McD didn't choose for the assault to occur in their store, but a generic media release such as that is the equivalent of asking you to park and they'll bring your order out in 3 weeks, if at all, and long after you've forgotten.

[straypet]

The older lady in white trousersuit was a hero. The manager did a little of what he could. The employees were cowardly.

But the awful humanbeings beating up that girl are the ones responsible. They are the ones that should have to face the law.

[BellaBellucci]

The older lady in white trousersuit was a hero. The manager did a little of what he could. The employees were cowardly.

But the awful humanbeings beating up that girl are the ones responsible. They are the ones that should have to face the law.

That may be true, but if the company is going to try to gloss over this, we owe it to the victim and indeed the community at large to keep this incident in the public eye in order to raise awareness.

~BB~

[robertlouis]

That may be true, but if the company is going to try to gloss over this, we owe it to the victim and indeed the community at large to keep this incident in the public eye in order to raise awareness.

~BB~

:iagree::iagree::iagree: Well said, Bella.

[NatashaLover]

Petition Signed.

[traLika]

Done!

[GroobySteven]

Thanks Kelly, spread it over our websites and forums.

[beandip]

Pretty stupid...employees are not obligated in any way to break up fights.

[traLika]

employees are not obligated in any way to break up fights.

No, but they could have locked the front door so the perps couldn't get back in to beat her into a convulsion...

[BigDF]

Signed.

[Ben]

wtf is the matter with people

We all understand that hate is taught. Whether it be transphobia, homophobia or racism.
We all have aggressive tendencies. But they can be channelled positively through, say, sports or negatively and destructively as through acts of senseless violence.
But we also have the inherent predilection for kindness, for caring. So, hate is taught and we can unteach it.
We can socially transform the country. Collectively. But it won't happen overnight.
I mean, look at the 60s. It transformed the culture. It humanized the culture, as it were.
It seemed to impress upon us what we can be: loving, kind, caring... and a concern for others. Which is a profound human trait: the caring and concern for others.
Yes! We are, by design, selfish. It's the juggernaut theory. Which is that we're genetically programmed, as it were, to be concerned about ourselves first, family/friends second and the planet a distant third.
But a gradual social transformation where we emphasize our better selves, as it were, can change all that.

[Anubis1779]

That was messed up, if I were the manager, after the girls came back the second time to continue the beating, I would have laid into them. The video would have showed the two picking the fight flying over tables and into walls, and eventually out the door on their asses! I don't really care what the reason is, if you're going to attack someone like that for no reason other than being who they are, you better not do it around me because you will be in the hospital afterward wondering WTF happened.

The older lady in the white tried to help and it's pretty pathetic that she was the only one who really stood up to those two.

And yes, I signed. I think it was almost at 3,900 when I did.

[MrsKellyPierce]

Yay!! We are at 4,773 thanks for everyone that signed... #trannymafia

[Mayrah]

Awesome, i signed 5 ish hours ago :D

[LittleGuy]

Anybody on here remember that teller that didn't give the bank robber the cash? Did he receive a medal for his bravery act? Nope he got fired. I wouldn't get involve either. I would just call the cops. I'm not risking my life for 7 bucks an hour. I didn't sign it. Sorry

[LibertyHarkness]

not to be funny littleguy but it wouldnt have been hard to stop 2 kids twatting another .. its not like it was a group of guys kicking off ...

christ i would have knocked both them cunts out with 1hit most likely ..reason people didnt intervne was they were sick fucks getting off on the person being twatted about ...

Reality is the 2 girls were probably mates with the staff anyway so it was all a game ... personally i hope the victim kicks the fuck out of them a few months down the line ..

[LittleGuy]

Kids carry guns these days!

[LibertyHarkness]

maybe so ...walking across the street also entails a chance of getting run over ..

drviing your car gives you a 50/50 chance of not getting out of alive these days as well ...

2 hits all it would have took .. back of hte head , job done .. they wouldnt even have seen it coming .

[Anubis1779]

not to be funny littleguy but it wouldnt have been hard to stop 2 kids twatting another .. its not like it was a group of guys kicking off ...

christ i would have knocked both them cunts out with 1hit most likely ..reason people didnt intervne was they were sick fucks getting off on the person being twatted about ...

Reality is the 2 girls were probably mates with the staff anyway so it was all a game ... personally i hope the victim kicks the fuck out of them a few months down the line ..
:iagree:

[Filthybeast]

I signed it. Wish I had been their as I certainly wouldn't have stood by and watched it.

[SunshyneMonroe]

done

[Willie Escalade]

My buddy Scott put it on the blog. Even when the next post goes up, I'm keeping it in the sidebar. Hell, I might place it at the top.

http://otola.net/blog/2011/04/23/hate-crimes-have-to-stop/

[Helvis2012]

Terrible....I've signed.

[natina]

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTu_tfk5oQcLYdIqtMoAIBdexEWj1nEB eAXN4gFpl2IntUkuL6juQ&t=1


http://www.toledofreepress.com/2009/06/11/local-woman-fights-for-gay-rights/


http://www.toledofreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/communitybrandi.jpg


Local woman fights for gay rights

Written by Allison Wingate | | news@toledofreepress.com (news@toledofreepress.com)

Toledo resident Brandi Fasnaugh said the fight for equality goes beyond this month.
June marks national Gay and Lesbian Pride month, a celebration of the impact gay lesbian and transgender persons have had on the world.
http://www.toledofreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/communitybrandi.jpg (http://www.toledofreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/communitybrandi.jpg) Brandi Fasnaugh

Fasnaugh said she tries not to let ignorant people faze her, but it’s hard to stay positive when she’s openly ridiculed.
One recent encounter with discrimination was in a bathroom in Columbus.
She was lobbying on behalf of Equality Ohio, an advocate group for gay and lesbian rights when a trip to the restroom led to a disheartening conversation.
“When I walked into the restroom, I could hear two women talking to each other between the stalls about someone who had been in the bathroom when they walked in earlier,” Fasnaugh said.
They commented on that woman’s “masculine appearance” and how it made them uncomfortable. One of the women looked right at Fasnaugh as they continued the conversation and stated that women like her should use the men’s restroom.
Feeling ashamed and embarrassed, Fasnaugh initially decided to internalize her pain. But when a colleague noticed something was wrong, she was encouraged to speak out.
“My shock and upset then turned into frustration, as well as a renewed sense of why the Equal Housing and Employment Act (EHE) is such a fundamental component for the everyday life of all citizens regardless of sexual orientation,” Fasnaugh said.
“One can be denied access to housing, employment and even public accommodations based simply on who they love and what they look like,” Fasnaugh said.
Kim Welter, program manager for Education & Outreach for Equality Ohio, said what happened to Fasnaugh is a prime example of how some people think it is acceptable to behave that way.
“Most of us figure what’s right and wrong, for the most part, by what’s legal and illegal,” Welter said. “By passing the EHE Act, that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to that list of conditions upon which you cannot discriminate.” That’s kind of the start, and if people knew that these things were illegal, I think they’d think twice before they behaved that way,” Welter said.


http://www.toledofreepress.com/2009/06/11/local-woman-fights-for-gay-rights/

YouTube - Pastor Dave Welch Hatred for Transgender (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjFWMIZdcTs)

YouTube - 'Bathroom Bill' Bullshit! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEomI6YBPBY)


http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTu_tfk5oQcLYdIqtMoAIBdexEWj1nEB eAXN4gFpl2IntUkuL6juQ&t=1

[kittyKaiti]

Signed and promoting it on Facebook, Twitter and Myspace.

[onmyknees]

http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-that-the-employees-on-duty-at-mcdonalds-be-held-responsible-in-the-beating-of-a-transwoman#signatures

We can make a huge difference in this girls life! Please help!! I urge you!!

Man...I've been around dicey situations and knock down drag outs my whole life, but that's fucking disturbing. I hate when the wolves attack a defenseless sheep. Of course I'll sign that petition. I wish this kinda shit would happen in front of me but it never does. It would have been a pleasure to lay those two fat bitches out. But let me ask you all this...had I been grabbing a Big Mac, and this shit went down, and I put the sandwich down and smacked these 2 nasty bitches, ( and you know that's what it would have taken to stop the attack) who do you think would be in cuffs when the cops arrived? Not that it would matter a bit to me, but think about it.

As for the employees, they deserve a beating like that gurl got. Imagine an old lady having more balls than the employees? What a fucking joke.

[onmyknees]

Anybody on here remember that teller that didn't give the bank robber the cash? Did he receive a medal for his bravery act? Nope he got fired. I wouldn't get involve either. I would just call the cops. I'm not risking my life for 7 bucks an hour. I didn't sign it. Sorry

Of course you wouldn't sign it......Little Guy= Little Balls. There comes a time in a mans life when he has to step up. When is that going to happen for you? It's not about how much you make an hour, or recieving a fucking medal. It's about helping a defenseless person in a shitty situation. Didn't your mama raise a man? You're a pussy...take a curtsey now !

[Jackal]

@Littleguyy

If someone was robbing the place, I'd hand over the money. I would not let someone get beaten when my speaking up or stepping in could save this person's life. Yeah, its scary, yeah, you should avoid fights when possible but I could not live with myself knowing I did nothing when I could have made a difference.

[natina]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/committee-votes-5-0-against-rights-for-transsexuals


Committee votes 5-0 against rights for transsexuals


Backers of legal protections for transgender people mounted an all-out campaign for widening New Hampshire's anti-discrimination laws yesterday, holding a press conference to present personal cases, turning out en masse for a Senate hearing on the bill and excoriating opponents who weeks ago dubbed the measure the "bathroom bill."
But their late push appeared to fall short: The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously, 5-0, to recommend killing the bill, which would forbid landlords, employers and others from discriminating against transgender individuals. The whole Senate will vote on the bill as early as Wednesday, along with a raft of other social issues.
The vote followed hours of emotional testimony, including from several transgender people - people born into one biological sex but who identify with the other - who said they live in fear of losing their jobs or worse when they go public with their struggles over gender.
Toni Maviki of Danbury choked up as she described being "harassed verbally and physically assaulted" by fellow Carroll County corrections officers who found out she was a man becoming a woman.
"I carried a badge, and I protected all you people, and there was no law to protect me from harm," said Maviki, who said she now works in law enforcement in Vermont.
Sarah Blanchette of Somersworth read aloud the letter she received from her company shortly after she told her bosses that she's transgender. "Upon consideration, you are immediately relieved of your duties," she read.
Opponents of the bill said they feared the bill would give carte blanche to predators or mischievous men to enter women's bathrooms or locker rooms. Several weeks ago, House Bill 415 burst on the public stage, with opponents, mostly Republicans, blasting it as the "bathroom bill."
"I am here in 2009 as a woman fighting for my rights," said Ann Marie Banfield of Bedford at the hearing yesterday. "Where are my rights? Where are my daughter's rights? I'm angry."
Others said the concept of gender identity as separate from biological sex violates their core beliefs.
"This bill actually discriminates against those who believe gender neutrality is morally wrong," said Rachel Robinson, a pigtailed ninth-grader from New Boston.
Supporters of the bill fought back hard against the "bathroom" label. Co-sponsor Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, a Portsmouth Democrat, said opponents had brought "the debate literally to the toilet by frivolously nicknaming this bill the bathroom bill."
"These objections are outright lies," Fuller Clark said. Of all the 13 states and dozens of municipalities that passed similar laws over the past three decades, she said, there's been "not one reported instance of bathroom miscontact."
Fuller Clark cited the fact that the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence had come out for the bill, and she read from a letter co-signed by that group and the New Hampshire Women's Lobby.
The letter read in part: "We are saddened by those individuals and groups that are deliberately misleading legislators and the public by creating an unfounded fear about women's safety in connection with this legislation. Not only does this scare tactic detract from the very real issues of violence facing women in New Hampshire, it also ignores the serious threat to personal safety that many transgender and gender non-conforming people in New Hampshire experience on a daily basis."
Betsy Janeway of Webster told senators that one of her five children may be transgender. "I have enormous fears for her and pray for her," said Janeway, whose husband, Harold Janeway, is a state senator. "It is dangerous that there are no laws protecting her."
She urged people to read up on the matter - "close the bathroom door and open the library door."
All five members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted against the bill, although Democrats on the committee spoke in favor of protections for transgender individuals

Sen. Matthew Houde, a Plainfield Democrat, said the bill had been "horrendously mischaracterized as something other than a nondiscrimination bill." He voted against the bill, saying he thinks the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights - which judges cases of discrimination against factors such as sex, race and religion - already has the tools it needs to help transgender individuals.
Commission Executive Director Joni Esperian disagreed, telling senators that there are no state laws protecting transgender people and that the commission has been able to take only some cases of transgender individuals on the basis of a 1986 court case.
"It is a thread by which only one sector of the transgender population can seek the protection of the commission," Esperian said.
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/committee-votes-5-0-against-rights-for-transsexuals

http://www.concordmonitor.com/sites/all/files/imagecache/article_main/photos/image_15368.jpg

[natina]

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/04/12/politics/bill-on-transgendered-restroom-use-draws-heated-emotional-debate/


Bill on transgendered restroom use draws heated, emotional debate

http://bdn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Restroom-Rights.jpg (http://bdn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Restroom-Rights.jpg)
Russ Dillingham | AP
Jennifer Levi, transgender rights project director for Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, addresses the Judiciary Committee Tuesday, in Augusta as they took up a bill to let businesses, schools and other agencies make their own decisions on who should use their restrooms and showers. Two adjacent rooms were filled with people on both sides of the issue patiently waiting to weigh in on the proposed bill

AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill concerning transgendered people’s right to choose which restroom they use generated heated debate at a public hearing Tuesday.
Dozens of people gave impassioned, emotional testimony on LD 1046 (http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?paper=HP0781&snum=125&PID=0), which would allow the operator of a restroom or shower facility to decide who can use which gender’s restroom.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Kenneth Fredette (http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/11/politics/bill-would-clarify-transgender-bathroom-use/), R-Newport, served on the Maine Human Rights Commission when it decided that Orono schools (http://new.bangordailynews.com/2010/09/20/news/bangor/panel-rules-against-orono-school-in-transgender-bathroom-access/) and an Auburn Denny’s Restaurant (http://new.bangordailynews.com/2009/05/19/politics/panel-backs-transgender-woman-in-restroom-case/) discriminated against transgendered females by not allowing them to use women’s restrooms. Fredette vocalized his dissent against the ruling then and again at Tuesday’s meeting of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee (http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/jt_com/jud.htm).
A transgendered person generally is considered someone of one biological sex who identifies himself or herself as belonging to the opposite gender.
According to Fredette, his bill would prevent the Maine Human Rights Commission from being able to find that public and private entities discriminate when they force transgendered people to use restrooms that correspond with their biological sex, but not gender. This then would prevent those transgendered people from suing, as the people in the Orono schools and Denny’s situations did, Fredette argued.
“The concept here is there is not an absolute right for a transgender to go into the bathroom they identify with,” Fredette said in front of the overflowing crowd Tuesday. “We have to draw lines in this society so we balance rights with the rights of everyone else.”
For example, he said, “What situation do we put young children in when they go into a private place and then what they perceive to be the person of the opposite sex comes into that bathroom? That could be quite shocking.”
But Tuesday morning Fredette was by far in the minority. During approximately four hours of public testimony, 30 minutes was taken up by the people supporting Fredette’s bill.
People against the bill argued the rest of the time that the measure would cause discrimination and force people who look and act like women to use the men’s room, which would make most people involved feel unsafe or uncomfortable.
Wayne Maines was one of the first to speak against the bill.
“Like many of you I doubted transgender children could exist,” he said. “However I never doubted my love for my child.”
Maines’ 13-year-old daughter knew she was a girl at age 6, even though she’d been born a boy, he said. She was happy and her friends accepted her. But by fifth grade things got scary and the family had to “go into hiding” to protect the girl.
“‘She came to me crying and asked, ‘Daddy, what did I do wrong? Daddy, please fix this.’ That’s what dads do, we fix things. I had to break her heart and say, ‘You have not done anything wrong sweetie, but Mommy and I do not know how to fix this,’” Maines said Tuesday, crying. “This bill places transgender children in a position of doom and hopelessness.”
Several organizations spoke against the bill, including the Maine Civil Liberties Union (http://new.bangordailynews.com/organization/maine-civil-liberties-union/).
The bill puts businesses and schools in the position of “trying to figure out what someone’s biological sex is and if they’re wrong they open themselves up to liability,” said MCLU executive director Shenna Bellows. “It places the decision on the business owner and it places them in danger of legal action from all sides.”
While many people discussed the precarious situation of restaurant owners, Dick Grotton of the Maine Restaurant Association stood up for them.
Grotten took neither side of the argument.
“We need guidelines that we can follow that help us to not break any laws or break anybody’s rights,” he said to the judiciary committee. “Please, give us some direction.”
About 10 people spoke in favor of the bill, including Gov. Paul LePage (http://new.bangordailynews.com/people/paul-lepage/)’s legal counsel, Dan Billings.
“The governor’s position is that [the current regulations] really put businesspeople in a bad position with the law,” Billings said. “When they’re presented with one of these situations you have to presume the [transgendered] person is acting in good faith and if you don’t presume that you open yourself up to litigation.”
As Sydney resident Tim Russell said, “[Current law] has created a legal access that predators can use in order to accost women and children in public restrooms.”
“It is impossible for young children and women to safely determine whether or not the man — dressed as a woman — is a peeping tom, a rapist or a pedophile; and to continue to permit such a scenario to legally exist is unconscionable and inviting disaster,” Russell said.

http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/04/12/politics/bill-on-transgendered-restroom-use-draws-heated-emotional-debate/

[natina]

http://womensenews.org/story/lesbian-and-transgender/080428/transgender-rights-run-bathroom-politics



Lesbian and Transgender




Transgender Rights Run Into Bathroom Politics


By Shanelle Matthews
WeNews correspondent
Monday, April 28, 2008
A county ordinance in Maryland that protects transgender rights is facing a public referendum challenge in November. One transgender advocate says it looks like a test case for national opposition to the antidiscrimination push.
http://www.hungangels.com/sites/default/files/archive/images/ci/Brown-3576.jpg
(WOMENSENEWS)--A new county ordinance in Maryland makes Elizabeth Hampton Brown worry about the opposition to transgender rights that might be lurking on the national level.
"It looks like Montgomery County in particular is a test case for the radical right," says Brown, director of policies and programs for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays in Washington, D.C. "Although this gives opportunity for education it brings people from out of state into a small area to question the will of the people in that area. This will definitely have an impact on gender identity legislation in other states. We are worried that this will be a trend across the country."
Less than 1 percent of the adult population is transgender, according to the Washington-based National Center for Transgender Equality, although there are no reliable statistics. Most transgender people face intense discrimination because their outward appearance is not consistent with gender stereotypes.
At least 93 cities and counties have passed laws prohibiting gender identity discrimination, including Phoenix, Atlanta, Louisville, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Dallas and Buffalo, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Montgomery County joined that list in November, when the county council overrode the objections of some of its members and added "gender identity" to the county's nondiscrimination code, which includes public accommodation, housing and taxi services.
The ordinance spurred an opposition group calling itself Citizens for Responsible Government into action. Members of the group had previously come together to fight local school initiatives to teach certain sexuality issues, such as gender transitions.
In March it spearheaded the gathering of 32,000 signatures--7,000 more than required--and delivered the petitions a week ahead to put a county referendum on the November ballot to overturn the ordinance.
Broader Benefit


Brown says the ordinance benefits more than the transgender community. "People can discriminate against you because you choose not to wear a dress," she says. "This law benefits both genders in that it helps people who do not fit what they're supposed to look like."
Citizens for a Responsible Government, however, says it could encourage pedophiles to enter public restrooms and locker rooms.
"We are concerned for the safety of women and children," says Michelle Turner, a spokesperson for Citizens for a Responsible Government. "Any man thinking that he has a particularly strong interest in women and children who are not related to him can put on make-up and a dress and wander into the women's restroom. It's ridiculous."
To support her point, Turner tells the story of a handful of women in a Maryland gym locker room who were frightened after being joined by a masculine individual in a blue ruffled skirt and make-up. "They immediately reached for towels and made a vocal complaint to the management who acknowledged they have transgender patrons but didn't understand why they used the women's facilities instead of the unisex showers," she says.
Turner says the ordinance should have stipulated that a person who has become female through surgery may use a women's bathroom but that individuals whose gender is more ambiguous can use family bathrooms.
"For those who have had reassignment surgery, I don't expect them to use bathrooms that are not correspondent with their private anatomy," Turner says. "But family bathrooms have been used by transgender people for years and that's fine."
Marked with a sign or a logo of a family grouping, family bathrooms have been introduced to a limited number of public facilities and were spurred in 1990 by the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are often used by people with disabilities, breastfeeding mothers, parents attending children of the opposite sex and transgender people.
As signatures for the ballot initiative were piling up, Montgomery County's council president, Michael Knapp, accused Citizens for a Responsible Government of spreading misinformation by telling people the ordinance meant they would have to share public bathrooms and showers with transgender people.
Safety and Privacy


But Ruth Jacobs, president of Citizens for a Responsible Government, insists the group is just trying to protect the safety and privacy of women and children.
"They will likely create another law of the same kind if this one is formally rejected," Jacobs told Women's eNews.
The ordinance says nothing about the use of public accommodations and does not restrict restaurants or other public venues from segregating those facilities by biological sex.
In a March press release Citizens for a Responsible Government said the lack of specific language about bathroom access meant that conflicts arising over the issue would wind up at the county's human rights commission, which is authorized to eliminate discrimination, prejudice, intolerance and bigotry in housing, recreation, education, health, employment and public accommodations.
Stephanie Seguin, acting president of the National Organization for Woman in Gainesville, Fla., where a similar ordinance has been passed, calls the bathroom-access concern a smokescreen for a more fundamental opposition to transgender people attaining stronger rights.
"I've personally had a fear of going into an empty bathroom," said Seguin, "but I don't think there is a big fear of being joined by a male-to-female transgender person."
Brown says activists against the ordinances are spreading the kind of false information that might increase nationally.
"People are concerned because of a lack of knowledge," says Brown. "We are here to educate people and with women that is particularly important."
Tactical Echo


Sandy Oestreich, founder and president of the Florida Equal Rights Alliance, says the argument about bathrooms echoes tactics used against the Equal Rights Amendment decades ago, when opponents said it would lead to unisex bathrooms. The ERA failed to gain enough state ratifications to pass before its 1982 deadline.
"I was there and I was a lot younger," said Oestreich. "I did a lot of marching. To tell you the truth, all of those things are so trivializing and inflammatory. I think we laughed them off just as we do today."
Brown says transgender people are making headway. She says that more and more people know someone who has transitioned between genders.
"We are seeing it in the news and pop-culture media. People need more information as transgender people are becoming more and more out and it is our job to give it to them," she says.
Jennifer Sager, a psychologist in private practice in Gainesville, says bathroom-access fears being expressed by Citizens for a Responsible Government may reflect a genuine misunderstanding of what transgender identity is.
"The transgender population has been using the appropriate bathroom for decades and no one has noticed," Sager said. "I've had male-to-female transgender clients who are pre-opt and pre-hormone who have been asked for tampons."
Shanelle Matthews is a Women's eNews intern and recent graduate of the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University.



http://womensenews.org/story/lesbian-and-transgender/080428/transgender-rights-run-bathroom-politics

[Jackal]

Dave Welch is an uneducated moron and cog. Bigots like him are morally culpable in violent hate crimes like this.

[robertlouis]

Dave Welch is an uneducated moron and cog. Bigots like him are morally culpable in violent hate crimes like this.

That's a Christian??? God must cry himself to sleep every night.

[natina]

Texas trans woman arrested for using female toilet



A trans woman in Houston, Texas, has been arrested after using a female toilet in a library.
Tyjanae Moore was arrested by police last Wednesday for “knowingly entering a restroom of the opposite sex” but trans groups say her arrest was unlawful.
Ms Moore said she told police she was in the process of transitioning.
She pleaded guilty to using an opposite gender restroom and was given credit for the two nights she spent in jail.
Speaking to Fox News, Ms Moore said: “I felt so belittled going to a jail over something so simple and stupid.
“When I came out, the female [officer] told me I wasn’t supposed to be and I asked if there was any particular reason why not. She said I’m a transgendered female and I was really shocked that they even stopped me for this.”
Trans groups say her arrest was unlawful because a city ordinance passed by Houston this year allows trans people to use the toilets which correspond to their new sex.
The ordinance says: “It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly and intentionally enter any public restroom designated for the exclusive use of the sex opposite to such person’s sex without the permission of the owner, tenant, manager, lessee or other person in charge of the premises, in a manner calculated to cause a disturbance.
Cristan Williams, executive director of the Transgender Foundation of America, which is based in Houston, said: “The arrest should have never happened.
“The City of Houston has given this victim explicit permission to use a restroom consistent with their gender.
“This means that the library patron was acting in a manner consistent with both state and local law. Since she broke no law, this is a case of unlawful arrest and imprisonment.”

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/11/24/texas-trans-woman-arrested-for-using-female-toilet/


http://www.pinknews.co.uk/images/ladiestoilet.jpg

[Jackal]

That's a Christian??? God must cry himself to sleep every night.



A piss-poor example of one. There are far too many people like him in the USA.

[natina]

http://www.hungangels.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=55799

[arnie666]

Signed it,I believe Mcdonalds owes a duty of care for the wellbeing of all their guests.Iam disgusted by the behaviour of the staff and it wouldn't have taken much to remove the victim from the situation ,perhaps taking her to the back office.

I worked in a motorway diner as a student, we threw out rowdy customers before or those who we knew would not pay for their food. We even got in a massive fight with a bunch of irish travellers who came back for a fight when we insulted a a few of them by not letting them have a free meal because they claimed they didn't get a side order (they never ordered one in the first place)

Far more hairy than two girls.

[Birgitta]

http://www.nieuwsmening-magazine.nl/index.php/in-beeld/3-in-beeld/31791-chrissy-lee-polis-mishandeld-in-mcdonalds-baltimore-spreekt-video

video, chrissy tells about her experience.

[lisaparadise]

Jesus, I just watched that video. It's absolutely disgusting.fuckin idiots i wanna kill them bitches and make them suffer for the rest of there pathetic lives.animals thats are they are.

[KirstenH]

~ signed ~

xoxo

[NatashaLover]

Latest Video

YouTube - McDonald's attack victim speaks out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWt8zf8JJOA&feature=player_embedded)

[a994]

Signed.

Kelly, this is one good post and useful service you have graced us with. Thank you, and may Ms. Pollis recover soon.

[DL_NL]

Signed, only 6400+ needed.