It was only a matter of time before someone who considers himself a supporter of the equal rights Ordinance took Prevo's "men in dresses" bait and suggested that we dump the protections for transgender people. That someone was Ivan Moore.
Moore's piece in today's Anchorage Press supports the Ordinance but recommends that we only protect gays from discrimination. (He doesn't mention lesbians or bisexuals.)
"On June 9, the Assembly should cut the words "or gender expression or identity" and the related language, and simplify the ordinance down to its real intent, to protect gays from being discriminated against. Gender expression and identity are simply not nice tidy subsets of sexual orientation, and so their placement as such is wrong. Personally, I think they should consider the inclusion of gender identity, but separately from orientation. Gender expression should be gotten rid of entirely, the mostly heterosexual crossdressers can just freaking do it in private, and the drag queens… well they don't care, they like the controversy anyway."
As far as I know, Moore is heterosexual. Equality Works shows the response from the GLBT community in their recent post:
"People need protection from discrimination on the basis of their gender identity/expression. No one — straight or gay — should be treated unfairly in work or the public sphere. Equality Works believes the small minority of transgender people in our community — people who have served in our military, who drive our taxis, and who have children and families to provide for — are no less deserving of employment and housing than anyone else. While some in our community try to paint transgender people as a dangerous threat, transgender men and women are far more likely to be the targets of violent harassment and discrimination than those who would refuse them equal opportunity under the law."
Don't play Prevo's divide-and-conquer game. Stand with us in support of a transgender-inclusive nondiscrimination policy.
2 comments:
Thanks for this. As I wrote on FB, much as I want equal rights for lesbians/gay men/bisexuals, if transfolk were written out of the ordinance I would stop supporting it. My expartner is a transman, & deserves unfair discrimination no more than I do.
Posted my response to Ivan Moore's piece on my blog just now:
We are all, or we are none
In his most recent comment on his piece (4 PM today), Moore finally admits that he wants to have a sexual orientation-only ordinance because he figures the righty-tighties will accept it. Now, if that ain't a call to throw transfolk under the bus, I don't know what is.
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