eredien | Maine Transgender Rights Up For Vote!

A new bill recently introduced in the Maine Legislature would repeal the protections that transgender people have already had for five years under the Maine Human Rights Act. Maine Rep. Ken Fredette (R, Newport) says,
"The concept here is that there is not an absolute right for the transgender to go into a bathroom, there's not an absolute right for the transgender to go into a locker room of the sex that they simply identify with," Fredette said. I mean, that's it: "that they simply identify with." I wish somebody'd make Fradette go into the ladies' room for a month and see how that made him feel, since he apparently has no right "to go into a bathroom...a locker room of the sex that he simply identifies with"--oh wait, I forgot that it's only cis people who have the right to use the right bathroom or changing room in Maine.

The bill is LD 1046. According to this article on the website of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, (which I think is an NPR affiliate) and which also has an audio clip about the bill: "Fredette's bill, LD 1046, says that--unless otherwise indicated--a restroom or shower facility designated for one biological sex is presumed to be restricted to that biological sex and that a transgender person would no longer be able to claim discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act if denied the use of the facility of their choice."

It's a gross article--people are using the term "transgender" left and right (and not just in quotes, either, but in the article text itself) instead of "transgender person," but people need to hear about this. There are hopeful quotes from cis gender advocates, and people like Jennifer Finney Boylan, who gave testimony to the legislature, and is a very public transgender person and trans activist who teaches and lives in Maine. But they are going to need more than hopeful quotes to get this thing passed; it looks like there's a fair amount of popular/political/organization support.

People in Maine, and people who know people in Maine, please write your legislators and let them know that they shouldn't support this bill. Write the governor, who supports this bill, and let them know that Maine shouldn't be known for taking away its citizens' rights. If your legislator already supports this bill, let them know your're pissed off. And feel free to link to this post as much as you like.

Here is information about the bill from the Maine Legislature Website, plus full text, current action status, sponsors, and other information. The text of the bill is specifically crafted to remove a right transgendered people have already had for five years under the Maine Human Rights Act.
As if that weren't problematic enough, the criterion for bathroom/locker room allowal/denial is "Unless otherwise indicated, a rest room or shower facility designated for one biological sex is presumed to be restricted to that biological sex." So...what bathroom do intersex persons use? You gonna post cameras or people by the door to make sure that everyone who pisses passes? I sense a lot of undesignated restrooms in the future, except that a lot of time building codes require bathrooms to be designated--not sure how it is in Maine.

This is nasty,in terms of how it's being supported politically as well as in terms of the language being used to report on it.

I want to go to Maine in a little while and give them my tourist dollar, but will plan on staying out of the state if this bill passes and so long as it is in effect.

Maybe that sounds like an overreaction, but if I take a roadtrip to Maine, I know I'm gonna need to stop at some roadside diner to pee, or decide to eat in a restaurant my friends from college recommended to me, and if I'm not dressed "right" that day (ie, in accordance with the gender roles of whoever I ask to tell me where the bathrooms are), I really don't think I should have to get into a public fight with the staff and have to drag out my license to prove I'm a woman--no matter what the waitress or the guy behind the counter at the gas station thought about me when I walked in the door. I especially shouldn't have to get into a fight in order to fulfill a basic biological need, wash my face, and comb my hair. Nor do I want to.

If you would like to support the work being done to fight this bill, please volunteer or give to organizations working for rights for transgendered and queer people in Maine, such as Equality Maine.

Please, please repost this. Mainers, we're counting on you.

Update: After reading Boylan's testimony to the judges, I have to say that my initial impression that the bill is about passing people vs. non-passing people (I assume that both trans and cis people who didn't pass would be equally screwd over) was absolutely right. Here's Boylan's conversation with a legislator:
A supporter of the bill (remember that “supporting” means being against trans rights; “opposing” means being for them) said as much. One of the Senators asked, “If a trans person has had surgery, and appears to be female in every sense, how would you be able to know they were in violation of the law?” And the supporter of the bill–another Republican legislator–said, “Well, if I have no way of telling, the person wouldn’t be in violation.” He then looked around and said, “I mean, if you can’t tell, what’s the difference?”

If you meet his standards, whatever they happen to be, then you're not the person this bill is aiming for. Everybody's standards are assumed to be the same. Everybody's understanding of "male" and "female" is assumed to be the same. And if your standards aren't the same? If your understanding isn't the same? If you're a dykey dyke or a really slender guy? If you're wearing the "wrong" clothes or walking the "wrong" way or your facial structure makes people come up to you and ask what's between your legs? If your head is shaved and you're dressed in a hat and coat because it's winter and all the person can see is the tip of your nose, and your eyes and they have to guess your gender because you're all bundled up (not that such a thing would ever happen in sunny Maine)? Well, this bill's for you!. Specifically and deliberately.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Grar. Thanks for the link!

You are welcome, though I'm sorry the link isn't something awesome like the Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko.

Sad face. My state is moving backwards. Thank you for the link and I apologize on behalf of my state's legislature. :( :( :(

Well, I know you're personally doing what you can.

I guess nobody pointed out to these people that some folks have biological parts belonging to both genders? Where are these people supposed to go? I can imagine how it must be when a hermy (of any ratio) walks into a public locker room to shower and everyone else leaves... pitiful. Some people need to be swatted.

Hi there, Digi. First, since you want to support intersexed people's rights, you should know that most such people prefer to use the term "intersexed" instead of "hermaphrodite," which is often considered a slur; "hermy" is definitely going to be read and understood as a slur. So, please make a note of it, and when we're talking about intersexed people here I'm going to ask you to use that term from now on. As you know, it's a sign of respect and care to call people by the names they like, and doesn't show respect to do otherwise.

Second, no, it doesn't seem like they're even aware of the issue at all. As stated above, it looks like this bill is basically aimed right at transgendered people who don't "pass."

Sorry to have used the wrong term there. I wasn't aware that a new word had been introduced. When I was "rediscovering" myself years ago I had difficulty figuring out what it was I was supposed to be, so ultimately I decided I was Bi, seeing as it was a "best-fit" scenario. Not being physically intersexed but still feeling like I was multi-gendered somehow, and being attracted to persons regardless of what physical gender they were. You can understand how I was confused.

Ending up living with gays as roomies, they thought nothing of it when I called them "fag." They knew I didn't mean anything by it. Heck, I would flirt with them anyway. I often refer to myself as "half-fag."

Well, now you're aware, so you can use it. I can totally see why you'd go through a bunch of labels during a period of self-discovery; I've decided to label my own understanding of myself, which seems similar to what you describe above, as "genderqueer pansexuality" instead of "bi," but you should of course use whatever terms you have decided to use for yourself.

But you should also know that while your roommates may have been ok with you calling them "fags," most queer people aren't, and find it generally insulting. What terms you choose to use always have meaning outside of how you intend other people to hear or understand them, since other peoples' understanding of those terms is shaped by their own understanding of the world. Some queer people find it ok to use the word to try and reclaim it from its origins as a slur, and some don't. In any case, queer people calling each other fags is different from straight people calling their gay friends fags, generally speaking.

I think it's foolish to assume that the words you know and use and have one meaning among a certain set of friends are always going to have that meaning among everybody else. It's generally best to learn alternative words with a less fraught or loaded meaning so that when you want to talk about queer people, for instance on a friend's blog, you don't end up saying things like "with gays as roomies" and make your friend have to point out your newest terminology kerfluffle while you are trying to apologize for the first one. (Hi.)

I recommend reading these short articles for some info on updated terms and meanings:
http://www.pflagphoenix.org/education/terminology.html
http://www.pflagphoenix.org/education/terminology_origins_and_evolution.html

I hope that providing you with these resources will encourage you to seek out more info on your own, and hopefully you can accidentally stop coming on my blog to talk about queer issues and being accidentally insultingwith your language at the same time that you're being supportive with your actions and sympathies. The language we use is itself an action, and I know that you didn't know that the terminiology you're using and the way you're using it was insulting, and I have a long relationship with you as a friend, so I decided to take some time and correct you. If it had been some random person on my journal coming on and talking about "fags" and "gays as roomies" and "herms," I would have genuinely thought they were right-with Christians trying to troll me, because the language you use is giving me that impression, and it's totally at odds with the support for the political positions you're trying to convey. You're smart and care about this stuff. Please educate yourself to learn something for yourself and also so that you can take part in supporting LGBTQ people without making it sound like you don't because of the words you're using to describe queer people.

Did you know that mostly the only people I've seen who routinely use "gays" like that are people who are right-wing conservative Christians trying to get GLBTQ people to "change back to straight with the help of God," or other such offensive foolishness? It's generally considered polite to refer to gay people as "gay people," rather than "the gays" or "gays," which is a term that tends to be used deliberately among people who hate me and other queer people in order to strip us linguistically of our humanity and reduce our lives as people to just being about their wrong-headed idea of our sex life.

I'm not gonna correct you again, but seriously, the examples you are putting forth here of queer support, and the language you are using, are not good examples of queer support. They are bad examples. They make me think that because your roommates didn't care if you called them or you fags, that you don't see anything wrong with the word "fag" at all, and that's a big problem that is going to make a lot of people just dismiss your support for queer people right off the bat because you don't even seem to understand why calling someone queer might be considered insulting. Your "herm" example makes me think that you know that intersexed people exist, but don't actually care about them as people, because if you had done some research or even looked it up on wikipedia, you probably could have figured out that most intersexed people think "herm" is a huge freaking insult. Instead, you relied on me to correct your language and then basically said, "well, I didn't know." You didn't. That's a problem. It's not my responsibility to educate you about queer people. Get started learning. I hope that you will come to know yourself better, too. :)

It's not my objective to fight with you and belittle you. It's simply my objective to say, "if you want to support queer people, I'm telling you as a friend this is a really bad way of supporting queer people, because it hurts them, and you don't even know enough to know that it does. Fix that, for yourself and for others around you. It's not my job to do it; I can't put knowledge in your head. But shape up your act enough to know at least that the way you are talking is hurting me so that you can stop it, or else don't be suprised when you come around here, trying to support me but continually hurting me instead, and wonder why saying "but I didn't know I was hurting you" will get you ignored or banned. Figure out why you're hurting me so that you can stop doing it, or else I will assume that even though I've told you outright that you need to change to stop hurting me you don't care enough to stop hurting me, and that's not a person I want as a friend."

Maine Transgender Rights Up For Vote!

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