FLORIDA: Miami-Dade County Advances Trans Rights Despite Wingnut Outrage
Raw emotion and invocations of biblical damnation over a proposed ban on discrimination against transgender people dominated Wednesday what was perhaps the fiercest debate Miami-Dade County Hall has seen this year. Advocates of a more inclusive society, including transgender men and women who spoke of how difficult it can be to find public acceptance, were outnumbered by conservatives who, in a show of force, assailed the legislation as immoral and a threat to public safety. Two likened South Florida to Sodom and Gomorrah. What proponents called a civil-rights issue was boiled down by opponents to a mundane task that blurred the divide between men and women: going to the bathroom. A law protecting people like him, a transgender man said, offers the “dignity to pee in peace.”Last week opponents of the bill accused Sosa of being a communist and declared that transgender rights are officially endorsed by the Communist Party. The full commission will hear the bill next month.
Among the groups pushing for the law were Equality Florida, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Defamation League. Leading the campaign against were the Christian Family Coalition, which opposed adding “sexual orientation” to the human-rights ordinance in 1998, and People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality, or PULSE, an African-American group led by socially conservative black clergy. Earlier Wednesday morning, Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick threw out a lawsuit that eight individuals, apparently acting on behalf of the opposing groups, filed last week against [commission chairwoman Rebecca] Sosa in an attempt to stop the hearing from taking place. The plaintiffs argued Sosa broke the law by assigning the legislation to a more favorable committee. But commission rules give the chairperson discretion to set agendas.
(Tipped by JMG reader Michael)
Labels: Christianists, Florida, hate groups, LGBT rights, Miami-Dade County, religion, transgender issues
