Kalamazoo voters to decide on LGBT equality ordinance

November 3, 7:41 AMTransgender & Transsexual Issues ExaminerMatt Kailey

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The restroom I use

Matt Kailey

Today, November 3, 2009, voters in Kalamazoo, Mich., will be deciding the fate of equal rights for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people in their city.

Ordinance 1856 was unanimously approved by the Kalamazoo City Council earlier this year, but has not been enacted due to opposition complaints and the filing of a measure to put the ordinance to a ballot vote. The ordinance would protect LGBT citizens from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

The primary argument against Ordinance 1856, as reported by the Michigan Messenger, is that it would allow adult men to prey on young girls in public restrooms. The Advocate reports that trans women have been targeted in opposition ads.

Besides demonstrating a gross misunderstanding of trans people and trans issues, the bathroom argument simply does not hold up. A public accommodations law does not protect sexual perpetrators or allow them to enter public restrooms that are not appropriate for their sex and gender.

The Colorado legislature passed a similar public accommodations law last year, and I have yet to hear of any negative incidents as a result of this law, although the same argument was used here when the bill was in the legislature.

Sexual perpetration has nothing to do with the right to public accommodations, it has nothing to do with equal opportunity in jobs and housing, and it has nothing to do with trans people. Indeed, arguments against the “bathroom bill,” as it was called by opponents here in Colorado, are simply a thinly veiled excuse to discriminate against us.

Ordinance 1856 is about equal rights in employment, housing, and other areas. To focus on hypothetical perpetrators in restrooms takes the focus away from the real issues that the ordinance addresses.

Trans people are in public restrooms for the same reason that everyone else is — to use the facilities and be on our way. We are the ones who can be put in danger by laws that do not allow us to use the restroom that matches our gender identity and gender expression. Trans women in particular are at risk of physical attacks and sexual assaults.

We all want to protect children from harm, but this has nothing to do with Ordinance 1856, and I think most intelligent and fair-minded people realize this.

I hope that Kalamazoo voters are not swayed by these transparent tactics, and that they choose equality and fairness over baseless fear mongering. I have been to Kalamazoo, and based on what I have seen there, I think they will.