And I have to compare and contrast this with how things happened in Canada with Bill C-389. I watched as an openly gay MP writes a comprehensive trans civil rights bill after consultation with a cross section of Canadian transpeople. A coalition made up of the TBLG community, MP's, labor unions and allies got behind the civil rights bill to get it passed through the House of Commons.
They have the money, sellouts, the Gay, Inc Noise Machine and spinmeisters on their side. We're armed with the truth about this bill. We are not going to allow that civil rights malpractice to happen without screaming long and loud about it inside and outside the borders of Maryland.
I had a Maryland trans resident who testified against the bill share her testimony with me yesterday. I promised her that I wouldn't post it until 3 PM CST today, and the TransGriot keeps her word.
Here's what she had to say.
***
The message is that an entire class of Americans, of Marylanders, residents of the Free State, your constituents, through no fault or choice of their own, is told that they are somehow not deserving of the same basic rights as everyone else. The rights to be protected from discrimination in employment, housing, credit and PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION.
There’s been a lot of talk in discussion of the legislation before us today about bathrooms. There is concern that the presence of trans people in public bathrooms and similar facilities will result in some form of harassment or molestation. To those who express these concerns, I would say just grow up. I would also observe that never has a single such incident involving a transgender person been documented, while on the other hand, these concerns are not entirely unfounded. Numerous prominent members of the business community, religious and political figures and entertainment personalities have been exposed in widely publicized cases of this sort of inappropriate conduct in men’s rooms and other similar public places. What all of these people have in common is that most of them are gay men. And yet, these individuals are fully protected from discrimination in public accommodation arising from their sexual orientation.
It must also be noted that the expression “public accommodation” does not apply exclusively to public bathrooms, showers and changing facilities. Public accommodation also includes schools, libraries, hospitals, restaurants and retail establishments. It is not an exaggeration to characterize lack of protection from discrimination in public accommodation in the same way as one would the idea of segregated lunch counters. Segregated lunch counters in 2011. In Maryland.
We did not come here today to offer you a challenge, but to offer an opportunity. Today, you have the opportunity to send a message to your constituents that you will settle for nothing less than full equality for all Marylanders, for all Americans. In mathematical expression, the equal sign tells us that the values that appear on either side of it are exactly the same. Exactly equal. This symbol cannot be used unless those values are exactly the same, without exception. And so it must be outside the realm of mathematics, right here in Maryland. The Free State.
Please, amend Maryland House Bill 235 to include protection from discrimination in public accommodation. If you will not amend the legislation to include this language, then we transgender Marylanders insist that the bill be immediately withdrawn from consideration.
