See you tonight! Please wear blue, & your Equality Works button.

I’ve still been too wiped out to do much of any productive thinking or blogging today.  But I was able to say a bit about the first two public hearings about Anchorage equal rights ordinance AO 2009-64, & so have other people.  And other people have also talked about last night’s (the third) public hearing too.  So I’m just gonna collect up some of the relevant stuff here, for your reading pleasure.

These are organized by which hearing (& the doings outside the library that they discuss, not necessarily the date they were posted or published.  As usual, however, I do give the date of publication or posting at the beginning of the item, & identify the source at the end.  Note that I’m not giving any precedence to stories by professional news media: I’m with Phil Munger on this, they’re so overextended & under-resourced that it’s clear full reporting is never going to get done without us bloggers.

I doubt this is comprehensive, but I’ll do my best, & add more to this list as I find it.  (Or write it, since I’ll be adding a few more posts to the coverage too.)

[Updated 6/19 to add more links.]

Anchorage won't discriminate (June 17 along 36th Avenue)

Prequel

• 6/4/09. “In Support of a Transgender-Inclusive Ordinance” by E. Ross (Bent Alaska). Anchorage pollster Ivan Moore suggests that gender identity be taken out of the ordinance: no way.
• 6/4/09. “We are all, or none” by Mel Green (Henkimaa). Another response to Ivan Moore; the Anchorage LGBT community & our allies say “We are all, or none.”
• 6/6/09. “City revises gay-rights proposal: Gays and lesbians lose some protections” by Don Hunter (Anchorage Daily News).Discusses the first S (substitution) version of the ordinance.
• 6/7/09. “Keeping the T in LGBT” by Mel Green (Henkimaa). Problems with the “bathroom language” in the subsitution version of the ordinance.
• 6/7/09. “PA Arts Sunday – June 7, 2009 – A Play for Eddie Burke” by Philip Munger (Progressive Alaska). A short play in one scene entitled “The Spirit of Elizabeth Peratrovich Confronts Rev. Jerry Prevo.”
• 6/8/09. “Sex is between the legs, Gender is between the ears” by April Rains (Bent Alaska).  A “modest proposal” essay in response to Ivan Moore’s suggestion that we take protections for transgender people out of the ordinance.
• 6/8/09. “Revised Ordinance Weakens the law and Endangers Transgender people” by Equality Works (Bent Alaska). Critique of the first substitution version of the ordinance.
• 6/8/09. “Attend the Public Hearing: Tuesday, June 9 at Loussac Library” by Equality Works (Bent Alaska). Info for ordinance supporters.
• 6/8/09. “Anchorage ex-Marine faces Work Discrimination for being Transgender” by Laura O’Lacy (Bent Alaska). Laura O’Lacy’s letter to the Anchorage Assembly describing the harassment and discrimination she has faced as a transgender woman trying to get a job in her field of training.
• 6/8/09. “Revised Ordinance Exempts Small Businesses, Religious Groups, and Bathrooms. Prevo still opposes it” by E. Ross (Bent Alaska). On the first substitute ordinance.
• 6/8/09. “Public Testimony on Sexual Orientation Discrimination Ordinance” by Erick Cordero Giorgana (Think Alaska). A brief rundown of events leading up to testimony.
• 6/8/09. “It’s only natural…help protect our LGBT friends from discrimination in Anchorage” by Linda Kellen Biegel (Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis). Gay penguin parents, & more.
• 6/9/09. “Speaking out against sexual descrimination in Anchorage and the story of my daughter” by Gryphen (Immoral Minority). Gryphen tells the story of his daughter’s coming out and the harm she suffered from antigay prejudice at her mother’s conservative church in Georgia. Luckily she has much more acceptance up here with her dad.
• 6/9/09. “LEGISLATING HATE: The Real Anti-Christ” by Shannyn Moore (Just a Girl from Homer). On Jerry Prevo of Anchorage Baptist Temple, Ron Hamman of the Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla, and other “not-so-Christ-like” voices of hate.
• 6/9/09. “My pastors are mightier than Prevo” by Amanda Coyne (Alaska Dispatch). On Rev. John Carey & Rev. Dianne O’Connell of Immanuel Presbyterian Church.
• 6/9/09. “Kelly’s Story: A Transgender Christian woman explains Gender Identity Disorder” by Kelly (Bent Alaska). Guest post by a Christian transwoman who lives part of the year in Anchorage.
• 6/9/09. “See you tonight” by Mel Green (Henkimaa). My prequel compilation of some of the other posts from our allies in support and solidarity as we headed into the first evening of testimony.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

• 

  Ordinance supporters Arliss Sturgulewski, Vic Fischer, Jane Angvik, and Chuck O'Connell (in foreground) on the first night of ordinance testimony

  6/9/09. “Mat Su residents testifying in Anchorage?” by Erick Cordero Giorgana (Think Alaska). The first blog report I’m aware of that people had been bused in from the Mat-Su Borough to advocate that a government not their own testify against against its own citizens.

• 6/9/09. “Live from the City Assembly…” by Heather James (SOSAnchorage.net). Liveblog of the Assembly hearing from the person sitting right next to me.  I helped her spell the names right (except that I helped her spell Loren Leman’s name wrong).
• 6/9/09. “News from Assembly Meeting” by AKMuckraker & many many mudpuppies (The Mudflats). This post turned spontaneously into a liveblog by members of the Mudflats community watching the livestream of the hearing — a practice they also followed in the next two Assembly hearings.
• 6/9/09. “A long night (one of many?)” by Patrick Flynn (Patrick Flynn’s Blog). Assemblyman’s post from four hours into the five-hour meeting.
• 6/9/09. “June 9 public testimony at Anchorage Assembly” (photos) by Mel Green (Flickr photostream). 49 photos taken mostly inside the Loussac and Assembly chambers, with some supplementary photos courtesy Phil Munger of Progressive Alaska and AKMuckracker of the Mudflats.
• 6/9/09. “Emotional testimony on both sides gay rights amendment” by Jason Lamb (KTUU Channel 2 News).
• 

  Jeffrey Mittman of the AkCLU and Tiffany McClain and Mia Oxley of Equality Works

  6/9/09. “Hundreds air views on gay-rights ordinance — ONLINE: Followers max out streaming feed from meeting” by Don Hunter (Anchorage Daily News).

• 6/9/09. “A sea of red and then purple” by Amanda Coyne (Alaska Dispatch). Brief story on the night’s events.
• 6/9/09. “At the Anchorage Assembly Meeting on Civil Rights” by Philip Munger (Progressive Alaska). What was going on outside during testimony; the large number of kids bused in by fundamentalist churches, of which Phil took photos, influenced my decision to write my later “Billboards” post.
• 6/10/09. “Equal Rights in Anchorage. A Small Step on a Long Road” by AKMuckraker (The Mudflats). Like Phil Munger, AKMuckraker spent some time photographing the activism outside the Loussac; her observations about kids also informed my “Billboards” post.
• 6/10/09. “Photos from the Ordinance Hearing” by E. Ross (Bent Alaska).
• 

  How many of these ordinance opponents are Anchorage residents, and how many are not?

  6/10/09. “Last night’s anti-descrimination testimony in front of Anchorage Assembly full of emotional testimony and tears” by Gryphen (Immoral Minority). An overview of the night’s testimony.  Here’s also where you can read about the altercation between a blue-shirted ordinance supporter and drunken red-shirted opponent which led to the red-shirt striking the blue-shirt and being arrested.

• 6/10/09. “Eleven Hours in a Library; the City Assembly Meeting on Equal Rights Ordinance” by John Aronno (Alaska Commons). I think John wrote this in the middle of the night after getting home. His discussion of the “outsider” influence (Mat-Su people bused in) at the Assembly meeting influenced my decision to write a post about it later. Reposted at SOSAnchorage.net (the Prevo debunking site).
• 6/10/09. “Assembly report 1″ by Mel Green (Henkimaa). A brief complilation of some of the other blog posts that have already reported on the hearing.
• 

  Crowded Assembly chambers on June 9

  6/10/09. “Social Justice in Anchorage” by Mags (Winston’s Mom). Account of a heterosexual married woman who felt compelled to testify that the “GLBT community get that same protection under the law that all the rest of us enjoy.”

• 6/10/09. “Writing like a fiend…” by Linda Kellen Biegel (Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis). Recovering from testimony night, with a photo of Prevo.
• 6/10/09. “Coverage of Tuesday’s MOA Civil Rights Ordinance Hearing in Local Media” by Philip Munger (Progressive Alaska). Compilation of links to the best coverage.
• 6/10/09. “Outside influence” by Mel Green (Henkimaa). A reaction to non-Anchorageites being permitted to testify before the Assembly to influence our municipal government that they are not citizens of.
• 6/11/09. “City Assembly Meeting Transcripts: Volume 1″ by John Aronno (Alaska Commons). John’s transcription of the testimony from the first ten witnesses. Reposted at SOSAnchorage.net.
• 6/11/09. “Assembly report 2: June 9 public testimony” by Mel Green (Henkimaa). My full account of Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting.
• 6/11/09. “Balancing rights” by Patrick Flynn (Patrick Flynn’s Blog). Assemblyman Flynn addresses balancing of rights between discrimination rights for LGBT people & Christianist claims about infringements on their right to practice their faith. (Note: he doesn’t use the term Christianist — that’s me).
• 6/12/09. “Billboards” by Mel Green (Henkimaa). On Prevo & co.’s use of children as billboards for their parents’ prejudices and hatreds.
• 6/13/09. “City Assembly Meeting Transcripts: Volume 2″ by John Aronno (Alaska Commons). John’s transcription of the testimony from the second ten witnesses. Reposted at SOSAnchorage.net.
• 

  Mrs. Alaska United States protesting against proposed Anchorage equal rights ordinance. Photo courtesy Philip Munger ( Progressive Alaska)

  6/13/09. “Saturday Alaska Progressive Blog Roundup – June 13, 2009″ by Philip Munger (Progressive Alaska). Highlights some of the best commentary on the ordinance hearing.

• 6/14/09. “PA Arts Sunday – June 14, 2009 – Peter Dunlap-Shohl Pegs Prevo’s Phoniness” by Philip Munger (Progressive Alaska). Cartoon by Peter Dunlap-Shohl.
• 6/15/09. “The new Carrie Prejean?” by Mel Green (Henkimaa). Prevo & co.’s cynical ploy to use the newly-crowned Mrs. Alaska United States to bait the LGBT community.
• 6/15/09. “Palin Snubs PrideFest, Wasilla Fundies Protest Gays” by E. Ross (Bent Alaska). Mat-Su residents brought in to testify against equal rights for Anchorage LGBT people, Wasilla native Gov. Sarah Palin ignoring Pride, & President Barack Obama declaring June as LGBT Pride Month: these reminders of the state of affairs as we prepared for the second hearing.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

• 

  What I testified about: At Kinko's with a couple of the copies of the "Prima Facie" component of Identity Reports, which I later gave to members of the Assembly

  6/12/09. “Ordinance Hearing, Week 2″ by Equality Works (Bent Alaska). Info for ordinance supporters for the second hearing.

• 6/15/09. “Gearing up for Round Two” by Heather James (SOSAnchorage.net). A compilation of links of commentary from the June 9 hearing & prequels to the June 16 hearing. Reposted (with some preferatory comments) on 6/16/09 by John Aronno at Alaska Commons.
• 6/16/09. “Gay rights ordinance gets 2nd Assembly hearing tonight” by Megan Holland (Anchorage Daily News).
• 6/16/09. “Hearings on Tues. & Wed., Buckley Brigade formed to Welcome and Protect” by Equality Works (Bent Alaska). Pre-hearing info for ordinance supporters.
• 6/16/09.  “2nd Hearing Today: Who Should Determine the Laws of Anchorage?” by E. Ross (Bent Alaska). E. Ross asks who should make Anchorage laws: the mayor & Assembly, with input from a variety of Anchorage residents; Wasilla residents who are being permitted to testify; or Jerry Prevo?
• 6/16/09. “ABT is a Political Action Committee…NOT a Church” by Shannyn Moore (Just a Girl from Homer). Prevo’s mobilization letter to his congregation at Anchorage Baptist Temple.
• 6/16/09. “Equal Rights Just Became Less Equal” by John Aronno (Alaska Commons). John comments on the new substitution ordinance drafted by Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander, which removes all protections from discrimination for gender identity/expression & removes private employment protections for sexual orientation.


Three livebloggers all in a row: John Aronno (Alaska Commons), Heather James (SOSAnchorage.net), and Mel Green (Henkimaa)6/16/09. "Live Blog from the Assembly" by John Aronno (Alaska Commons). John & Heather & I were all sitting next to each other liveblogging awa

• 6/16/09. “A new day, a new version” by Patrick Flynn (Patrick Flynn’s Blog). A quickie rundown on the provisions of Debbie Ossiander’s substitution version of the ordinance. See comments for some discussion of the Mat-Su “let’s go make sure those Anchorage LGBTs continue to be discriminated against” outsider influence issue.
• 6/16/09. “Live Blogging Round Two…” by Heather James (SOSAnchorage.net). All the liveblogs are worth looking at for the different observations offered.
• 6/16/09. “Liveblogging Assembly meeting, June 16″ by Mel Green (Henkimaa). My liveblog & live-Twitter of the hearing.
• 6/16/09. “Anchorage Assembly Meeting – Non-Discrimination Ordinance Testimony” by AKMuckraker & many many mudpuppies (The Mudflats). Liveblogging by members of the Mudflats community watching the livestream of the hearing. Thanks AKMuckraker for the link to my Twitter feed!
• 6/16/09. “June 16 public testimony, Anchorage Assembly” (photos) by Mel Green (Flickr photostream). Large set of 103 photos, both inside the Loussac and Assembly chambers, and outside.
• 6/17/09. “Anti-discrimination debate raises passions” by Megan Holland (Anchorage Daily News).
• 6/17/09. “The Second Anchorage Assembly Hearing” by John Aronno (Alaska Commons). After reading accounts like this, I’ve gotta say that John is fast-emerging as one of the most incisive local bloggers I know.
• 

  EQUALITY NOW: Outside on the Loussac lawn while testimony goes on in the Assembly chambers

  6/17/09. “Ordinance Hearing #2: Religious Rule has it’s Day in Court” by E. Ross (Bent Alaska). E. Ross observed (& photographed) the activist crowds outside & the overflow crowd watching testimony from the Wilda Marston Theatre.

• 6/17/09. “Anchorage Non-Discrimination Ordinance. (Photos)” by AKMuckraker (The Mudflats). Photos of events outside Tuesday night’s hearing.
• 6/17/09. “Last night at the Assembly meeting was emotionally draining and yet quite uplifting. Is that even possible?” by Gryphen (Immoral Minority). Includes text from Rev. Jerry Prevo’s mobilization email sent to ABT members. Gryphen reports he also interviewed Prevo, video forthcoming.
• 6/17/09. “Whining in the Assembly” (Fairview View). Reposted on SOSAnchorage.net.  Author thinks ordinance opponents are experiencing one of the first challenges to their calcified ways of thinking, & should get over it.
• 6/17/09. “Sex in the City” by Brendan Joel Kelley (Anchorage Press).  Observing activists on both sides of the issue, including the blue-sponsored lawn party going out outside Tuesday’s Assembly hearing.
• 6/17/09. “On gays and God” by Krestia DeGeorge (Anchorage Press). “The whole point of this exercise,” the author writes of Prevo’s mobilization letter to his congregation, “was reinforcing lines that keep some people in and others out, the lines that divide those who belong from those who don’t.” She goes on to desdribe how her own conservative religion upbringing kept her shielded from knowing people different from her — until an important friend came out to her, & her own beliefs about sexual orientation began to change.  An important piece.
• 6/18/09. “My daughter makes videos!” by Gryphen (Immoral Minority). Gryphen’s daughter made a YouTube video focusing particularly on the red-shirted Christianists waving preprinted signs outside the Loussac Tuesday night: definitely worth watching!  Gryphen also asks, as so many of us do, why Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander is permitting testimony from people who have been imported from outside the boundaries of the Municipality of Anchorage.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

• 

  Day Three: Red Sea Rising inside the Assembly chambers

  6/17/09. “Wednesday Meeting Information” by Heather James (SOSAnchorage.net). Pre-meeting info.

• 6/17/09. “Gay rights measure’s changes criticized by both sides” by Megan Holland (Anchorage Daily News).
• 6/17/09. “Gay Rights – A Fathers Testimony” by Emperor Bob (Emperor’s Rants and Observations). Straight talk from the father of a lesbian daughter (& some straight kids as well).
• 6/17/09.  “Personal is Political. And vice versa” by Daniella Marie (Mouthy Maries Speak Up). Straight talk from the straight sister of a lesbian (& another of Emperor Bob’s kids).
• 6/17/09. “Assembly Hearings, Day Three” by John Aronno (Alaska Commons). Liveblog of the hearing up through about 8:29 PM.
• 6/17/09. “Anchorage Public Testimony on Non-Discrimination Ordinance – Chapter III” by AKMuckraker & many many mudpuppies (The Mudflats). Liveblogging by members of the Mudflats community watching the livestream of the hearing.
• 6/17/09. “The Daily Tweets, 2009-06-17″ by Mel Green (Henkimaa). Automatically-generated list of my tweets, several of which refer to events at the Loussac.
• 

  Jerry Prevo at the ABT picnic on the Loussac lawn

  6/17/09. “June 17 public testimony at the Anchorage Assembly” (photos) by Mel Green (Flickr photostream). Large set of 142 photos taken at the Loussac Library both outside and inside the Assembly chambers.

• 6/18/09. “Day Three, Red Sea Rising” by John Aronno (Alaska Commons). Must-read analysis of Day 3 of testimony.  This was the day that Jerry Prevo canceled Anchorage Baptist Temple’s church service so that ABT members could “overwhelm” the Assembly.  Most (though not all) testimony was from Assembly opponents who are part of  Prevo & co.’s fillibuster effort. John writes:  “I was there from the beginning of the meeting at 4pm, and left shortly after nine-thirty. The “voices of the people” are not sending any new messages that need to be put on record. The “voices of the people” are now a loop. These talking points were repeated all night long, often sprinkling old wounds with the salt of homosexuality being an abomination, perverse, a lifestyle choice, a deviant behaviorism.” Reposted at SOSAnchorage.net.
• 

  But there was plenty of Pride along 36th Avenue too

  6/18/09. “Anchorage Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Rally: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four“ by Janson Jones (Floridana Alaskiana 2.5).  A series of four posts of photos chronicling activists on both sides of the issue outside the Loussac Library on Wednesday night as testimony was heard inside.  I love the comment on part one in reaction to a sign that said “I was born Asian. You choose to be gay” — commenter Poietes (a name that I as a poet love!) replies, “Well, I was born Asian, and I choose not to be stupid, uninformed, closed-minded, and bigoted.”  Meanwhile, I’ve added this blog to my Google Reader for all the fine photos from Alaska, Florida, Oklahoma, & elsewhere.  Well-met, Janson!

• 6/18/09. “More reflections on Day Three” by Heather James (SOSAnchorage.net). Brief compilation of other posts on Day 3 testimony.
• 6/18/09. “Photos from Ordinance Hearing #3″ by E. Ross (Bent Alaska).
• 6/18/09. “Our view: No exemptions —City’s equal rights law should not leave any group out” (editorial) (Anchorage Daily News).  ADN comes down strongly in favor of Matt Claman’s substitution version of the ordinance, but likes Debbie Ossiander’s provision for the Equal Rights Commission to track & report on LGBT discrimination cases now.
• 6/19/09. “Honk if You’re Straight” Civil Rights Ordinance Video” by Shannyn Moore (Just a Girl from Homer). “There are many loving Christians in Anchorage who support the ordinance to give equal rights to our GLBT brothers and sisters,” Shannyn writes,  “yet the Xians are the ones marching. If you have any doubts our community suffers from discrimination against our GLBT community, just watch this.” Images of the Christianists from all three public hearings & associated protest, to the music of Amy Ray.

Yes on 64 along 36th Ave.

Related posts:

1. Assembly report 1
2. The noise begins
3. The Daily Tweets, 2009-06-16 (Assembly public hearing #2)

Identity Reports (1989) and One in 10 (1986)

I will be testifying about these studies at tonight’s Anchorage Assembly meeting. They are online by following this link:http://www.henkimaa.com/identity/. Liveblogging commences below. I will also be occasionally twittering at http://twitter.com/yksin which also updates my Facebook status.  This is partly to save power on my laptop — no plug in here so I need to conserve power.

Two other livebloggers sitting right next to me here: Heather James of SOSAnchorage.net — the good version not the Prevo antigay version and John Aronno of Alaska Commons. Check them out during tonight’s proceedings, too.

[Update: 6/17/09. I've just integrated my Twitter feed from last night into this liveblog.  Handily, my Twitter feed updates my Facebook status, & FB gives times so I was able to get this stuff all nicely chronological.  Tomorrow I'll have some observations -- not tonight, because I promised to get sleep tonight so my exhaustion doesn't crash me into a depression, which getting worn down can sometimes do to me.  Enjoy.]

Liveblog

Inset comments in green were via Twitter

• 328 PM. Outside assembly chambers. Many people in line. Now told they won’t open doors until 4:30. #
• 330 PM. Once I’m eventually able to sit down will live blog at henkimaa.com. As well as some tweeting here. #
• 428 PM In chambers. Ossiander’s new version of the ordinance throws gender identity under the bus. throws out employment protections. #
• 428 PM. moving to blog for live blogging at henkimaa.com #

4:30 PM. We were finally let into the Assembly chambers at 4:00.  By now the room’s pretty full. There are a few copies around of the new version of the ordinance drafted by Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander.  It’s not, from my perspective. good.  It removes gender identity, thereby throwing transfolk under the bus.  It removes all employment protections for sexual orientation in the private sector.  It does empower the Equal Rights Commission to investigate other discrimination on the basis of sexual orientations and also gender identity/expression, but does not empower the ERC to do anything about it unless it’s within the scope of the law.  Basically, it falls into a “let’s have a task force & study this stuff that’s already been studied & that we already know” end of things.  It’s unacceptable.  We need to go with one of the two prior versions.

Now 4:45 PM.  I’m shutting down for a little to conserve power.

• 501 PM. I’ll be trading off between liveblog on henkimaa.com & tweeting @yksin on iPod tonight to conserve laptop power. #
• 504 PM. Assembly called to order. Other biz first. Testimony begins 7:00 PM. New sign ups begin then. Still 250+ already signed up. #
• 507 PM. Ossiander thanked us for civility in chambers last week. Expressed hope outside people will be more civil too. #
• 514 PM. Ossiander explains all 3 versions of ordinance still in play. The one she did is not necessarily “it” depending on how debate goes. #
• 517 PM. Assembly now on other biz. Going offline for a little to edit my testimony for length. #

6:00 PM. Recapitulating I’ll be switching off between liveblog here & tweeting at http://twitter.com/ on my iPod Touch to conserve battery power on my laptop.  So check my Twitter feed too.  Other Assembly business going on right now. I’ve timed my testimony three times now & am pretty sure it’ll come under 3 minutes.  Took some photos.  Just checked other blogs & posted a couple of comments at Mudflats and Bent Alaska about my liveblogging activity & that of Heather & John.  Checked out Facebook & found some helpful advice & “I’m there with you” stuff from Jay Dugan-Brause, who was my coauthor on Identity Reports & headed up the One in Ten study.

I’m down to 69% on battery power.  Signing out, see me on Twitter.  My iPod doesn’t eat the power as quickly.  Later I’ll put the two sets of comments together so that this liveblog post will have a continous tale to tell.

• 610 PM. RT @Mudflats: i see rainbow flags at the assembly mtg! #
• 610 PM. @Mudflats when we waited in line to get into chambers it was heartening to see those rainbow flags out there in reply to Mudflats #
• 611 PM. Oops someone forgot to turn off their cell phone #
• 611 PM. Btw a minute ago posted brief update on henkimaa.com #
• 613 PM. I can hear people chanting outside. Heather next to me is listening to an audio book. I’m gonna go for a bathroom break. #
• 614 PM. I think just one more item before testimony #

6.50 PM. Just back from bathroom break, which was long because it was also an Assembly dinner break.  Testimony is about to begin.  I ran out my camera battery’s juice taking photos outside.  Let me tell you, my people know how to have a great time!  My people being not just LGBT but also our fantastic allies, throwing one heckuva great Pride party out there in front of the library on 36th Ave. Nearer to A Street, lots of mostly teenaged kids in red with preprinted signs who didn’t look like they were having half the fun that the LGBTA folks were.

First testimony tonight from a pastor who loves us so much he wants to tell us all about the great ministries and counseling available to help us deal with our sexual issues.  Or something like that.

Most people who missed last week’s testimony aren’t showing up for this week’s.  I expect to be up in about 45 minutes to an hour.

Now a self-identified Christian woman who is arguing very eloquently in favor of the full ordinance.

Now a guy with weird diagnoses of why gay people are gay.  [sigh]

63% on battery. Moving for awhile back to Twitter.

• 700 PM. RT @Mudflats: See giant sign that says “Jesus is Lord of Alaska.” #
• 702 PM. Just posted on henkimaa now back here #
• 704 PM. Young black guy who just finished had some really bizarre stars wonder where he got them. Pulled outta somebody’s … errr. #
• 706 PM. I guess this military landlord doesn’t like tattoos either. Wow and big applause from reds on the room. Birch letting him go on. #
• 706 PM. Birch is not a supporter prob. Now military is going on about pedophiles and necrophiliacs and bestiality none of which are in ordinance. #
• 707 PM. Harriet Drummond pointed out that stuff illegal. Go Harriet! #
• 712 PM. I’m about to testify three people away #
• 728 PM. Just finished testifying. How’d I do? #
• 730 PM. Barb now up – I Worked with her to prepare her testimony – she’s doing great. Good job Barb! #
• 733 PM. Does this guy even get that any time he mentions his wife he’s being publicly a heterosexual? #
• 734 PM. Jim Minnery: gays are great but discriminate against them anyway. #
• 738 PM. Rachel Runyan just now: great! #
• 741 PM. Jeff Mittman of AkCLU : discussing religious freedom issue to address misinformation from opposition. He’s a great ally. #

7:43 PM. Just spent some time over on Twitter, now on my laptop to catch up on what other people are saying.  Some great liveblogging entries from John & Heather.  How would it be if later (tomorrow maybe, after sleep!) I collated their live blogs w/ mine? as well of course of my tweets.  I’ve also retweeted a couple of Mudflats tweets, & am wondering if all the mudpuppies over at Mudflats are liveblogging the streaming feed of this hearing as they did last week.

I’ll be here until tonight’s adjournment at 11:00 PM, but tomorrow I’ll probably be outside.  Tomorrow’s testimony starts at 4:00 PM, when I’ll be at work, so I doubt I could get inside the Assembly chambers anyway.  So tomorrow I’ll just enjoy the Pride party outside, in hopes it’ll be as fun as the one I saw going on a little while ago during the Assembly’s dinner break.

52% on the battery.  Back to Twitter.

• 751 PM. Heather likes the photo on my Twitter profile. #
• 754 PM. I posted again on henkimaa a couple minutes ago btw #
• 756 PM. This guy wasn’t protected re his religious beliefs — which is wrong. But did he file a discrimination complaint with the ERC? #
• 758 PM. 2nd case he says he did and wasn’t taken seriously. Lynne next to me says she thinks he’s lyon. #
• 788 PM. Lying that is #
• 800 PM. Unitarian Universalists standing up for the ordinance. Go UUA! #
• 801 PM. I’m hungry haven’t eaten all day. Time for my protein drink. Oh yum….. #
• 801 PM. Lutheran for ordinance #
• 803 PM. Someone over by the acting mayor is having probe with tinny music being emitted from her computer. #
• 804 PM. This Lutheran pastor is great #
• 805 PM. Mmmm breakfast #
• 807 PM. Ooh hidden liberals on the Assembly! I’m skeeeeered! #
• 811 PM. One must take time out to get some exercise. I call it: “rolling my eyes.” #
• 819 PM. Guy now identified himself as a gay Eskimo – very well spoken. #
• 821 PM. Next up Sara Gavit from St Marys darn not allowed to speak for ill minister #
• 822 PM. Breakfast over. What’s for dinner? Still hungry. #

8:23 PM. Debbie Ossiander just explained that when you have a proposed ordinance with S versions — we now have two different S versions — that it doesn’t mean that the original version has been replaced.  Any of them could be the proposed ordinance that the Assembly chooses to debate & act upon.  This is a good thing, because Ossiander’s version is really horrible.  We don’t want it, for reasons already explained.

My friend Lynne just left.  I halfway feel I should too, because of how tired I am. Haven’t been getting enough sleep these last few days, what with blogging etc.  But I’m in it for the long haul tonight.  Maybe tomorrow night, since I won’t be in chambers, I’ll make it a shorter night.  However, now I’m finding my iPod Touch is getting slightly low on the juice.  So here I am on my laptop, currently at 46%.

• 833 PM. Sorry, lady: we can’t just like that give you discrim stats for 2008 just like that. Those studies take lots of time & money. Lotsa lotsa. #
• 835 PM. I count 6 new followers on Twitter now 7 since starting this tonight. Welcome! And whoa, Finland Blackjack hey there from another Finn! #
• 835 PM. More testimony at which one can only roll one’s eyes. #
• 837 PM. I see from my WordPress stats that my liveblog at Henkimaa.com isn’t as popular by far as my “new Carrie Prejean?” post about Mrs. Alaska. #
• 839 PM. Also prob not as as watched as my Twitter, so I’m guessing most people following my Assembly experience are following it here. #
• 841 PM. Woman testifying now about how Jay Brause & Gene Dugan mentored her heterosexual son when they ran Out North. A big shout-out to London! #
• 845 PM. Shannyn Moore opines that it’s time for Anchorage Baptist Temple to register as a political action committee. http://tinyurl.com/lfcegs #
• 846 PM. Chronicles wasn’t written to Christians. It was written to Israelites. You might be a pastor, but you sure ain’t no scholar. #
• 849 PM. Trini at Mudflats posted earlier I talked “about statistics (huge) of discrimination. (while wearing what looks like a prisoner’s shirt).” #
• 850 PM. haha i loved that: prisoners shirt. this is actually my favorite poetry slam shirt. #
• 850 PM. But big shout out to all the mudpuppies watching the livestream & liveblogging it. Looking forward to reading it in full tomorrow. #
• 851 PM. People who don’t know where that is: http://bit.ly/JuPSY #
• 853 PM. Quotes from Playdough? #
• 856 PM. Plato was a dork. He didn’t like poets either. #
• 902 PM. What gets me about these people claiming ordinance is poorly written is so many have probs ru bing two wprrds together. #
• 902 PM. Sorry about the twitted typos #
• 906 PM. This woman is pretty… um… not articulate. #
• 907 PM. This ordinance can’t wreck one woman one man language. This is a muni ordinance. That is a state constitutional amendment. Duh. #
• 908 PM. Lots of seats in Assembly chambers emptying. #
• 913 PM. That’s a state road sorry #
• 915 PM. Last guy was great. After this guy Mary Elizabeth Rider #
• 915 PM. This guy though makes no sense #
• 920 PM. Greenshirt employer is pretty ridiculous. Militia? “I’m sorry” – yeah you should be. #
• 920 PM. Go M.E.! #
• 923 PM. M. E. rocked! #
• 926 PM. Great testimony on psych professions on homosexuality. Liked what she said about LGBT witnesses’ dignity. #
• 930 PM. Member of Jewish community. I’m unclear if he’s clergy – ah he read rabbi’s statement. Now his own words #
• 936 PM. Ooh this guy was great. really pulled in the redshirts. though too simplistic to call what opponents feel as “hate.” #
• 948 PM. Good thing we don’t live in a theocracy especially not one eun by this confusing woman #
• 950 PM. Good job Prevo your website convinced this woman of how much this ordinance is needed. #
• 954 PM. This guy prompted me to take a nap. #

9:58 PM. I’m going glassy-eyed with a lot of these people. A coupla guys ago made me fall asleep. I wonder how many of these people in red are from the bused-in-from-Mat-Su brigade. Now this woman is going to take Julia O’Malley’s article & takes what Julia said about herself not personally having experience discrimination (Julie, btw, is daughter of Assemblywoman Sheila Selkregg), that somehow that wipes out the evidence of all the people who’ve stood up tonight & last Tuesday night to testify about the discrimination they had eperienced.  Now this next woman doesn’t remember ever hearing reading or hearing about homosexuals being discriminated against.  Hear no evil, see no evil: plug your ears, cover your eyes.  Hear only what you want to hear, & then tell lies about what you know.  Willful willful ignorance.

• 1009 PM. A pastor jailed for his sermons against homosexuality: “it cd happen here.” Oh yeah? Prevo, jailed for his sermons? I cd get down w/ that. #
• 1014 PM. Just caught up with John’s liveblog. Some very witty observations. #
• 1016 PM. “I’ve lived in Anchorage since 1951 and I see no evidence of discrim b/c I haven’t listened to last 2-1/2 hrs of evidence.” #
• 1024 PM. The Sports Authority shooting is relevant to this ordinance _how_? #
• 1029 PM. Red shirts all lining up #
• 1034 PM. Another person blithely ignoring any evidence that’s been presenting that contradicts her preconceptions. #
• 1038 PM. A lot of the redshifts are just meandering aimlessly taking up time on nothing. #
• 1046 PM. What a coincidence, Ive been propositioned by men when I was unavailable too. I never beat any of them & sent them to the infirmary though. #
• 1049 PM. Ten minutes of these tedious testimonies to go. #
• 1100 PM. Methinks Ossiander has lost track of the time. And here’s another of the hohum “special rights” testimonies. #
• 1101 PM. Three people to testify & then we go. All reds. #
• 1102 PM. If this was all a secret agenda thing to keep people from stopping it, why in hell are we all here listening to you blather then? #
• 1103 PM. Shutting down. out of here shortly, then to bed. #
• 1104 PM. 18 new followers on Twitter from tonight. Whoa, lots of interest. Are y’all mudpuppies? Sent me some @ tweets & talk to me. #
• 1104 PM. About to adjourn. yeah. #

Related posts:

1. The Daily Tweets, 2009-06-16 (Assembly public hearing #2)
2. The Daily Tweets, 2009-06-17 (Assembly public hearing #3)
3. The Daily Tweets, 2009-07-21: Assembly public hearing #6

We are all, or none. Equality Works! (Tip o' the nib to Stef, for buttonmaking!)

[See also my previous post on this topic, We are all, or none.]

Well, now, short shrift has certainly been given to pollster Ivan Moore’s idea (posted on June 4 at 4:00 PM in comments on the web-posted version of his article in the Anchorage Press) that

I think the religious right would live with the ordinance just on gay-straight orientation.

Guess not.  For Lo, verily! yesterday morning, suddenly beheld upon the front page of Jerry Prevo’s how-to-raise-money-for-your-church-by-telling-lies website SOS Anchorage dot com (won’t raise its profile by giving it a direct link, though I’ll gladly link to its debunking alter ego SOSanchorage.net), was the following announcement:

NEW!!! A revised version of the sexual orientation ordinance has been released by the acting Mayor. Supposedly, it is to prevent some of the problems we have raised. However, the term “sexual orientation” is not acceptable in any discrimination ordinance. The first ordinance shows what the homosexual movement really wants. We must say NO to the inclusion of homosexuality in any discrimination ordinance. Please encourage the Assembly to vote NO on this ordinance and do not amend Anchorage’s discrimination ordinance to include homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle. This will eventually lead to homosexuals wanting to make homosexual marriages legal in Alaska.

Well, that makes it crystal clear.  We wouldn’t be able to buy tolerance for lesbians and gays from Prevo even if we were to throw our trans brothers and sisters under the bus in the name of political expediency.

… Are you really surprised?

Not that we would be willing to do so even if betraying our friends would soften Prevo’s heart against us.  Might do his heart good if he could convince us to make such a devil’s bargain — wouldn’t do our hearts good at all.  As I wrote to Anchorage Press associate editor Brendan Joel Kelley yesterday,

Although Ivan Moore clearly knows politics, & may be using his best political judgment in advocating going for a sexual-orientation-only ordinance right now, he doesn’t understand the politics of the LGBT community enough to know that for us now, as far as we’ve come, that’s not politically possible. 17 years ago, sure. Not now. We as a community (& I as an individual) have evolved a lot in our understanding of trans issues, in pretty personal & inextricably emotional ways. We’d be selling our souls to follow his advice.

Since I wrote that, I’ve seen my sense confirmed doubly and triply that not only us LGB’s (lesbians/gays/bisexuals), but also our nongay/and nontrans Allies, are solid in our intent to stand as one with transfolk.

Rev. Norman Van Manen of MCC-Anchorage addresses listeners on the topic of Would Jesus Discriminate?

How widespread this feeling is was most powerfully demonstrated for me at the Town Hall meeting last night at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on the topic of “Would Jesus Discriminate?” sponsored by MCC Anchorage and the local chapter of Integrity, the organization of LGBT Episcopalians and their friends. The people gathered there were members of at least three different Christian faith communities in Anchorage — MCC Anchorage, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, and Immanuel Presbyterian Church — if not more, as well as people from no particular faith community, like me. They included gay men, lesbians, straight folks, and at least three transwomen — that is, women who had been identified at birth (incorrectly, as it turns out) as male.

After a prayer service and potluck meal, Rev. Norman Van Manen of MCC gave his keynote address on the topic at hand, which was followed by remarks by Sara Gavit of St. Mary’s and Integrity of Anchorage. And then the Town Hall opened for discussion by people attending.

Close to the beginning of the conversation, a transwoman sitting in front of me asked all of us if the LGB portion of the community was going to renege during this ordinance fight on its loyalty to the T part of the community, as she had seen happen in other places she’d lived.

That’s when it happened. The very next person to speak, a woman — heterosexual I think, though I’m not sure — told us she’d arrived late because she’d wanted to watch the Channel 2 News about the work session the Anchorage Assembly had held earlier in the day (at which I was present), in which changes to the draft of the proposed ordinance were discussed. Then she’d downloaded and printed out a copy of the revised draft, and brought it to us at St. Mary’s. And with outrage she pointed out new language that had been inserted:

The prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation imposed by this chapter does not apply to discrimination because one’s biological gender in matters such as access to restrooms, nor does it change the rights of employers and operators of public accommodations to impose reasonable dress codes, work rules or other rules of general application.

People were very upset by the new language — everybody. Not only that, but no one had to explain to anyone present why the bathroom language was problematic. Out of perhaps 40 or 50 people in the room, of whom only three that I’m aware of were trans, everyone knew that the language as written lacked any recognition whatsoever of the need for safe, appropriate restroom facilities for transgender/transsexual persons.  If forced to use only those bathrooms dictated by “one’s biological gender” (whatever that is — but more on that later), rather than according to their gender identity, transfolk are at incredible risk of being victimized by harassment and violence when all they simply want to do is to have a safe place to pee.

Looks like Pastor Prevo’s beardos-in-the-bathroom meme has borne fruit after all.

John Arrono and Heather James of the fact-checking site SOSAnchorage.net. And engaged to be married! Congratulations!

And everyone last night was upset about it. No more discussion of “Would Jesus Discriminate?” — we all knew he wouldn’t, whether we considered ourselves Christians or not.  Now to act on our knowledge? It was all: what do we do about this? how do we fight it? how do we convey to the Assembly that we want this bad and poorly constructed language out of the ordinance?  As the good people at SOSAnchorage (the truth-telling version that ends in .net, that is), both of whom were present at the Town Hall, wrote in their post about the ordinance changes last night,

What?  Did the transgendered just get thrown under the bus?  Will there be someone hired to stand at the entrance to all the bathrooms in Anchorage, in order to check the genitalia of anyone who tries to walk in, just to make sure they really should use those facilities?  Can women use the ladies’ room if they’re wearing pants?  Where will the line be drawn?

Mel Green of Henkimaa.com and John Arrono of SOSAnchorage.net. Us equality-loving bloggers have gotta stick together.

Good question.  One I’ve asked before, given that I myself, a woman with a “mannish” gender expression, have at times been given the once-over when I’ve gone into the women’s room.  More than once I’ve wondered if some self-appointed member of the gender police was eventually going to demand that I drop my pants or expose my breasts to prove I belonged in there.

Here’s something to think about: biological sex — or, as the “poddy language” in the revision to the proposed ordinance would have it, biological gender — is not quite so cut and dried as as the proposed language would have it. Check out all these typical features of sex:

• Genetic/chromosomal sex: XY in male; XX in females
• Gonadal sex (reproductive glands): testes in male; ovaries in females
• External morphological sex: penis and scrotum in males; clitoris and labia in females
• Internal morphological sex: seminal vesicles and prostate in males; vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes in females
• Hormonal sex: primarily androgens in males; primarily estrogens in females
• Phenotypic sex: facial and chest hairs in males; breasts in females
• Assigned sex/gender of rearing: male or female
• Self-defined sex: male or female [Ref. 1]

But, as explained by Julie A. Greenberg,

Two circumstances may lead to an intersex condition: (1) one or more features may differ from the typical criteria for that factor; or (2) one or more factors may be incongruent with the other factors. [Ref. 1]

Beardo in the bathroom? Thanks to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which afflicts as many as 10% of women, I am a "bearded lady" unless I shave.

For example, there are a whole bunch of atypical chromosomal arrangements that doctors have found besides XX or XY: XXX, XXY, XXXY, XYY, XYYY, XYYYY, XO.  Some people, instead of typical ovaries  or testes, have “streak” gonads that don’t work as either ovaries or testes, or have ovatestes which are a combination of both, or have one ovary and one testis.  Some have external genitalia that aren’t clearly that of one sex or the other… and so on, down through every characteristic of sex listed above.  [Ref. 1] I myself have a condition, found in about five to ten percent of women, called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) which gives me atypically high amounts of male hormones in my body which causes me to have more facial hair than is typical for women: unless I want to be a bearded woman, I actually have to shave my chinny-chin-chin.  Check out the accompanying picture to see what I look like if I don’t.

So: what’s the definition of biological sex, then?  How far down are the gender police going to strip people down to in order to determine if they’re in the right bathroom?

Here’s another thing to think about: maybe we’re going to have to think a little bit more deeply about how we can keep everybody safe in the bathroom, trans and nontrans alike. It’s pretty apparent that Rev. Prevo’s scare tactics have pushed some major buttons of fear for some Anchorage residents.  But the fact is that transgender/transsexual people are the people most likely to be victimized in bathrooms, whether by harassment or violent assault. A 2001 survey by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission found that 41 percent of transgender respondents to its “Gender Neutral Bathroom Survey” reported being harassed or assaulted in single-sex public bathrooms. Many nontrans respondents also reported problems, especially butchy-looking women like me, and “feminine”-seeming men. [Ref 2]

All of us, male and female, straight and gay, trans and nontrans, young and old, deserve safe bathrooms.  It’s absolutely the case that if we intend, as the proposed ordinance intends, to protect people from arbitrary discrimination on the basis of gender identity, that more than lip service needs to be paid to the issue of bathroom safety. We can do better than the unsatisfactory language in the revision to the proposed ordinance, which appears to be geared only towards calming the paranoia of Prevo’s listeners, while not at all addressing the total issue of safety.  We might start with taking a look at something I discovered along the way of writing this post: a resource from the Transgender Law Center, based in California, designed specifically to help communities find ways to make bathrooms safe places for transfolk. Peeing in Peace: Resource Guide For Transgender Activists And Allies goes according to California law, so it might not be adaptable to Anchorage down the line — but it’s a beginning. [Ref. 3]

Think I’ll read it myself.

References

• Greenberg, Julie A. (2006). “The Roads Less Traveled: The Problems with Binary Sex Categories.” In Paisley Currah, Richard M. Juang, and Shannon Price Minter, eds., Transgender Rights. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Pp. 51-73.
• San Francisco Human Rights Commission. (2001). “Gender Neutral Bathroom Survey.” San Francisco: Transgender Law Center.
• Transgender Law Center. (2005). Peeing in Peace: Resource Guide For Transgender Activists And Allies. San Francisco: Transgender Law Center.

Related posts:

1. We are all, or none
2. Equality Works Sets the Record Straight
3. Against discrimination in Anchorage

Equality works -- but only if it works for everyone. Otherwise, guess what? It's not equality.

Yesterday I came across a new opinion piece in the Anchorage Press called “Prevo’s right, sort of” by Anchorage pollster Ivan Moore. It was about the Anchorage equal rights ordinance, of course, so I went on to read it, figuring to stick it in the “supports ordinance” or “doesn’t support ordinance” listing on my Equality page‘s listing of resources about the ordinance, whichever applied.

But y’know, I couldn’t figure out which category applied. Both? Neither?  Just like its title, it seemed like six of one, half a dozen of the other: Mr. Moore wanted the ordinance to pass, but he didn’t.  Maybe he wanted two ordinances.  I dunno. It was hard to figure.  Still is.

Mr. Moore seems clearly to favor adding sexual orientation to the Muni’s equal rights code.  He also claims to favor protecting people from discrimination on the basis of gender identity.  But he’s got a problem with the definition of sexual orientation as written in the proposed ordinance because, he says, the definition confuses the two.  And he wants gender expression tossed altogether.

Here’s the definition of sexual orientation as contained in the ordinance:

Sexual orientation means actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality or gender expression or identity. As used in this definition, ‘gender expression or identity’ means having or being perceived as having a self-image, appearance, or behavior different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth.

The problem is, as Moore points out, that sexual orientation and gender identity are two different things. In the word of Jennifer Finney Boylan the male-to-female transsexual whose book I’m Looking Through You Moore is reading right now, sexual orientation is “about who I wanted to go to bed with” — i.e., which sex one is physically and emotionally attracted to; whereas gender identity is about “who I wanted to go to bed as” — i.e., whether one understands oneself to be, at root, female or male.

So to Moore, because the definition the ordinance’s crafters are using seems to include gender identity as a subset of sexual orientation, it’s wrong. So wrong, in fact, that the definition even plays right into the hands [gasp!] of the scatalogically-fascinated Prevo et al. religious right, much to Moore’s colorful chagrin:

By contrast, religious definitions of sexual orientation all intermingle the concepts of gender identity and sexual behaviors, all of them filthy nasty, for no other reason than because it’s in their puritanical interests to do so.

The shockingly numbnuts move here was that the AKCLU and Pat Flynn and whoever else was responsible for crafting this ordinance played right into their bigoted hands by including gender identity and gender expression as “subsets” of sexual orientation.

What’s Moore’s solution?

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.

The part I’ve emphasized in bold is what has really created a stir amongst supporters of the ordinance.  It gave a lot of us the feeling that Moore was advocating — if only “temporarily” — throwing transfolk under the bus this go ’round. Something like the way John, one of the people whose commented on the story on Anchorage Press‘ website, thought.  John opined:

Ivan’s polls are usually accurate, and his opinions are also worth considering. He makes a good point here. I think Sexual Identity is also worth protecting, but it is different than Sexual Orientation (or preference if you prefer). Let’s take the easy one first and see how that works.

So here we see equal protection from discrimination for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, along with heterosexuals, described as “the easy one” (wow, I’ve been involved in these battles before — you call this easy?!!!), but transsexual/transgender people?  They can just wait.

Let’s be fair to Mr. Moore.  He did say, already included in the quote above:

Personally, I think they should consider the inclusion of gender identity, but separately from orientation.

And earlier today, addressing other people’s comments (including mine) on his article, he said further:

I’m not throwing anyone under the bus. I would be the first to vote in favor of gender identity as a separate protected class if I was on the assembly. But it just doesn’t belong under the umbrella of orientation.

Well, Mr. Moore, I’m afraid I’m going to have to wait until you’re on the Assembly to try testing that out.  Meanwhile, I’m sorry to say that I’ve got the same suspicion that a lot of other folks have had: did Moore, a politically-connected pollster, write the article to float a possible compromise on the ordinance, much along the lines of what commenter John wrote: “Let’s take the easy one first and see how that works”? Let’s just do gender identity as a separate thing — but not quite specify whether that should be done now, or later.  And since it is true that gender identity and sexual orientation are two different phenomenon — we’ll just use that definitional nitpickiness as a wedge to kinda split the two apart — one can hardly complain about the integrity of our nomenclature, can one?  Oh yeah, and that other pesky part of the definition, the part about gender expression? — well, let’s just toss that part out altogether, because after all, Prevo is right (says Moore) about the spectre of predatory guys in dresses invading the women’s restrooms of the Anchorage heartland.  Wrote Moore:

Gender expression? I tell you, JERRY PREVO IS RIGHT! Some guy with a beard is going to get dolled up in a fearsomely attractive outfit and go hang out in the ladies bathroom in City Hall, looking for a lawsuit. Men aren’t going to be lining up to troll the ladies bathroom looking to “prey on women and children” like the loopy right says they will, but the fact that the law could be made an example of in this way shows that it is bad public policy. I bet you someone does it, just to make a point.

And as previously quoted:

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.

Red herring, red herring / the Prevo treat / more fun to look at / than it is to eat

Which all just means to me that, whatever else of Prevo’s that Moore has steered clear of, he’s swallowed one of his super smelly stinky inedible red herrings — in this case the one about what gender expression means — hook, line, and sinker — and somehow without managing to arf the smelly red herring up all over his keyboard.

(Unless he didn’t.)

So what the heck is gender expression, then?

My mom & dad, about 2003

My mom would’ve known what gender expression is, because to her frustration, all our lives that we shared together, I simply wouldn’t cooperate with the gender expression she thought I ought to have.  Female as I was, female as I continue to be, I simply refused to be feminine.  I hated wearing dresses; nylons, shiny slick high-heeled dress shoes.  Put barrettes in my hair — I’d take ‘em out as soon as I got out of sight.  She cried when I wouldn’t wear a dress under my cap and gown when I took my diploma at my college graduation.  As a poem I wrote to her long ago ends,

I will not be your daughter in a dress
but I am your daughter and
I want you to accept me
because I love you.

She did, too, because in the end my mom always knew what was really important.  And so I haven’t worn a dress since my oldest brother’s wedding in 1982. Even now I feel completely wrong, not myself, to wear women’s-cut t-shirts, blouses with lace or puffed-up sleeves, anything that’s designed to show off cleavage.  (Outer wear, that is — what I wear “under” would meet my mom’s approval, no prob.)

So let’s look at this part of the ordinance definition again:

As used in this definition, ‘gender expression or identity’ means having or being perceived as having a self-image, appearance, or behavior different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth.

A recent depiction of my typical gender expression (with Sydney, my neighbor's sister's ball python)

Unlike a transsexual person, who has a self-image different from the sex assigned to that person at birth, my self-image completely matches my biological sex: I am female.  But I don’t express my femaleness in the way my mom always wanted me to express my femaleness, with the clothing and other accoutrements that I was told from knee-high was supposed to fit me to my sex.  It didn’t fit me. It made me feel like someone being forced to be something, someone, that she is not.  It’s still that way.  I’m your proverbial lesbian-in-sensible-shoes.  And trousers, t-shirt, and baseball cap.

So when I see gender expression in the proposed ordinance, amongst other things I see is me being protected from getting fired, evicted, or otherwise unfairly discriminated against only because I don’t fit someone else’s arbitrary idea of “femininity.” If I’m qualified and do the job well, if I have a good credit rating and pay my rent on time, what right does my employer, landlord, or anyone else to tell me that I must wear a dress or lipstick in order to match their concept of how I should express my genderedness?  Doesn’t mean I won’t dress nicely if the job demands it.  Does mean that I can’t be forced into a dress or lacy blouse, pocketsless pants, and lipstick.  And let’s not forget that my appearance (which, yes, often gets me once-overs in women’s rooms & “sirs” in stores) marks me to people with the slightest bit of gaydar as a lesbian.  If the ordinance passes with only sexual orientation as part of it, I’m still fair game for arbitrary discrimination — the agent of bias can always just hide their anti-lesbian sentiments when they explain to the Equal Rights Commission: “Hey, I’m within my rights — I didn’t like her gender expression.”

Not all lesbians are like me in this regard — we’ve got our “lipstick lesbians.” Nor are all heterosexual women unlike me in this regard. Same goes for men: there are so-called “effeminate” men of all sexual orientations, just as there are “macho” men of all orientations.

Then there’s the gender expression of transfolk, for which another definition, this one from About.com, might be helpful in understanding:

Gender Expression is the physical manifestation of one’s gender identity, usually expressed through clothing, mannerisms, and chosen names. Transgender people usually have a gender expression that matches their gender identity, rather than their birth sex.

So gender expression is another part of the protection designed into the proposed ordinance for transsexual/transgender people, just as much as it is for more “masculine” or “butch” women like me, regardless of sexual orientation; or more “feminine” or “androgynous” men like — oh, say, Prince — who has a well-documented history as a heterosexual. For transfolk, being protected from unfair discrimination on the basis of gender identity without also being protected on the basis of gender expression is just another way of saying: you’re not protected.  Particularly those transfolk who are in the midst of undergoing the long, arduous process of so-called sexual reassignment, which generally requires lengthy periods of time living according to their gender identity (as opposed to the sex they were assigned at birth) even before they’re permitted to undergo any sexual reassignment surgeries.

So you see what Ivan Moore is throwing under the bus by accepting Prevo’s skewed and fear mongering “definition” of gender expression at face value.

Later in comments on his Anchorage Press article, Mr. Moore added a comment:

I’ve changed my mind on one point. If a beardo dressed up as a woman and hung out in the ladies restroom, he would probably still be arrested and led out in cuffs. Just because a man could be guaranteed freedom from discrimination based on gender appearance, that wouldn’t make him a woman. And last time I looked, men weren’t allowed in the ladies’.

Bingo!  This is at least a step in the right direction — though I am helpless not to point out Andrew Halcro’s much more elegant (and refreshingly campy!) takedown of Prevo’s ludicrous beardos-in-the-bathroom meme on June 1 in the Alaska Dispatch. (Which just goes to show you that camp isn’t restricted to drag queens — Mr. Halcro is also a well-documented heterosexual, with wife and two adult children. You go, Andrew!)

Meantime I suppose we must take at his word Mr. Moore’s assurance that he is as much in favor of protecting people from arbitrary discrimination based on gender identity as he is on sexual orientation. And hope that he will read beyond Jennifer Finney Boylan’s book and Rev. Jerry Prevo’s raise-funds-for-the-Anchorage-Baptist-Temple-through-a-pack-o’lies website to come to a more complete understanding of gender expression.

Meantime, I personally am satisfied that the crafters of the ordinance perfectly well understand the difference between actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality or gender expression or identity — the terms included for convenience, if not strict sexologist definition, as being covered by the proposed ordinance’s term sexual orientation. I haven’t met even one lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans person — I have talked with lots and lots of them — who is in the least bit confused with the definition as used in the proposed ordinance, or fails to understand why the Assembly in crafting it chose to use sexual orientation as an umbrella covering all three related but different terms: sexual orientation proper, gender identity, and a term that applies to members of all sexual orientations and gender identities in one way or another, gender expression.

And meantime, if there is any question at all about whether the LGBT community or our allies, will accept some sort of politically expedient “throw the transfolk under the bus” compromise in order to buy protection for the “easy” bunch of us, think again.

Ptery, my 16-year partner, in early transition as a female-to-male transsexual (& who I'm not going to throw under a bus)

One of the first questions I had about this ordinance when I first learned it would be proposed was “will it also include transpeople?”  That’s not just a matter of some ideal of LGBT unity with me:  my partner of 16 years (now my ex for complex & mainly unrelated reasons), after many long years of struggle with feelings about gender identity, came out as transman last fall.  Is he any less deserving of protection from discrimination than I am?  The answer isn’t far from my heart at all: if gender identity were written out of this ordinance, my support for it would instantly evaporate, on those grounds alone. I could not face my the woman I fell in love with 16 years ago who now knows himself as a man if I were to stand still for such a betrayal.  I couldn’t face my trans friends.  I couldn’t face anyone.  Nor will the rest of us.

In the words of Equality Works’ recent press release (posted earlier here):

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.

In the words of the my friend E. Ross at Bent Alaska:

Don’t play Prevo’s divide-and-conquer game. Stand with us in support of a transgender-inclusive nondiscrimination policy.

… And now I check the comments on Mr. Moore’s article again, to find that Ivan Moore added another comment today at 4:00 PM:

I am not trying to divide and conquer, that’s absurd. If I have an agenda here at all, it is to see something get passed that is amenable to both sides. I think the religious right would live with the ordinance just on gay-straight orientation.

There you have it.  He does want to just do the “easy” stuff now, in order to satisfy the blind prejudice and willful ignorance of the Prevo-dominated radical right.  Transfolk, in his opinion, can wait.

The way it’s written right now, I think it comes back to us as an initiative, it will go to the voters, the community will really fight a war, and your “side”, knowing Anchorage, may end up with NOTHING.

Well, I guess that’s the risk we’ve decided to take.  It’s not amenable to our “side” to betray transfolk for political expediency.  We stand together.

In the words of one of my friends who stands at the forefront of this decades-long fight for equality:

We are all, or none.

Related posts:

1. Against discrimination in Anchorage
2. What's on the table: Anchorage equal rights ordinance
3. Equality Works Sets the Record Straight