Houston Equal Rights Essay

Many people are simply not aware or understand what it means to be transgender. In the Autumn of 2015 a Missouri town was divided when transgirl Lila Perry started using the girl’s restroom and locker room, even after the school offered a single stall restroom. Students gossiped and eventually parents raised concern at a school board meeting, they asked the school to stop giving privileges to “confused teenagers who want to be something they are not sexually". The parents did not get the response they wanted so they and some students organized a student walk out;before this even happened Lila dropped gym class because she feared for her safety.

Kansas passed a bill on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 that denies transgender students from using the restroom, as well as other facilities retaining to gender “when they are in various states of undress” (Committee on Federal and State Affairs, page 1; sec. 2; subparagraph b; lines 8-12), based on their preferred gender and forces them to use the restroom based on their birth sex. This bill was passed by the Committee on Federal and State Affairs in order to protect the privacy of students and to prevent “potential embarrassment, shame and psychological injury to students” (Committee on Federal and State Affairs, page 1; sec. 2; subparagraph f; lines 27-29). This bill also allows for students to sue a transgender student for two-thousand five hundred dollars if they are found in the “wrong” restroom. Forcing the transgender students in Kansas to use the restroom based on biology is wrong because forcing someone to disregard a personal preference to accommodate another is inhumane and has potentially deadly effects.

In 2015 The North Carolina House passed a bill now referred to as the “Bathroom Bill”, legally known as North Carolina HB2. The direct implications from North Carolina HB2 is that people regardless of current or identifying genders, must use the public bathroom that correlates to the gender on their birth certificate. (“HOUSE BILL DRH40005-TC-1B”) HB2 has been pushed by its supporting lawmakers as a protection on the usage of public bathrooms. Lawmakers claim that the bill is made to protect cisgender individuals, those born to their gender, from transgender individuals, from harassment in the bathroom setting. Yet, there have been zero recorded cases of a transgender individual

In order to be on the same page as other major cities across the United States, motions were made over a year ago in Houston to pass an equal rights, anti-discrimination ordinance known as the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO). At last a decision was made, and on November 3rd, 2015, HERO was struck down by 61 percent of the voters by referendum (Fernandez). The premise of the anti-discrimination ordinance is similar to those of other cities across the nation; to prevent discrimination on the bases of 15 different classes including race, age, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Houston’s mayor Annise Parker, who identifies as gay herself, was a strong supporter of the proposition for equal rights, and as all supporters in the Houston area agreed, it would put Houston on the map of inclusive and tolerant cities (Fernandez). On the other side of the argument is the conservative population of Houston. With the majority of political opinion in the Houston area being that of highly conservative leaning, HERO proved to be a controversial ordinance for many of these individuals. In an effort to increase support for opposing HERO, conservative politicians in the Houston area therefore took advantage of conservative ideals to promote a counter-position to the anti-discrimination laws (Ura).

Although the ordinance protects several classes of people within five separate categories, the ordinance became the policy in favor of men in women’s bathrooms. With a lot of attention on transgender people within the last year alone, the media was able to manipulate public perception by focusing on one aspect of the ordinance. Many Houstonians, still weary of the LGBTQ community and ill-informed, were fully against the ordinance, claiming to defend their women and children against predators. Voters believed the ordinance created an open door for sex crime to increase in the city. Consequently, the ordinance failed to pass with a 60% opposing vote. The ordinance for equality should have passed, however, Houstonians focused only on their false perceptions and myths of sexual predators, such as strangers and queers.

These kind of people want to and will try to make someone’s life as hard as possible simply because they see this subject differently. The simple, daily task of using the bathroom is a breeze for any typical person. Unfortunately, this task comes across as a intimidating adversary to a trans person simply because one can be conflicted with which restroom to use. For many trans people, entering a gender-specific bathroom can be a source of stress and anxiety, because using the restroom can mean very real health and safety concerns. Harassment of trans people in and around gender-specific bathrooms can range from denial of use to police intervention to verbal threats and physical assault.

The bill clearly states in Chapter 17, article 1, sec. 17-1, “It is the policy of the city that all of its residents and persons subject to its jurisdiction shall not be subject to discrimination based on an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity or pregnancy.” Fighting for equal rights on the terms of city employment and city services, contracts "between the city and any person for the provision of any works, goods, or services"(Houston), public accommodation, private employment, and fair housing. This bill coming into play will change the lives of many Houstonians, such as my own uncle who is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and my disabled grandmother when it comes to various accounts of discrimination that they could face. The bill does not have much to say about transgender rights on sharing bathrooms besides implying the notion of non-discriminative utilities in Article IV sec. 17-51. H.E.R.O is a proposition that has been put forth in simple terms as a way to gain equal rights across the board, as well as, making Houston an environment free of discrimination and

The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) was intended to protect an extremely broad range of groups, barring discrimination against individuals based on “sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or pregnancy.” In the brief period last year when HERO was in effect—before the Texas Supreme Court intervened and forced the measure to be put on the ballot—five of the complaints filed under the ordinance were about racial discrimination, five were about LGBT discrimination, and one was about gender

In the long fight of the LGBTQ+ community to gain equal rights in the United States, recent issues have come up against transgender people using public restrooms, specifically youth in high schools. One of the most publicized controversies in recent news is the state of North Carolina passing a law against trans people using the bathroom that does not match the gender on their birth certificate. Since March of 2016, trans people have had to choose between their comfort or their own personal safety. Opposition to the transgender cause have argued that allowing trans people to use the restroom of their preference will cause sexual attacks on cisgendered people using the bathroom, specifically coming from transgender women who were biologically

Feminists, racists, and religionists are people that are fighting for “equality” in the United States for various reasons. As long as the people fighting for these things are uneducated to their cause balance can never be achieved. Men, women, whites, blacks, Christians, and Muslims are all fighting for their cause to be heard. Many of the people are misinformed in their cause or simply following the movement with little to no knowledge. The tiny pebble in the equality pond sends the wrong ripple and it reverberates and echoes the wrong responses.

Public restroom assaults committed by transgender people are statistically not an issue. Supporters of gender identity rights state no evidence that lead to attacks in public restrooms. Many men and women believe that allowing transgender citizens to enter the bathroom of their choice is going to put members of our society at risk. As Battle of the Bathrooms was written, many people fought against this mindset. According to Jeffrey Ian Ross, a criminologist, “There is not any anecdotal evidence that trans-friendly rules have been abused by predators, or that incidents of violence or sexual assault have increased”(35). While much of the United States population supports allowing transgender people to use the gender’s bathroom that they identify with; there are still many people who disagree with transgender citizens being allowed to use their gender specific bathroom. The United States of America is evolving; with that being said, equal rights have become a pivotal element in our society.

“GLSEN research shows that nearly two thirds of transgender students avoid school bathrooms because of feeling unsafe or uncomfortable. They risk verbal and physical harassment, no matter which of the two, sex-segregated bathrooms they enter.” as the quote here

In the case of transgender bathrooms in school I believe it’s not an issue of good or bad for the schools, but does it make the children uncomfortably. Throughout the entire video not one child came out and said that they did not have a problem nor did any transgender people raise concerns. Therefore it seems that the problem is not with the school but with society outside of the school. It’s clear this law is focus on preserving a more conservative view in schools. Many people who argue against this law state how fearful they are about rape, homosexuality, and Xenophobia. This personal fear should have no effect on the right someone has to use what restrooms he or she feels comfortable in.

The governor has made public statements that this was proposed, passed, and signed into law to overturn Charlottes’ ordinance and to ensure transgender individuals would not be permitted to access public bathrooms. Before the city ordinance could become a law the state passed a law that Jane Wettach states “nullified local ordinances around the state that would have expanded protections for the LGBT community” (Duke). This law that North Carolina passed allows for discrimination and takes away our rights. When you are discriminated against for your, race, gender, sexual orientation, you are no longer allowed to sue the state for discrimination.

"This type of legal marriage must be forbidden because natural instinct revolts it as wrong"