The Mayor of Houston, Annalise Parker, has been pushing some legislation on allowing bathrooms to be used by gender presentation, rather than just by physical sex.
Unfortunately, there's a very vocal group that has some NASTY radio ads going - the site itself isn't bad, but the radio ads are very misleading.
Here's some information on the proposed ordinance. (with some information on the group)
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/houstons-...
Here's the group's website.
http://www.campaignforhouston.com/
There are LOTS of hits out there; I'm just listing a couple with the rough information. (I will admit, I agree with the Texas Supreme Court. The way the initial attempt to push it into law was flawed. Negative voting is not a good way to go about any bill. )
It doesn't affect me, but I have no doubt that there are several people on here that _could_ be affected, and would like to know more before being smacked in the face with it.
BW
Comments
Why all the fuss?
I really don't understand what the big deal is about toilet use. It is totally juvenile in what is supposed to be the land of the free, obviously not the land of the pee.
Angharad
this is just me
This is just ME and I won't presume to ask or insist anybody side with me on this. this is just my rant;
as usual, all the perverts and molesters in the church groups believe all TransPeople are just like them, looking for any way to exploit the unsuspecting. I've handled and qualified with many weapons in the past. M-16s, pistols, grenades, medium and heavy machine guns, anti-armor rockets, 105 and 155mm howitzers. Its been my belief for many years now that the only weapon more devastating than nuclear warheads; are bibles(no matter what their name). My belief may not sit well with others. It may even infuriate but we ALL have read and/or seen for ourselves the despicable tactics used by the so-called people of God after atrocities against us have been done. They'll wave that weapon, a bible, and say that so-called God's word justifies such actions and the victim deserved the crimes committed against them and more. I have my belief, its not popular. It may even turn people against me for saying it but I've watched and read the same news everybody else can if they wish to. Nobody has to agree or disagree with me. I'm just saying what I believe after reading and watching for myself.
quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall
I'm a Bible reader
In the same way that guns don't kill people, people kill people, the Bible doesn't forbid a lot of things that some Christians say it does. Those Christians get an idea in their head and then scour the scriptures for verses that back it up. My Pastor in a Sunday morning sermon said, "Some people want to make a lot of things a sin that God doesn't really care about." (I go to a mainstream fundamentalist church.)
Now, if you let me pick an choose the verses, I can show that God is good with me committing murder and having multiple wives. Hey, it's in the book.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Amen
sorry I couldn't help myself, actually religion is just an excuse for the evilness that is human nature in general. People are for the most part assholes god is just the stick they choose to beat you with.
nomad
Like anything, religion can be perverted......
And quite often is. There are people in this world who will use ignorance as a tool and beliefs as a weapon. It happens in every corner of the world, and with all beliefs - not just religious beliefs, but economics, nationalism, environmental, etc., et al.
Ignorance can easily be twisted into fanaticism, and it quite often is by unscrupulous people. I have seen it first hand, and you are very correct that it seems to be very prevalent in certain religious groups both inside and outside of the United States.
I believe it was Mao who said that religion is the opiate of the masses. I beg to differ with him - religion is the meth that is used by power hungry assholes the world over to control the ignorant majorities in every region of the globe. It is of course more prevalent in certain third world countries, partly because of the teachings of certain religions, but mostly because of the general lack of education among the populace. With education and information comes understanding.
When the height of education in a large section of the world is attending a religious school which teaches only one narrow interpretation of a single religion, an interpretation designed solely to create a group of young people willing to sacrifice themselves to achieve the twisted aims of a select few - a few who generally don't believe in those same teachings, nor practice them - then you get the conditions we see in the Middle East and other areas.
To paraphrase Spider Man (yeah, I went there), with great knowledge comes great responsibility. But the part that we need to keep in mind is that to a great extent that responsibility lies with the educated portion of the world, which is predominantly in the Western nations.
Oh, Angharad, one thing to keep in mind about the land of the free.....
One of those freedoms we guarantee is the right to be an ignorant asshole. Unfortunately, that freedom seems to be very, very popular.
Having said this though Hon, I need to add another thought - it is easy to criticize another persons home, but glass houses and all that seems to apply here.
My last thought - there is much about this country I am not happy about. But it is my country right or wrong. When right to keep right; when wrong to put right.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Hi Snowfall...
I used to be religious, but not anymore. I've seen the insane fire of religious zealotry burn in too many eyes, listened to too many people yelling INFIDEL! just before something went BOOM. I've also listened to too many sermons about "sparing the rod and spoiling the child", "wives submit to your husbands", kill the gays, and that if you're not the same religion as the preacher/pastor/priest who's giving the sermon you also are an INFIDEL! (The "convert or die" policies of the Jesuits, the Catholics, the missionaries when they first came to The New World and then across the pacific ocean to the Hawaiian Islands and beyond. And how can we forget the Crusades.)
The final straw was some pastor of a twenty member podunk church launching an "International Burn the Koran Day." People told him it was a bad idea, the State Department told him it was a bad idea, hell my customer, General David Patrus said it was a bad idea. But the fool pastor did, and the results were predictable, 12 men killed, two warehouses burned, lots of collateral damage, and lots of people hurt. Ironically, one of the warehouses that was burned contained local language Korans for distribution and the other held food, hospital supplies and other items for civil relief efforts throughout Afganistan.
Religion has become a cespit of non-logical thinking, where there is no room for debate or even civil discourse. It's "my way or the flaming stake for you".
I'm finding myself agreeing more and more with the statement "Religious people scare me".
Huh. Seems like a 'burn the
Huh. Seems like a 'burn the Koran' or 'burn the Bible' day might be a great way to catch criminals. They're allowed to leave cars seemingly abandoned to catch car thieves, why not set up a sting to catch arsonists and murderers.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.