Thursday, August 10, 2017

Why Can’t The Just Do The Right Thing?

Why does it always take a law suit to get them to do the right thing?

There has been a number of law suits that have been brought against businesses and schools to force them to do the right thing for trans people.
Pennsylvania school district settles with transgender teens who alleged discrimination over bathroom policy
Washington Post
By Moriah Balingit
August 9, 2017

A Pennsylvania school district has settled a lawsuit with three transgender teens, moving to allow all transgender students to use bathrooms in accordance with the gender they identify with and scrapping a rule that required students to use bathrooms that corresponded to their “biological sex.”

Transgender teen Juliet Evancho, whose sister Jackie sang at President Trump’s inauguration and later pleaded to meet the president on behalf of transgender students, sued the Pine-Richland School District after the board passed a resolution barring her from the girls’ bathroom last fall. She was joined by two transgender classmates: Elissa Ridenour and a boy identified as A.S.
[…]
The three teen plaintiffs graduated from Pine-Richland High School on June 2, but the settlement will apply to all students. As part of the agreement, the school board repealed the bathroom restrictions, extended nondiscrimination protections to transgender students and directed schools to give them access to the bathrooms of the gender they live as. The board cleared the policies on July 17 with a 6-to-2 vote.

“As a result, any student across the District may access restrooms based upon his or her consistently and uniformly asserted gender identity. Any student may also access a single-user restroom,” the school district said in a statement.
Then the military is also facing law suits from several people and organizations.
Transgender Service Members Sue Over Planned Ban On Trans People In Military
NPR
By Camila Domonoske
August 9, 2017

Five openly transgender members of the U.S. military are suing President Trump and other leaders of the U.S. government over Trump's declaration, over Twitter, that trans people will no longer be allowed to serve in the U.S. military. The suit alleges that Trump's directive is "arbitrary and capricious," unconstitutionally depriving the service members of due process.
[…]
The five plaintiffs are in different branches of the military (the Coast Guard, the National Guard, the Army and the Air Force) and have collectively served for "decades," the suit says. Two were deployed overseas, in Afghanistan and Iraq. One plaintiff in the Army and the plaintiff in the Air Force have served for 17 years and "nearly 20 years," respectively.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) had this to say about the suit…
Diana,

This morning, GLAD along with our partner organization, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, sued Donald Trump over his baseless, discriminatory, and unconstitutional efforts to get rid of transgender people in the military.

Over 15,000 courageous, dedicated servicemembers had their Commander-in-Chief demean their service and announce that they are no longer welcome in the military - simply because of who they are.

Trump’s efforts to change settled military policy is devastating to these soldiers and harmful to our country.

GLAD is fighting back.
[…]
Military experts have concluded after extensive review and consideration: allowing transgender people to openly serve strengthens the nation. Trump’s unfounded reversal of a sound policy damages military readiness and debases our country. Our plaintiffs and other transgender servicemembers are already paying the price.
Amazon is also being sued for having a hostile environment for their trans employees, the couple’s suit is being handled by Jillian Weiss the Executive Director of the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund.



Last night I went to a town concert-on-the-green that featured a Neil Diamond tribute band and while I was there I had a thought… This is just like when my parents went to Las Vegas and saw a tribute band for Glen Miller… YIKES!

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