Tag Archives: gender identity

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer outlaws the ‘gay and trans panic defense’ in criminal trials

Michigan-Gov.-Gretchen-Whitmer

Important Takeaways:

  • The law prohibits using a victim’s sexuality or gender identity as justification for criminal action
  • The legislation states that an individual’s “actual or perceived sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation” is not admissible in a criminal trial to “demonstrate reasonable provocation,” “show that an act was committed in a heat of passion” or “support a defense of reduced mental capacity.”
  • The governor’s office said the bill “significantly expands” protections for the LGBTQ community “by protecting them from violent acts of discrimination, prejudice, and hate crimes.”
  • Michigan is now the 20th state to prohibit this type of defense, according to Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank.
  • Emme Zanotti, director of advocacy and civic engagement at Equality Michigan, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group that expressed support for the legislation at the September hearing, said in a statement shared with NBC News on Wednesday that LGBTQ community members “deserve the same protections as everyone else.”

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California Senate passes bill that bans requiring schools from notifying parents of their children’s pronoun change

California Legislature Gender Identity

Important Takeaways:

  • The California Senate has approved a bill that would ban school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents if their child asks to go by a new pronoun at school
  • Lawmakers approved the legislation along party lines after more than an hour of an emotional debate in which Democratic LGBTQ+ senators recounted stories about how they delayed coming out to their parents or were outed by someone else. They argued gender-noncomforming students should be able to come out to their families on their own terms. But Republican lawmakers said the state shouldn’t dictate whether school districts can enforce so-called parental notification policies and that schools have an obligation to be transparent with parents.
  • It is part of a nationwide debate over local school districts and the rights of parents and LGBTQ+ students. States across the country have sought to impose bans on gender-affirming care, bar trans athletes from girls and women’s sports, and require schools to “out” trans and nonbinary students to their parents. Some lawmakers in other states have introduced bills in their legislatures with broad language requiring that parents be notified of any changes to their child’s emotional health or well-being.

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Bill passes in California by a wide margin threatening custody of parents who don’t ‘Affirm’ their children’s preferred gender

Important Takeaways:

  • The California legislature passed a bill Friday that requires a judge to consider whether or not a parent “affirms” their child’s “gender identity” in a custody dispute.
  • Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener and Democratic Assembly Member Lori Wilson introduced the bill in February, with Wiener claiming that the legislation was needed to protect the “health, safety, and welfare of the child,” according to the Associated Press. The bill passed the state Senate Wednesday with a 30-9 vote before making it through the general assembly only days later at 57-16, according to KCRA, an NBC affiliate.
  • “This bill, for purposes of this provision, would include a parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity or gender expression as part of the health, safety, and welfare of the child,” the legislation reads.
  • Conservative commentators quickly took to Twitter after the vote to warn about the potential damage this would cause to parental and religious rights.
  • “California is one Governor’s signature away from the power to remove children from parents who don’t affirm their children’s fake gender identity. This is tantamount to forced sterilization of children,” Nicole Solas, an attorney and senior fellow for the Independent Women’s Forum, wrote in a post. “I know another govt that forcibly sterilized kids.
  • Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk called the bill “anti-parent,” according to a post.

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Church of England says defining a woman is complex, associated with Gender Identity

Romans 1:18 “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

Important Takeaways:

  • Church of England Won’t Give a Definition of a ‘Woman’, Blames ‘Complexities’ of Gender Identity
  • In his written response, Dr. Robert Innes, the church’s Bishop in Europe since 2014, said: “There is no official definition, which reflects the fact that until fairly recently definitions of this kind were thought to be self-evident, as reflected in the marriage liturgy.”
  • But Innes added that there are now “complexities associated with gender identity” and pointed to the need for “additional care” even though the church continues its opposition to same-sex weddings.
  • The Bible teaches there are only two genders, male and female, and marriage in the eyes of God is between a man and a woman.

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North Carolina ‘bathroom bill’ settlement approved

FILE PHOTO: A bathroom sign welcomes both genders in Durham, North Carolina May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake

By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) – Transgender people in North Carolina can use any public restroom in state-run buildings that conforms with their gender identity under a U.S. court settlement approved on Tuesday, in the latest turn of a long-running dispute that divided the state.

The settlement, which overturns part of state law, ends a three-year legal fight by transgender people in North Carolina seeking the right to use the bathroom of their gender identity.

A 2016 North Carolina law, known as House Bill 2, required transgender people in state-run buildings use the bathrooms, changing rooms and showers that corresponded to the sex on their birth certificates.

The American Civil Liberties Union represented transgender plaintiffs seeking to block the law in court, arguing it violated their rights to equal protection and privacy under the U.S. Constitution.

“While this part of the court fight may be ending, so much urgent work remains as long as people who are LGBTQ are denied basic protections from violence and discrimination simply because of who they are,” Irena Como, acting legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina, said in a statement.

Some businesses and sports leagues boycotted North Carolina after the passage of the law, which they saw as discriminatory against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

Lawmakers in some other states had proposed similar legislation that failed to advance.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder ruled in 2016 that the state’s university system must allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity.

Democratic former President Barack Obama’s administration also challenged the law in court.

Facing pressure in the courts, the North Carolina legislature in 2017 replaced House Bill 2 with House Bill 142.

The bill stated that the state legislature had the power to regulate bathroom access, but the legislature did not take action at that time to define access.

The new law left transgender people in limbo, according to the ACLU, which amended its lawsuit to challenge the new law.

The ACLU and the group Lambda Legal later reached a settlement with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, the ACLU said in a statement. It went to Schroeder for final approval.

Schroeder, in an eight-page ruling on Tuesday, said the settlement bars state officials from using the legislation “to prevent transgender people from lawfully using public facilities in accordance with their gender identity.”

The Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly filed court papers opposing the settlement.

House Bill 142 continues to prohibit cities in North Carolina from creating their own ordinances protecting LGBT people from discrimination until December 2020, and that was not affected by the agreement, according to the ACLU.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; editing by Jonathan Oatis)