3/29/13

Medicare Wants Your Input On adding GRS Just 1 SNAFU, the Link Is Broken

The Advocate is reporting the agency which determines if a surgery should be funded my Medicaid is reconsidering adding Sexual Reassignment surgery.

Including SRS would be a humongous step forward by the federal goverment. Its crucial we comment especially since there's only 28 days left to do so. Now only if they'd get there link fixed.

I'll update as soon as they do. Hopefully they'll reset the timer.

Presently GRS is not covered by the CMS.Gov
Transsexual surgery for sex reassignment of transsexuals is controversial. Because of the lack of well controlled, long term studies of the safety and effectiveness of the surgical procedures and attendant therapies for transsexualism, the treatment is considered experimental. Moreover, there is a high rate of serious complications for these surgical procedures. For these reasons, transsexual surgery is not covered.

H/T trans advocate Jani McCauley on twitter ‏@JaniMcCauley

Texas A&M GLBT Center Fighting for Its Life Again


LGBT students attending Texas A&M which the 2011-12 Princeton Law review rated number 7 as one of the country's least LGBT friendly University's have had a rough go of it since day one coming out and apparently the hate continues.

The GLBT student center is at risk of losing $100,000 yearly in student fees if a proposed student senate rule is enacted.

The student newspaper "The Battalion" reports:
The GLBT Funding Opt-Out Bill, introduced at the Wednesday Student Senate meeting, would recommend students who do not approve of the GLBT Resource Center on religious or moral grounds be able to opt out of a portion of student fees that goes toward the resource center.

Miguel, senior women’s and gender studies major, said the bill is no more than an ongoing and poorly veiled form of discrimination.

“It’s a good way of masking prejudice and discrimination against the [GLBT] community,” Miguel said. “It’s making the people who are very against the [GLBT] community sound really nice by using religion as a cover-up.”

Northside senator Chris Woolsey, author of the bill, said the bill does not oppress the GLBT community.

(This is where Woolsy's argument disintegrates)

“The belief that this bill is oppressing the GLBT community or is a way to legalize discrimination is a ploy to distract from the real meaning of the bill, which is to protect the religious liberties of students,” Woolsey said

A quick perusal of the Battalion would indicate everything that is happening at that school is an exercise of religious freedom.

Please connect with the GBLT Center EVENT PAGE for details.

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3/28/13

We Loaded The Gun That AZ Rep. John Kavanagh is Killing Our Agenda With

A while back I posted a highly controversial opinion about Levi Pine, a pre op trans man occupying sauna's where same sex public nudity is normal. Since then there has been one more instance and I reiterate, it is in my opinion, in this country with our current social mores, immoral for a pre or non genital op trans person to be naked in spaces where children are allowed.

Some argued more or less they felt they should not have to conform to public standards and morals at all. Some felt our movement is all or nothing.

I said this was an agenda killer and as we have just seen, it is. We loaded Kavanagh's gun by not coming out as a community and condemning that sort of behaviour.

Zoe E Whitten made a very good argument against my opinion asking among other things 'Is Levi Pine’s case an “agenda killer”? Only if your agenda was playing nice to prejudiced people in the hopes of them one day hating you less.'

I'm not saying I want Rep. John Kavanagh to hate us any less, frankly I couldn't care less if he did. I'm not saying this man wouldn't have attempted to amend Arizona law following Phoenix's passage of its far ranging non discrimination ordinance. What I am saying he might have just been another generic hater popping off with a cap gun, instead he's got a fully loaded 45 and its on auto. And we loaded it.

HB 1045 is not "softened" as the spin doctors at ABC have painted it. It is a statewide bill specifically targeting all gender variant people regardless if they are trans or not, making them subject to Jim Crow style discrimination.

So we have managed to paint ourselves into a human rights quandary corner but there is one option. There have been ordinances passed since those spa incidents that specifically exclude public accommodations protections in places where 'full public nudity is expected'.

Since we seem to have failed to set our communities standards we will have to rely on the goverment to do that.

Kavanagh's amendment is not an equality law. He is intent on enacting this law to discriminate against us. We must stop it and regroup, hopefully to enact trans inclusive laws that protect everyone including children from an immoral few.

Not an Arizona resident? Make your voice be heard and sign the petition Arizona Legislative Bodies: Repeal/Strike Down The Transphobic (Bathroom Bill) SB1045!!!

Sign the petition Pantilione of "Raise The Bar Arizona" has just filed with the state to force Kavanagh’s recall election.

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3/27/13

Arizona "Bathroom Bill" HB1045 Pushed Out of Commitee #noloo4u

Just now Rep Kavanagh pushed his "Bathroom Bill" through the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee.

Watching the live feed from the Arizona appropriations committee meeting a very smug Kavanagh sat listening to the yes votes by his committee accruing DESPITE all of people who just testified against it. There was only one person testifying in favor of the bill that I saw. ONE person! This was a injustice and travesty cloaked in democracy.

Kavanagh sums up after the vote "My bill isn't about civil rights"but was forced to pause as the room broke up in spontaneous laughter. Continuing Kavanagh admonishes the attendees "we've had a very respectful evening and and I'd appreciate if we could keep it that way." waiting for more gruffs and humphs to subside Kavanagh raises his voice "Its not about civil rights its about civility and more importantly there are men's and ladies rooms and creating an environment that someone is biologically male in the women's shower as the phoenix law did is going to far and we had to fix it."

Respectively Kavanagh, the whole evening was an insult to the democratic process. You've manufactured of a bill to criminalize our minority when there's no history of criminal activity to warrant a law against us. To everyone in the room EXCEPT your cronies who voted yes on your amendment in your committee it was sickening. Civility was extended as a courtesy by the people who testified against your amendment.

Your statement that your bill wouldn't discriminate against us in the workplace is a pile of horse shit and you know it. When a potential employer is considering us for a position the FIRST thing he is going to weigh is the bathroom. He's going to wonder how his employees would respond but MOST importantly he's going to consider how his state goverment approaches trans bathroom usage.

If an employer knows as you hope he will, Arizona prohibits all gender variant people from public accommodations he will NOT hire us.

And you know that you pompous ass.

Filed under: What a totally pathetic hate mongering bigot. Common Arizona you're better than this.



KAVANAGH Sneaky "Strike Everything" HB 1045 Would Restrict All Arizona From Enacting Trans Ordinances

This will be put up for a vote today in the Arizona appropriations committee. Take this very seriously:

Link to text. Read more at Phoenix New Times.com


PROPOSED

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AMENDMENTS TO S.B. 1045

(Reference to Senate engrossed bill)


Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert:


"Section 1. Title 41, chapter 9, article 3, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 41-1444, to read:

START_STATUTE41-1444. Privacy; public place; public accommodation; state preemption; definitions

A. The regulation of access to privacy areas in places of public accommodation based on gender identity or expression is of statewide concern and is not subject to further regulation by a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state.

B. A county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state shall not enact or enforce an ordinance or policy that requires a person or business to regulate access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression.

C. No person or business shall be civilly or criminally liable for denying access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression.

D. This section does not prohibit a person or business from allowing access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression.

E. Any ordinance or policy that relates to access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression that is inconsistent with this section is void and of no force or effect.

F. For the purposes of this section:

1. "gender identity or expression" means either:

(a) An individual's self‑identification as male, female or something in between and includes an individual's appearance, mannerisms or other characteristics only insofar as they relate to gender with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth.

(b) Any other substantially similar self‑identification of gender.

2. "Privacy areas" means areas in places of public accommodation where access is restricted based on sex, including a public restroom, bathroom, shower, bath, dressing room or locker room.

Sec. 2. Emergency

This act is an emergency measure that is necessary to preserve the public peace, health or safety and is operative immediately as provided by law."

Amend title to conform

JOHN KAVANAGH

1045jk.doc
03/25/2013
9:29 AM
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3/26/13

AZ Rep. Kavanagh Trashes Trans Crow Legislation Will Try New Tactic

Rep. John Kavanagh facing a mounting recall bid in response to his attempted criminalization of transgender people in public accommodations sis trying a different approach.

Instead of making it extremely dangerous and illegal for individual gender variant people to to use the bathroom Kavanagh wants to strip transgender citizens of there constitutional rights by making Arizona businesses statewide immune to legal recourse should they deny transgender people public accommodations.

"Within US law, public accommodations are generally defined as entities, both public and private, that are used by the public. Examples include retail stores, rental establishments and service establishments, as well as educational institutions, recreation facilities and service centers. Private clubs and religious institutions are exempt." ~ Wiki

When asked why he was changing tactics he stated “I’m just saying, ‘You know what, that’s not government’s concern,’” Kavanagh told The Arizona Republic. “We’re simply going to go right back to where it was the day before Phoenix passed its overreaching ordinance with respect to showers, dressing rooms and bathrooms.”

The Arizona House Appropriations Committee hearing on the legislation has been scheduled for 2pm on Wednesday, in which chairman Kavanagh plans to strip a different dead bill, HR 1045 and insert his anti transgender legislation using the "Stike Everything" method.

A lot of people believe that's just political double speak and that Kavanagh, a republican who claims to working for smaller government is in fact bent on imposing draconian governmental regulation on the trans community, a tiny unobtrusive law abiding minority.

Raise The Bar Arizona has just filed the necessary paper work with the state and has begun gathering the 16,920 signatures of voters in Kavanagh’s district required to force a recall election.

The recall if successful would oust Kavanagh just months before the end of his term. Kavanagh can't run again for the house because of term limits, summarily dismisses the effort saying “It gives new meaning to March madness." It would however put a watermark on a bid for the senate which he is considering.

The Arizona Trans Alliance is asking all to "call or email the committee members of the purloined legislation and tell them to vote no on the No Potty for you bill: SB1045."