Latest news with #WhatIsAWomanAct
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wyoming Resident Purposely Misgenders Senator To Prove A Point
A Wyoming resident purposely referred to Wyoming Sen. Tim French (R) as 'madam' in an effort to point out the hypocrisy of Senate File 0077, which states 'compelled speech is not free speech,' and employees of the state are not required to use another employee's preferred pronouns. During Friday's Wyoming Senate Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources committee meeting, Britt Boril joined the meeting via video and addressed French as 'Madam Chairman.' When French told Boril to call him 'Mister Chairman,' Boril responded that she 'cannot be compelled to use' his preferred pronouns. 'I prefer to be called Chairman French,' French said. 'That's my preferred pronoun.' 'I know, and you all voted that preferred pronouns cannot be compelled speech in SF77,' Boril said. 'Anyway, my name is Britt Boril...' Boril did not respond to a request for an interview, but in a video posted on her Instagram, she said that 'misgendering people is not cool,' and it's 'always disrespectful and dehumanizing whether intentional or not.' She said she's been watching her Wyoming legislators 'tear people down' and not listen to residents' testimony, so when she deliberately misgendered French, 'Disrespect was the message.' She said she worries that others will do the same in 'bad faith.' 'We're all about mindful malicious compliance here,' she said. French did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wyoming Sen. Lynn Hutchings (R), who sponsored the bill, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Boril joined the committee meeting to share testimony regarding What Is A Woman Act, which states that a female is a person who has, had or will have the 'reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes eggs for fertilization.' Boril told the committee that the act puts women in 'real danger through government overreach' because if a woman don't present as 'female enough,' Boril asks if they would have to undergo a genital inspection just to use the bathroom. She asked why legislators are attacking women and trans people instead of focusing on issues 'that actually matter' to Wyoming citizens. She also asked the legislators to vote no on the bill and to 'do their jobs.' French thanked her for her testimony and said, 'We are doing our job. We work hard at it every — it starts with a D. Every D-day.' A trio of anti-trans and anti-DEI bills in Wyoming, including What Is A Woman Act, made headway last month. The other two bills would close DEI offices in the state and the University of Wyoming, and one would ban transgender students from playing sports at UW and other community colleges in the state. 'See You In Court': Maine Gov Goes Head-To-Head With Trump Over Trans Athlete Ban Wyoming Reporter Caught Using AI To Create Fake Quotes And Stories Judge Strikes Down Wyoming Laws Banning Abortion, Abortion Pills
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
That anti-transgender law is even worse than you think
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (center) poses with Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover (left) and Sen. April Weaver, R-Alabster, after signing SB 79, known as the "What Is A Woman Act," which declares there are only two sexes and puts sex-based definitions in state law. Transgender advocacy groups condemned the bill as discriminatory and likely to cause chaos. (Office of the Governor of Alabama) The Alabama Legislature rushed a bill to Gov. Kay Ivey last week. It was so important that House Republicans limited debate on the measure to 10 minutes on Wednesday. It was so urgent that Ivey signed it on Thursday. You would hope legislation passed so swiftly would address a major problem in the state. Like gun violence. The rural health crisis. Or the ongoing inequities in Alabama's public schools. And of course, your hope would turn to dust. The legislation allows public entities to segregate men and women. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX That's not the explicit purpose of the 'What Is A Woman' act sponsored by Sen. April Weaver, R-Alabaster. But that's its functional effect. The bill takes its name from a far-right propaganda movie, because our far-right lawmakers see their chief duty as marketing the work of conservative film producers. At first glance, the legislation is another attempt to drive transgender Alabamians out of public life. The bill requires the state to define man or woman based on whether you can produce sperm or ova; or whether you once could; or whether you might, or whether you hypothetically could. In one respect, it's a bathroom bill. A transgender man assigned female at birth — someone with a beard who does not look anything like a woman — would be in legal trouble if he uses the men's room, as Allison Montgomery of the Alabama Transgender Rights Action Coalition (ALTRAC) told Alander Rocha. You might see this outcome as absurd. But you lack the chromosomal insights of the Alabama Legislature. And with any luck, you also lack their capacity for cruelty. After cutting off gender-affirming health care and banning transgender youth from participating in the sports of the gender with which they identify, it's hard to escape the conclusion than our state lawmakers love watching transgender people suffer. Weaver called the bill 'common sense.' 'Common sense,' in this case, means forcing a person to live with the torture of gender dysphoria and all the tragedy that can result. Alabama lawmakers keep trying to shove a world of fractal-like complexity into a binary mold. And they don't mind that innocent people get crushed. But keep reading the state's latest example of gonad-based lawmaking, and you'll come upon Section 4 of the law. 'Neither the state nor any political subdivision of the state shall be prohibited from establishing separate single-sex spaces or environments for males and females when biology, privacy, safety, or fairness are implicated,' it says. Read that paragraph again. Then read the bill in its entirety. And find me the sentence that limits this command to bathrooms. It's not there. What is there is 'privacy, safety, or fairness.' Terms the bill neither defines nor qualifies. In attacking transgender Alabamians, Ivey and the Alabama Legislature have opened the door to sex segregation. You may have one view of what safety means. A city official or school administrator who liked what that Dominionist preacher said about the lust young women inspire in innocent young men might have another take on it. Possibly you have a vision of fairness grounded in equal opportunity regardless of background. The crank on your local school board huffing X/Twitter/whatever might think it means fortifying the world's most mediocre men from any competition. It sure looks like Gov. Ivey and the Legislature have given these men the legal tools they need to create separate paths for our children. And punish women for the high crime of occupying spaces less talented men want. Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, who carried the bill in the House and sponsored similar versions in the past, insisted on Wednesday that this language was meant to allow women-only dormitories, rape crisis centers and prisons. But there's nothing in state or federal law preventing the state from building women's prisons; or colleges from building single-sex dormitories; or anyone from creating spaces to support female victims of sexual assault. In this vicious desire to harm a small group of people, we're allowing governments to separate men and women on the slightest pretext. Transgender Americans have warned us about this for years. They told us these attacks were a prelude to a larger offensive against the LGBTQ community and women. And here we are. Alabama officials needed three years to deprive a class of Alabamians of their civil rights and access to health care. Cowardly federal judges ripped up precedent and the Constitution to give them a legal footing. That gave the far right an example of how to discriminate and still prevail in court. And might have encouraged them to be bolder. Now we have a law the Republican-controlled Legislature rushed through and Ivey signed with lightning speed that will give public officials and entities an unchecked ability to decide the nature of 'fairness' and 'security' for men and women. If that means pushing women into segregated spaces, they can do so. Because they're defending them, you see. What is a woman? Apparently it's the next group of Alabamians our lawmakers want to erase from view. 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