Targeted transgender community speaks out in advance of vote

I couldn't agree more.

As Transgender people become more visible throughout the world and not just in Michigan, we will become more accepted and understood.

Educating people about being a Transgender person is critical to our acceptance and the "bathroom" issue becomes moot.

http://michiganmessenger.com/29145/kalamzoo-ordinance-targeted-transgender-community-speaks-out-in-advance-of-vote

'If you know me, you can't demonize me'

By DAVID ALIRE GARCIA 10/30/09 1:02 PM

(Creative Commons photo by fadogirl via Flickr)

The new TV ad funded by opponents of Kalamazoo’s proposed anti-discrimination ordinance isn’t all that new. But until next week’s vote, its ability to sway votes in this southwest Michigan city remains a mystery.

The ad, nearly identical to an ad used by opponents of a similar measure on the ballot in Gainesville, Fla., earlier this year, warns viewers that the anti-discrimination ordinance on the ballot in Kalamazoo — which includes protections for gay and transgender people — would allow men to prey on young girls in public bathrooms.

Calls to the main group opposing Ordinance 1856 to explain the ad were not returned this week.

The ad serves once again to highlight the starkly different way both sides in this fight characterize the proposed ordinance — supporters saying it promotes basic fairness and equality, opponents saying it opens the bathroom and locker-room door to “cross-dressing men.......”