Petition Challenge Ongoing
From this morning's Washington Blade:
So that sounds like good news. If this story is correct, they have a few days to go through the petitions, and they may be able to extend that.
I don't think so. They collected those signatures by telling people the law would let men into the ladies room. Most people are against that, but it's not what the bill is about. "The ease with which the signatures have been obtained" reflects the fact that you can manipulate people by lying to them.
I find it really kind of interesting that part of the shower-nuts' script is to say that the elected officials of the county are out of touch or unresponsive to the citizens. Listen, the citizens elected them, we have frequent opportunities to replace them if we don't like what they're doing. These are the people we chose. I guarantee you that if somebody in this county ran for office who reflected the Citizens for a Responsible Whatever's perspective, they wouldn't have a chance. There is always a kind of deep conspiracy theory underlying everything, nothing is ever what it appears to be. For some reason, the County Council secretly plans to open ladies' locker-rooms to pedophiles and predators, and only this particular group has figured it out.
We'll be watching for some news about this today. You might haver noticed Theresa Rickman's comment here yesterday, mentioning that she was going to do an interview today. Maybe there will be news, I don't know.
Well, there's a lot going on. The Board of Elections will decide whether to certify the signatures, once they've gone through them, and then Equality Maryland has a team of people going through them, too. I know they're finding errors that the election board missed. I am not listening to lawyers' conversations, but at some point this will jump to another level, when Equality Maryland challenges the board's certification of the petition signatures. It's going to be a tough battle, and it will be interesting to watch it unfold.
Equality Maryland continued this week its review of signatures challenging a local transgender rights law.
Dan Furmansky, the organization's executive director, said Wednesday that volunteers were "poring over the signatures" seeking to overturn the Montgomery County law and that a response to the challenge was forthcoming.
More than 32,000 such signatures were collected and submitted to county officials Feb. 19 by a group that opposes the law.
Citizens for a Responsible Government is seeking a public vote on the law that that prohibits “discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, cable television service and taxicab service on the basis of gender identity.”
Originally believed to be due March 5, Equality Maryland’s response to the referendum petition is due Monday. But the organization was working this week with Montgomery County to obtain more time to review the signatures. Montgomery County petition challenge continues
So that sounds like good news. If this story is correct, they have a few days to go through the petitions, and they may be able to extend that.
Equality Maryland volunteers are looking for any suspicious or incorrect signatures on the petition.
“There is a process that needs to be followed and will be followed and will determine if the bill goes to referendum,” said Dana Beyer, an Equality Maryland board member who is transgender.
But Ruth Jacobs, president of Citizens for a Responsible Government, said only 25,001 of the 32,000 signatures need to be verified to force a public vote.
“The ease with which the signatures have been obtained … demonstrates how isolated the council is from its constituents,” she said.
I don't think so. They collected those signatures by telling people the law would let men into the ladies room. Most people are against that, but it's not what the bill is about. "The ease with which the signatures have been obtained" reflects the fact that you can manipulate people by lying to them.
I find it really kind of interesting that part of the shower-nuts' script is to say that the elected officials of the county are out of touch or unresponsive to the citizens. Listen, the citizens elected them, we have frequent opportunities to replace them if we don't like what they're doing. These are the people we chose. I guarantee you that if somebody in this county ran for office who reflected the Citizens for a Responsible Whatever's perspective, they wouldn't have a chance. There is always a kind of deep conspiracy theory underlying everything, nothing is ever what it appears to be. For some reason, the County Council secretly plans to open ladies' locker-rooms to pedophiles and predators, and only this particular group has figured it out.
Council members unanimously passed the law in November, which was set to into effect last month. It was suspended until signature verifications are completed and could remain on hold until a referendum is held.
We'll be watching for some news about this today. You might haver noticed Theresa Rickman's comment here yesterday, mentioning that she was going to do an interview today. Maybe there will be news, I don't know.
Well, there's a lot going on. The Board of Elections will decide whether to certify the signatures, once they've gone through them, and then Equality Maryland has a team of people going through them, too. I know they're finding errors that the election board missed. I am not listening to lawyers' conversations, but at some point this will jump to another level, when Equality Maryland challenges the board's certification of the petition signatures. It's going to be a tough battle, and it will be interesting to watch it unfold.
posted by JimK at 10:39 AM
30 Comments:
I see in CRG's press release that they lambaste Dan F. at EQ for suggesting that there my be legal action about the referendum, saying that lawsuits interfere with the democratic process. Huh? Isn't CRC inordinately proud of their legal efforts to stop MCPS' implementation of it's curriculum?
I just don't get it.
I'm just curious as to when TTF is going to schedule a news conference to tell our side of the story. To read the media's coverage of this anti-transgender campaign, one would think there is nobody on our side who can offer counter-points to the CRG's distortions and lies. Of course, the media has been guilty more than once in recent years of "covering" the news from a supposedly neutral journalistic approach. Everybody has seen the damage the media can do when they do not do their homework and, instead, hone in on the sensationalism that sells newspapers and encourages the loonies to listen to the disgraceful wacko right-wing radio and tv commentators.
Concerned
"I don't think so. They collected those signatures by telling people the law would let men into the ladies room. Most people are against that, but it's not what the bill is about."
It's one of the things the bill is about and it's one of the thing they object to. It says if a man says (or "projects") that they are a woman, everyone must treat them as one, under the law. That would include letting them use the same "facilities" as any woman can, including bathrooms.
In the view of most people, if not TTF, that's letting men into the ladies' room.
"I find it really kind of interesting that part of the shower-nuts' script is to say that the elected officials of the county are out of touch or unresponsive to the citizens."
What I find really interesting is that the anti-gender lunatics at TTF think everyone agrees with them but they're afraid to have it confirmed by a referendum.
If they're right, they're feverishly spending time and money to avoid having the voters rebuke CRG.
It's very considerate of them.
"For some reason, the County Council secretly plans to open ladies' locker-rooms to pedophiles and predators, and only this particular group has figured it out."
This is a lie. CRG has not said that there is a secret plan to do this. They say it will be a possible consequence of the law. They haven't tried to judge whether the Council knows or cares about these particular consequences.
"I know they're finding errors that the election board missed."
No, you don't. You just know there are some signatures that the anti-gender lunatics will say are errors. They'll have to convince the Board of Elections.
"It's going to be a tough battle, and it will be interesting to watch it unfold."
It will be interesting to see when the anti-gender lunatics will admit they are afraid of the voters in MC.
Anonymous (or are you Theresa?):
When did you come up with your newest catch-phrase? TTF is "anti-gender"? What on earth does that mean?? Sounds very ominous; must be aimed at those among or citizens who are undereducated and live in a constant state of fear. I think you mean to say that TTF is anti-ignorance, anti-bigotry, anti-hate...but anti-gender? That one really takes the cake.
BTW...how long have you lived in Montgomery County? I guess when somebody poked a stick into your otherwise placid ant-hill, you have had no awareness of the political realities here. We are not some county in Podunksville, USA (although I suspect that is your dream residence). The citizens here have over and over and over rejected your right-wing, religionist agenda over a long stretch of years. I notice you were, shall I say reluctant?, to submit candidates for election in last year's county elections and again, this year, for the school board. Could it be that you are just blowing your usual hot air?
Diogenes
Grammaticus said...
"I see in CRG's press release that they lambaste Dan F. at EQ for suggesting that there my be legal action about the referendum, saying that lawsuits interfere with the democratic process. Huh? Isn't CRC inordinately proud of their legal efforts to stop MCPS' implementation of it's curriculum?"
--
They like to leave out the part where they don't feel they have to play by their own rules.
Admission of their acceptance of the hypocritical lifestyle doesn't sell so well.
Red Baron said "It's one of the things the bill is about and it's one of the thing they object to. It says if a man says (or "projects") that they are a woman, everyone must treat them as one, under the law. That would include letting them use the same "facilities" as any woman can, including bathrooms.".
No, the bill is about making sure transgender people have access to services and can't be fired from their job merely for who they are. The bill doesn't say anything about who can use what bathroom, men have always been able to use the ladies room and this law wouldn't change that. In any event transexuals aren't just anyone, they have documentation from doctors and psychiatrists that prove they are transsexuls, men merely claiming to be women are excluded.
"No, the bill is about making sure transgender people have access to services and can't be fired from their job merely for who they are."
And access to "facilities". Have you read the bill?
"The bill doesn't say anything about who can use what bathroom, men have always been able to use the ladies room and this law wouldn't change that."
You're right, it doesn't change that. The change it makes is that it guarantees that men, under certain conditions, can use the ladies' room. It takes the decision about who can use a bathroom away from the owner of a bathroom and gives it to the government.
"In any event transexuals aren't just anyone, they have documentation from doctors and psychiatrists that prove they are transsexuls"
Nothing in this law says anything about documentation. It says men are covered if they "present" as a woman.
Red Baron said "The change it makes is that it guarantees that men, under certain conditions, can use the ladies' room.".
No, nowhere does it say that.
Red Baron said "Nothing in this law says anything about documentation. It says men are covered if they "present" as a woman.".
I don't think so - show me.
"A state appeals court has decided California parents without teaching credentials do not have a right to home-school their children.
The 2nd District Court of Appeals ruling could affect up to 200,000 home-schooled students in the state.
“The court is guilty of an imperious assault on the rights of parents,” said Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family. “How dare these judges have the audacity to label tens of thousands of parents criminals — the equivalent to drug dealers or pickpockets — because they want to raise and educate their children according to their deeply held values?
"The case before them involved one couple — the ruling should have been confined to that one couple, not used to punish an entire class of people, the vast majority of them religious conservatives.”
According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, California is set to become the only state to deny the vast majority of home schooling parents their fundamental right to teach their children at home. The group will file an amicus brief in the case.
Dr. Dobson said Focus on the Family will do whatever it can to get the ruling overturned and to restore the basic rights of parents in California to determine how their children are educated.
“This is an all-out assault on the family, and it must be met with a concerted effort to defend parents and their children,” he said. “We will team with key allies and use every means at our disposal to make sure that not just every Californian, but every American, is aware of this miscarriage of justice. We will encourage them, by the hundreds of thousands, to make their voices heard on this matter.
"And we’re hopeful that, in the end, common sense and legal sanity will prevail.”
Dr. Dobson will discuss the ruling on his Friday radio broadcast.
Candi Cushman, education analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said the court's timing is horrible.
"This takes away recourse from thousands of parents in California who want to escape the government-enforced indoctrination in public schools," she said. "The Legislature recently passed a law that basically ensures that students get a one-sided, positive portrayal of homosexuality and same-sex 'marriage.' "
That is good news. Children shouldn't be forced to be ignorant and supersticious just because their parents are. Children have a right to a proper education.
Well I guess, Anonymous/Theresa, we could meet your objections to the equal rights legislation by having guards posted at the entrance to every rest room/shower room in Montgomery County. Their function would be to "investigate" everyone's sex organs to determine who can enter the facility and to prevent the perverts who want to expose themselves to you and to rape your daughters from using the facility. Would that satisfy your opposition to the law?
Diogenes
The Onion said...
SAN FRANCISCO—Spokespersons for the National Gay & Lesbian Recruitment Task Force announced Monday that more than 288,000 straights have been converted to homosexuality since Jan. 1, 1998, putting the group well on pace to reach its goal of 350,000 conversions by the end of the year.
"When I grow up, I want to be gay," said Christopher Linn, 8, a second-grader at Philadelphia's Lakeside Elementary School, one of thousands of public schools nationwide that actively promote the homosexual agenda. "I don't want to have a family or go to church."
--
Read the rest here: '98 Homosexual-Recruitment Drive Nearing Goal
"Well I guess, Anonymous/Theresa, we could meet your objections to the equal rights legislation by having guards posted at the entrance to every rest room/shower room in Montgomery County. Their function would be to "investigate" everyone's sex organs to determine who can enter the facility and to prevent the perverts who want to expose themselves to you and to rape your daughters from using the facility. Would that satisfy your opposition to the law?"
TTF persists in the lie that CRG advocates having bathrooms segregated by law. CRG wants to keep the government out of the business of setting bathroom segregation policies. That's one of the reasons the law should be overturned and Duchy and Dana sent back to private pursuits.
But Red Baron, CRW does advocate that restrooms be regulated by law. Theresa has gone on and on about how she doesn't want transgenders, or men allowed in the ladies room under any circumstances. The only way that can happen is if bathrooms are segregated by law. You're the liar here.
Addrea- not anon
Once more on the elections- maybe the last time because I see Anon and its crew are too dumb to get this.The county overwhelmingly voted in the new County Council last time- it was recently- were the anons too busy hating to pay attention?- as well as more progressive state delegates. In the primary, voted in Donna Edwards and for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton- the Republican count was small. Montgomery County is not going right wing. boo hoo for the Shower nuts
Anonymous said...
JimK: "For some reason, the County Council secretly plans to open ladies' locker-rooms to pedophiles and predators, and only this particular group has figured it out."
Anon: This is a lie. CRG has not said that there is a secret plan to do this. They say it will be a possible consequence of the law.
---
So convinced of this possible consequence of pedophiles and predators are they, that they post close up photos of their own children on their website.
This was also in their press release today:
"Other criticisms of the bill include the lack of exemptions for religious organizations, daycare providers and teachers, and employers with less than 15 employees in their hiring practices. Schools and businesses must allow their employees to cross-dress."
--
So even if the bathroom issue were a non-issue, they’re still COMPLETELY against the employment non-discrimination portion of the bill. Which is perhaps the most important part.
Furthermore, daycare, teachers and schools is code for pedophilia and predator threat. No, you're right anon and Theresa, you don't say it, you just imply it and insinuate it. It would be more honest if you said so outright.
The supposed bathroom “issue” is just easier to sell the idea that this is about genitals, and therefore about sex, and therefore about “pedophiles and predators.”
Remember, these are people who would have us imprisoned and put to death if they could.
From the rhetoric, articles and out-links on their sites -- by default -- they claim as much. Not to mention the unwarranted sea of hatred that they currently and intentionally foment.
"Once more on the elections- maybe the last time because I see Anon and its crew are too dumb to get this.The county overwhelmingly voted in the new County Council last time- it was recently- were the anons too busy hating to pay attention?- as well as more progressive state delegates. In the primary, voted in Donna Edwards and for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton- the Republican count was small. Montgomery County is not going right wing. boo hoo for the Shower nuts"
Andrea, you know as well as the rest of us that not all Democrats have gone over the deep end. MC is obviously a liberal place. Doesn't mean they have gone to the anti-gender lunatic extreme. TTF knows this, which is why they fight so hard against allowing voters to weigh in.
The referendum will go forward and the world will discover that, though MC is generally liberal, they don't back the androgynuts.
"I know they're finding errors that the election board missed."
No, you don't. You just know there are some signatures that the anti-gender lunatics will say are errors. They'll have to convince the Board of Elections.
Jim's right, we are finding tons of errors. I have firsthand knowledge of these errors because I have spent over 40 hours reviewing the pro-hate petitions. Petition gathering has very strict rules that must be followed for the signatures to be validated. The BOE had to rush through their validation process because of the primary election and all of the provisional ballots that were cast, but once shown the errors these petitions contain, the BOE will invalidate thousands of them.
really?
could you be a little more specific than "thousands"?
Anonymous:
Would you please be so kind as to explain what your new phrase "anti-gender" means? Are you saying that TTF is "anti-people"? or "pro-android" or what? This is by far the most stupid thing you have come up with; I wonder what your next nonsensical "phrase of the moment" is going to be? Perhaps you will start describing CRG as "pro-equal rights"? That makes about as much sense as your latest
puerile gibberish.
RT
Anonymous:
How about 3,468 or 4,913, or 5,782? Do any or those numbers strike your fancy?
Anonymous 2,000+
Ask Theresa and Ruth to tell you how many of them contain errors and are therefore invalid.
"How about 3,468 or 4,913, or 5,782? Do any or those numbers strike your fancy?
Anonymous 2,000+"
Well, they need to invalidate over 7,000. That you can't give us even a ballpark number is a positive sign for CRG. You're apparently grasping at air.
"Would you please be so kind as to explain what your new phrase "anti-gender" means?"
Yes, it means opposed to the idea of commitment to one's God-given gender. I'm toying with some possible counters to Jim's rude term, "shower-nuts." I know many of you have expressed your belief in karma so I assumed you wouldn't mind.
Couple of other possibilities are: "androgynuts" or "voter-phobes" or "misodemocrats".
What's your favorite?
Anonymous:
Exactly what dictionary did you draw that definition from?
How childish can you get? You obviously don't have any valid arguments to support your bigotry and hatred of transgender people (or even, it would appear, hatred of anybody who isn't exactly like you) so you are now deciding to resort to obfuscation (anti-gender...that's really creative! NOT!)and avoidance of reality. So sad...
It's no longer up to the Board of elections. Going forward it will be up to the courts.
Anon seems to forget that it's not 7000 that must be invalidated. based on the BoE's numbers of 13,476 approved from the first batch, it is only 975 that must be invalidated. The analysis has barely begin, and the number is already over 1100.
"Exactly what dictionary did you draw that definition from?"
It came from the same dictionary that Jim got the term "shower-nuts" from.
Look, TTF's argument is that if someone feels they are a different gender than that they were assigned by biology then the rest of us should be obliged, under pain of government sanction, to treat them that way. Essentially, they believe gender is no more important or lasting than how you decide to decorate the den. This is anti-gender. This is lunacy. Hence, the term "anti-gender lunatic" or, more succinctly, "androgynut".
"It's no longer up to the Board of elections. Going forward it will be up to the courts."
Really? Doesn't sound like a problem to me.
"Anon seems to forget that it's not 7000 that must be invalidated. based on the BoE's numbers of 13,476 approved from the first batch, it is only 975 that must be invalidated. The analysis has barely begin, and the number is already over 1100."
The first batch had 15,462 signatures. 1,986 were invalidated, an abnormally low number. I didn't major in math, but that would seem to make your goal 5,101. If you've only found 1,100 problems that you think the court might agree with you on, after all these weeks and man-hours, I think the pro-family forces are in good shape.
TTF and its allies are pro-family. You are merely anti-gay.
I am assuming that the BOE only gave TTF the raw petitions from the turn in, thus that would be 15,000 or so.
So you would have to come up with more than 1100....
Anon says...
RT: "Would you please be so kind as to explain what your new phrase "anti-gender" means?"
Anon: "Yes, it means opposed to the idea of commitment to one's God-given gender."
--
Meaning physical gender, which means that anon’s god is no bigger than the attributes of the PHYSICAL universe.
Based of course on the “religion” of: all that we can see, is all that exists.
Yet it appears that anon believes that this is somehow “special insight.”
And when it comes to those who are intersexed, anon would suggest that we just shut our eyes, plug our ears, go LA LA LA LA LA LA LA, and move on to another thread to rinse and repeat.
Isn’t that right anon?
Oh that’s right, you’ve moved on…
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