NO MEN IN WOMEN'S BATHROOMS.
On the surface, that statement seems not to be necessarily discriminatory. But in last week's elections in Houston, Texas, it became a way to spread fear and feed already deep-seated discrimination against transgender and gender-queer (TGGQ) people and possibly others. This single phrase was successful in misrepresenting not only TGGQ people and their rights but also those of many other disenfranchised communities as well.
On November 3, Houstonians went to the polls to establish a citywide ordinance to protect its citizens against discrimination. Proposition 1, the proposed Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, referred to as HERO, established the very simple premise that, "No Houstonian should be discriminated against based on sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, or pregnancy," a core value not only shared by most Houstonians but also most democratic societies.
HERO was defeated by voters by nearly a two to one margin primarily based on the five-word slogan, "No Men in Women's Bathrooms," and a statement boasting, "The defeat of this proposition is about protecting our grandmoms, and our mothers and our wives and our sisters and our daughters and our granddaughters from sexual predators." The proposed ordinance would have enumerated 15 different categories of people in which discrimination currently exists in Houston and protected them in the future, including sexual orientation and gender identity. The opponents of HERO used only hateful and misleading characterization of TGGQ people, and their right to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity and expression, to attack and defeat the simple and mainstream concept of protecting its residents from discrimination, in all its manifestations.
In San Francisco, throughout California, and in many other regions of the country, people see these kinds of attacks for what they really are; veiled attempts to cover up hatred and deeply-held beliefs of discrimination in many forms, including homophobia and transphobia.
It's interesting to note that the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled in 2014 that gender identity and expression are already covered by the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 under the definition of sex discrimination. The attorney general of the United States agreed with that determination. It has also been tested in federal court and was upheld. In 2015, the EEOC held that sexual orientation should also be included in that determination. This means LGB and TGGQ people are covered against employment discrimination irrespective of whether they are covered by any state or local ordinance.
Also in 2014, the U.S. Department of Education published the same determination as to TGGQ individuals, that they were already covered in the US Civil Rights Act of 1964 under the definition of sex discrimination. This determination is applicable to grades K through 12, colleges and universities and clarifies the use of bathrooms, changing facilities, and sex-segregated activities by TGGQ people based on their gender identity and expression. Failure to comply, irrespective of local statutes, could risk the loss of federal funding.
Assuming there are relatively unbiased lawyers in Texas, and the existence of these federal determinations by the EEOC, DOE, U.S. attorney general and several federal courts, one might suggest that the opponents of HERO already knew that their statements were lies and misrepresentations and that no matter what the outcome of HERO, TGGQ people would still be protected in employment and education.
Houston is a city with a population of 2.24 million of which 46 percent are Hispanic, 25 percent are African-American or black, 25 percent are white, and all other ethnic groups constitute merely 4 percent. An analysis of discrimination data reported to the city of Houston between May 28, 2014 and September 2, 2015 quantified the types of discrimination that exist in Houston today. Race was the greatest area of discrimination at 56 percent of all reported, followed by gender (sex) at 17 percent, familial status at 13 percent, age at 6 percent, sexual orientation and gender identity combined at 5 percent, and all others at a total of 3 percent. In addition, Houston has, for the past six years, had a lesbian mayor and is known as a city that has a vibrant LGB-TGGQ community.
This analysis shows that HERO would have benefited racial minorities, women, families, and seniors to a much greater extent than gay, lesbian, bisexual, and TGGQ people.
This election in Houston and the defeat of HERO using mischaracterized images of transgender and gender queer people should set off a number of red flags.
It demonstrates just how misinformed society is about TGGQ people and the huge mountain we need to climb to get the so-called mainstream comfortable with the concept of being TGGQ-identified. We have already identified this challenge and know that it will take a lot more than Caitlyn Jenner to educate good people about who we are and how we are just another part of the fabric of the human condition.
It also brings up, though, a more troubling question of whether society's lack of understanding and education about TGGQ individuals can be used successfully by racist, misogynistic, and homo/transphobic people to cover up other forms of hatred and discrimination such as race, sex, familial status and age. That might in fact be the case in Houston.
Theresa Sparks is the executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. The opinions expressed here are those of the author's only and do not represent the view of any organization with whom she is affiliated, past and present.