The staggering defeat of an anti-discrimination ordinance by Houston voters last week should shock every Californian. For many LGBTs here, last Tuesday night was an awful flashback to November 2008, when voters in our state took away same-sex couples' right to marry. It took us five years to get that right back, thanks to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that tossed the initiative known as Proposition 8.
Like that ugly fight seven years ago, the campaign against the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, or HERO, effectively employed a similar bogeyman using fear to manipulate voters. Instead of a little girl running home to her mom saying she could marry a princess (one of the most effective ads the Yes on 8 folks used here), the No on Prop 1 campaign in Houston relied on five words, "No Men in Women's Bathrooms." And it aired an outrageous ad that showed a creepy man following a little girl into a women's restroom. Its message was stark, terrifying, and very effective. Even though HERO would have protected 15 classes of people, the campaign against it boiled down to one class and the baseless charge that men preying on women could decide on a whim to be a woman to enter a women's bathroom. That's not the reality for the trans community, who often face a years long process involving therapy, medical procedures, and the courageous decision to live one's life authentically. All of that was lost in Houston.
And California could be next.
Right now, the anti-LGBT group Privacy for All is collecting signatures for a November 2016 ballot measure that would prohibit transgender people from using public restrooms in government buildings. It's called the "Limits on Use of Facilities in Government Buildings and Businesses." Transgender people could be sued for up to $4,000 in damages if anyone is offended by their presence in a public restroom, including those in public schools. It's a hateful, unnecessary, and regressive proposal that flies in the face of California's strong anti-LGBT discrimination laws.
Privacy for All is surely gloating over the defeat of HERO, and likely taking pages right out of the No on 1 campaign's playbook. Since the signature threshold is so low for a statewide initiative (thanks to the low voter turnout two years ago, which determines the number of qualified signatures needed), it is very possible that we will be voting on this initiative next year.
That means the campaign to defeat it must start now, and is being addressed by the folks at Equality California, Transgender Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and others.
But the effort to defeat the anti-bathroom initiative, should it make the ballot, must improve on the failures of the No on 8 campaign. People often vote for or against initiatives based on their personal fears, not logic. The Yes on 8 campaign took advantage of parents' fears about what their kids learn in schools. At that time, same-sex marriage wasn't as common here; California had only allowed it for the five months leading up to the election so it was relatively new. One of the No on 8 campaign's fatal mistakes was not using gay and lesbian couples in its ads, squandering the opportunity for voters to see same-sex couples as real people, not some abstract idea.
Trans people are a very small percentage of the population and some trans people aren't even out about their status. There are very few out trans role models, and celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner have drawn a mixed reaction, even though to date she's handled her coming out very well. Jenner has acknowledged her privileged status but it's not the common experience of the majority of trans people. Most people in California don't know a trans man or woman. That must change.
Trans people need to start coming out and telling their stories. Those who are already out should mentor those who aren't. Parents of trans children – yes, kids are realizing their gender identity at younger ages than ever before – need to come out, not only to support their children, but also to send a positive message to other parents that their kids aren't "freaks" or "boys in dresses." These efforts need to start now, well in advance of any campaign. Groups like EQCA and TLC should begin holding media training sessions in cities around the state, especially in non-urban areas like the central coast and Central Valley. For those in urban areas, the meetings will also be helpful as trans people can network and strategize. Stories should be pitched to mainstream media outlets of all types: newspapers, magazines, and TV. And if the initiative does qualify for the ballot, trans people must be front and center of the campaign to defeat it. Trans people need to be in the ads. Trans kids need to be in the ads with their supportive parents.
The sooner people throughout the state know about trans people and hear their stories, the better it will be if we have to band together next year to fight a transphobic, discriminatory ballot initiative.