Republican Candidate Makes Anti-Trans Bigotry "Top Priority"

[Oskuro]

The thing is, by the time they feel comfortable using the opposite gender restroom a transwoman IS NOT A MAN, and would likely draw more attention going into a men's room.

I agree, but they don't, they keep fighting so no matter how far a person has gone with their gender reassignment, they are still identified as their genetical gender. They can't understand that by that point a trans man is no longer a man. Scratch that, they don't want to understand it.

So yes:

Silly Chewie!
Logic is for adults, not bigots.

[Ryan Thunder]

For fuck's sake, don't these imbeciles have anything better to waste their time on? Why can't they all just go play Quake or something?

[lance]

'boys' (and 4-16 year old 'girls') tend to be too young to be going through transgender hormonal and surgical therapy, barring exceptional medical reasons, should make this pretty obvious.
.

I thought Transgender surgery was considered more effective with younger people?

[Oni Koneko Damien]

'boys' (and 4-16 year old 'girls') tend to be too young to be going through transgender hormonal and surgical therapy, barring exceptional medical reasons, should make this pretty obvious.
.

I thought Transgender surgery was considered more effective with younger people?

I don't have the statistics with me, but I'm pretty certain a vast majority of surgery happens to people over eighteen years of age. The main reasons likely being that in the country it's still viewed mostly as an elective surgery, and that due to cultural views against it, what kid is ever going to go to their parents and tell them they need a sex change? The only time it's likely to happen is when the psychological problems and hormonal issues become undeniably harmful, and the parents in question also happen to be open-minded enough to consider it a viable option.

[Spyder]

It's not so much that yet another Republican is spewing some warped puritanical nonsense about gender identity, it's that it seems to be at the top of his list. Seriously, aren't there any more pressing issues to attend to? Does preventing transgender ex-males from entering the Ladies Room take precedence over all the other issues the US is facing at the moment? This is an issue for a future Secretary of State? Is there some sort of transgender bathroom useage pandemic going on?

[Bakustra]

It's not so much that yet another Republican is spewing some warped puritanical nonsense about gender identity, it's that it seems to be at the top of his list. Seriously, aren't there any more pressing issues to attend to? Does preventing transgender ex-males from entering the Ladies Room take precedence over all the other issues the US is facing at the moment? This is an issue for a future Secretary of State? Is there some sort of transgender bathroom useage pandemic going on?

He's running for Michigan's Secretary of State. Handing out driver's licenses is one of his two responsibilities. The other is to ensure voter registration. In a sense, this does fall into his tiny bailiwick, but in another sense, the Supreme Court ought to slap this down under the Mathew Shepard Act if this pinhead gets his way into high office. Of course, the chances of that happening are pretty slim.

Michigan is in dire straits at the moment, more so than the US, because we already had dismal economic prospects. Of course, all that doesn't matter when we've got ourselves some minorities to oppress! Woo! Michigan, fuck yeah! We already banned gay marriage, we've already got more KKK groups than anyone outside of the deep South, now let's move on to crushing the transgendered. Maybe by the end of the decade we'll have the glass ceiling implemented within the law.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

A quick note-- correct term for male to female is transwoman, abbreviated from transitioning to woman; much more polite. transman would be transitioning to man. In both cases if you've had complete reassignment surgery and hormone therapy completed the scientifically accurate terms usually used in research papers and so on are XY sex-inversed female and XX sex-inversed male.

With that said, I really expect transphobic bigotry to be the last socially acceptable bigotry because it's just so alien to how people are socialized and because our religion makes no exception for it, and because it just brings to mind so much freakshow imagery. And there's so few transpeople in the world, with such poor economic clout, as to lack the same kind of positive associations the GLB community has forged for itself. But of course when conservatives go after transsexuals they're going after GLB people too because they don't see them as being any different (which is why solidarity is so important), and because if your laws don't protect transpeople, you can police gender to get out of anti-discrimination acts. "Oh, we're not going to hire you because you're a woman who looks like a man" against a short-haired dyke wearing trousers to an interview, for an excellent example. Any anti-discrimination act regarding the GLB community is therefore utterly toothless without the inclusion of transpeople because lack of strict gender conformity, which is normal in the GLB community, can then be used to claim the discrimination was under the legal, against transpeople, instead of illegal, against GLB, category.

And that's exactly what is happening here, a conscious attempt to make all people, regardless of whether or not they're actually trans, conform to rigid gender stereotypes without directly assailing the much larger and more politically powerful GLB section of the GLBT community.

[Serafina]

'boys' (and 4-16 year old 'girls') tend to be too young to be going through transgender hormonal and surgical therapy, barring exceptional medical reasons, should make this pretty obvious.
.

I thought Transgender surgery was considered more effective with younger people?

It just might be that the actual surgery is a bit better when you do it at young ages - but it is generally not a big difference, since it is just a surgery at one specific bodypart. Being healthy and healing fast is more important than your actual age.

However, the hormone treatement is vastly more effective if you start it at young ages, especially for transwoman.
If you start at young ages, you do not have to bother with male bone structure, a lower voice, a beard and so on.
There is still a lot you can do if you start after puberty, in your twenties - but it is definately a difference.
It's a bit easier for transmen, since they get their lower voice and beards andway and because the bone structure is a tad less important - starting too soon can actually stop your growth, and being short is already a problem for most transmen.

[Dave]

I don't suppose we could get away with switching to unisex bathrooms, could we?

[Darth Wong]

Here is the actual full text of Paul Scott's January 15 announcement letter.
http://restarttheparty.wordpress.com/20 ... llo-world/

Friends:

From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success. As we evolve out of the bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler and battle a national high unemployment rate, this November we have the chance to start over. These challenges give us an historic opportunity to rebuild as a state, and restart as a party. We have the chance to elect a new set of leaders who will guide us into the next generation and set Michigan on a path to victory.

I have traveled the state over the past few months and talked with many of you about the issues we face and the lack of leadership in Lansing. I share your frustration. Our government lacks vision and direction.

The conversations I have had with Republican activists have convinced me that I have a role to play in 2010.

I was honored to have been urged to run by several grassroots GOP leaders at the Draft Root Beer Reception on Mackinac Island. Please click here to see the invitation. I was encouraged by the support of many grassroots activists by winning the Kent and Oakland County straw polls for Secretary of State toward the end of last year. I heard your voice and am ready to answer your call to duty.

I am excited to announce that I have filed to run for Secretary of State.

I will give our party the fresh start it needs — someone who will continue to fight the Lansing establishment for what is right. Together we will make Michigan a better state.

We need a Secretary of State who will be fiscally responsible and can balance a budget in these tough times. In 2009 alone I voted “no” on over $300 million dollars in tax increases and helped pass a balanced budget without raising taxes. I proudly worked against and voted “no” on the State Police Headquarters, which was purchased on a $70 million dollar no-bid contract from Governor Granholm’s donor and neighbor and will cost the state roughly $5 million per year over the next 20 years. One of my first bills was to phase out the toxic and job-killing Michigan Business Tax surcharge. Lansing just doesn’t get it; raising taxes only increases unemployment.

As Secretary of State I will look to continue Secretary Land’s policies that have saved valuable taxpayer dollars. I will also seek to better use the internet and online networking systems to reduce the need for citizens to leave their homes to do state business.

There are also policies that I will work to change:

• I will stand strong against illegal immigration by verifying a valid social security number before issuing anyone a driver’s license, an issue Representative Dave Agema has been pushing for 3 years.
• I will actively push to encrypt the traceable RFID chip in the enhanced driver’s license.
• I will make it a priority to ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license in any circumstance.
• I will work tirelessly to repeal the over $100 million dollar tax increase on drivers in the form of driver responsibility fees.

After traveling around the State the past few months, I have not heard any of the other candidates for Secretary of State addressing the serious issues mentioned above.

I believe in order to rebuild Michigan we need a leader who is not afraid to take a stand on these tough issues. We can’t continue electing the same people to different offices and expect different results.

Values are important to me. In the legislature I worked tirelessly across party lines to introduce HJR II which defines the right to life as starting at fertilization. This was the first time such a bill was ever introduced in Michigan. A lot of people talk about being pro-life; I take action.

The next Secretary of State must defend the integrity of the ballot, which is under constant attack from groups attempting to compromise the sanctity of our elections. Organizations such as ACORN do not have the right to steal elections and I will not be afraid to let them know it.

We need a Secretary of State who understands the laws that govern elections and the licensing of drivers. Holding a Master’s in Public Policy and completing a Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School, my education uniquely prepares me to tackle the core duties of this office.

There is no policy without victory, however.

• I am the candidate who knows how to win in November.
• I am a proven vote-getter in southeast Michigan.
• I won my first term in the state house in the most Democratic year since the Watergate era in a Democratic County that voted over 65% for Barack Obama.
• I won that tough campaign by appealing to non-traditional voters with a conservative message.

For too long Republicans have let the Democrats divide us based on age, race, gender or socio-economic status. Enough is enough.

I stood up to the Democrats and called them out on their politics of division then – and I intend to do that again in 2010.

Join me in this quest to shake up Lansing and serve as your next Secretary of State.

I need your help and I ask for your endorsement. Please, join the movement. Together, we will restart our party and turn Michigan around.

Sincerely,

(signature)

Paul Scott

Candidate for Secretary of State

I can't believe he actually had the gall to say this part:

For too long Republicans have let the Democrats divide us based on age, race, gender or socio-economic status. Enough is enough.

I stood up to the Democrats and called them out on their politics of division then – and I intend to do that again in 2010.

Wow. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. As for the rest of it, the Democrats really need to do something about this tax-cut rhetoric. Yes, it's true that nobody likes paying taxes. It's true that businesses claim that lowering taxes will create more jobs. But we've been cutting taxes more-or-less steadily for 30 years now. Where are all the jobs? All we have are huge deficits. Sooner or later, somebody has to stand up and shout "bullshit" at these people. All they're doing is destroying the future by creating huge deficits with their tax cuts. America as a nation has to grow up and start paying the bills, for fuck's sake. This "don't pay till whenever" culture is destroying the country.

The value-voter thing is pretty typical Republican fare, to be honest. I don't see why it's surprising or news. He's promising to make people into citizens at the age of -9 months too. I hope he takes that to its logical conclusion and makes it illegal to eat a bad diet, smoke, drink, or take any kind of drugs (including OTC drugs unless specifically prescribed by a doctor) when you're pregnant. That should help him sew up the womens' vote.

[Simon_Jester]

The thing is, by the time they feel comfortable using the opposite gender restroom a transwoman IS NOT A MAN, and would likely draw more attention going into a men's room.

I agree, but they don't, they keep fighting so no matter how far a person has gone with their gender reassignment, they are still identified as their genetical gender. They can't understand that by that point a trans man is no longer a man. Scratch that, they don't want to understand it.

A piece of bitter irony that just struck me about this:

You would never find any person who gets angry at the notion of a transwoman being able to put "F" on their driver's license instead of "M" who actually thinks for a minute that the transwoman is a real man. When they look at a male-to-female transsexual, they don't think the person they're looking at is "really" a man any more than she thinks she is.

But while they've got a very strict binary model of sex and gender... they conveniently forget the excluded middle whenever it's time to start hurting people.