These Bills Are Steaming Piles Of Transphobic, Homophobic Trash

seattlish:

Gosh, the Leg session is just so fun. Let’s all gather ‘round the campfire to read a dumpster fire of a bill introduced by a pair o’ bigots. 

HB 2782, introduced today as an amendment to existing anti-discrimination legislation (49.60 RCW), is called the “

Washington gender privacy protection act” reads as follows:

(1) Nothing in this chapter or in any other provision of state
10  law grants the right to any person who possesses male anatomy or male
11  deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to enter into or use a public or private
12  facility that is open to the public and is or has been segregated by
13  gender for the private use of those who possess female anatomy or
14  female deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) including, but not limited to, a
15  bathroom, restroom, toilet, shower, locker room, or sauna.
16  (2) Nothing in this chapter or in any other provision of state
17  law grants the right to any person who possesses female anatomy or
18  female deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to enter into or use a public or
19  private facility that is open to the public and is or has been
20  segregated by gender for the use of those who possess male anatomy or
p. 1 HB 2782
1 male deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) including, but not limited to, a
2 bathroom, restroom, toilet, shower, locker room, or sauna.

Are. You. Fucking. Real.

Introduced by Rep. Tom Dent (R, Moses Lake) and Rep. Brad Klippert (R, Kennewick), the bill seeks to explicitly preclude trans folks and non-gender-binary individuals from using the restrooms which they find the most safe and comfortable. It’s a direct response to the clarifying language that was quietly enacted by the Human Rights Commission in December, allowing trans people to use bathrooms based on their identity, not their DNA (because seriously fuck that). 

As if that’s not bad enough, the bill has an ugly brother that’s also been introduced—this one focusing on the “religious freedom” to be a fucking transmisogynist AND ALSO just straight-up homophobic jerk. Here’s part of that text:

In general. Notwithstanding any statute, rule, or order to the contrary, the state shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that:

(a) Marriage is and should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman;

  (b) Sexual relations are properly reserved for marriage;

© Male (man) and female (woman) refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics by time of birth.

WOWWWWWWW. What year is it again?

Klippert is also a sponsor on this bill, alongside Reps Graham Hunt (R, Orting), Matt Shea (R, Spokane Valley), Jesse Young (R, Gig Harbor), David Taylor (R, Moxee), Elizabeth Scott (R, Monroe), Hans Geiger (R, Puyallup), and Jeff Holy (R, Cheney). 

All are members of the House GOP, who had the audacity to tweet a fucking MLK tweet on Monday (some fight for freedom you’re leading!), and have not yet commented on these two abominations yet today. 

Ansel at the Stranger predicted that this would happen/forecast it a few weeks ago; though it’s easy to get conned by Seattle’s liberalish-ness, remember that a lot of this state is staunchly red and staunchly invested in oppression and bigotry. 

Interestingly, the ultimate right-wing manbaby, Rep Matt Manweller, is not included on any of these bills. That hasn’t stopped him from running his bigoted mouth about trans people, though, calling it “silliness.”

Yes, because it’s fucking hilarious that trans people are being murdered at historic rates and that legislation like this 100% supports the kinds of transmisogyny that spurs hate crimes. 

Of course, Governor Jay Inslee gets it; he’s unlikely to let any of this transphobic, homophobic nonsense become law if he has anything to do with it, which he will.

Still, though, it’s fucking repulsive that these human beings are a.) being paid by our tax dollars and b.) will be supported every step of the way by people who thoroughly refuse to move away from the outdated idea that gender is anything other than a social construct and that a person’s genitalia is any kind of determining factor regarding their personality, their presentation, or their person as a whole. 

H/T to Billy Duss for bringing these pieces of drek to our attention.