XPost: alt.atheism, alt.society.liberalism, alt.politics.homosexuality   
   XPost: az.politics   
   From: nobody@nymu.eu   
      
   PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona House panel late Wednesday approved a   
   measure targeting transgendered people who want to use bathrooms   
   of the gender they identify with, voting along party lines to   
   advance a bill that protects business owners who bar the   
   practice.   
      
   The 7-4 vote concluded an hours-long parade of transgendered and   
   straight people who tried to persuade the panel to oppose   
   Appropriations Committee chairman Rep. John Kavanagh's bill. The   
   crowd broke out in chants of "shame, shame, shame" as the vote   
   on the bill sponsored by the conservative Republican passed.   
      
   Kavanagh had radically altered the bill after being faced with   
   an outcry from advocacy groups, but that wasn't enough to keep   
   about 200 opponents from attending an 8-hour long hearing that   
   concluded with several hours of testimony on the bill.   
      
   The original bill would have made it a crime for a transgendered   
   person to use a bathroom other than his or her birth sex.   
      
   The new bill instead seeks to shield businesses from civil or   
   criminal liability if they ban people from restrooms that don't   
   match their birth sex.   
      
   It was prompted by the recent passage of a Phoenix anti-   
   discrimination ordinance that social conservatives said   
   prevented businesses from keeping transgendered people out of   
   locker rooms, showers and bathrooms.   
      
   Kavanagh said it would subject businesses to criminal charges   
   and expose little children to "naked men in women's locker rooms   
   and showers,"   
      
   But the parade of witnesses Wednesday, many transgendered, said   
   that was not only fear-based but just flat-out wrong.   
      
   "Search as you might there is not enough evidence that there is   
   any risk in allowing a person with gender identity to use a   
   restroom of their choice," said Claire Swinford, a Tucson   
   resident who was born a man but identifies and dresses as a   
   woman.   
      
   In fact, she said, being dressed as a woman actually puts her at   
   physical risk from being attacked by a man while trying to use a   
   men's restroom.   
      
   "What your bill attempts to do is sacrifice my personal safety   
   for somebody else's sense of discomfort."   
      
   Patty Medway, a transgendered woman who was born a man, said   
   she's been using female bathrooms for years without a problem.   
   She called on Kavanagh to back away from his effort.   
      
   "I've been using washrooms for 15 years and I don't want to be   
   discriminated against, and I'm scared to go to a male washroom,"   
   she said.   
      
   Maureen Robinson, a Tucson woman, called transgendered people   
   using bathrooms silly.   
      
   "It has been a non-issue, it will continue to be a non-issue,   
   unless this bill becomes law," she said.   
      
   But Kavanagh, backed by the six other Republicans on the bill,   
   quickly advanced the bill anyway. It now goes to the full House   
   for consideration after a routine review.   
      
   Only one person testified in favor of the bill. He said the   
   Phoenix ordinance trampled on the rights the business community.   
      
   "I don't believe that the opposing side should be able to impose   
   their views on others," said Nohl Rosen, a Phoenix small   
   business owner. "The way I feel, this is just the liberal left   
   forcing their views on the rest of us"   
   Democrats on the panel all voted against advancing the bill,   
   which one called "over the top."   
      
   "Frankly. I think this is an embarrassment to our state,' said   
   Rep. Stefanie Mach of Tucson.   
      
   Kavanagh began the hearing by telling the crowd his original   
   bill went too far, and that he had completely re-written it   
   after hearing criticism, including some from his own caucus in   
   the House.   
      
   "What I'm doing is pre-empting these cities from prosecuting   
   businesses that say they want separate (facilities)," he said.   
   "I'm basically resetting the clock to before Phoenix passed the   
   law."-   
      
   http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Arizona-House-panel-OKs-   
   softened-transgender-bill-4387675.php   
      
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