10/21/2009
Anti-Gays Distributing Ugly, Fear-Mongering Flyers in Kalamazoo
Anti-gays in Kalamazoo, Michigan are employing ugly scare tactics in the campaign against the city's non-discrimination ordinance, distributing flyers featuring images of cross-dressing gay and transgender men intended to scare voters into believing women will be endangered by being forced to share restrooms with the men pictured.
Watch a report, AFTER THE JUMP...
The ordinance, which has already been passed by the city commission, would make it illegal to discriminate against LGBT people in matters of employment, housing, and public accommodation.
The fear-mongering tactics used in the flyers are similar to ones we saw used in Gainesville, Florida, when "pro-family" groups there released an ad claiming (predatory) transgender people would be allowed to choose which restroom they wanted, thereby putting children at risk.
Thankfully, voters in Gainesville refused to buy the scare tactics, and voted to keep the city's anti-discrimination law in place.
Will Kalamazoo's voters be fooled? Watch WOOD's report, AFTER THE JUMP...
In related news, a CVS manager who was an active participant in the anti-gay Gainesville campaign was arrested recently for what? Filming women in his store's bathroom.
The Gainesville Sun reports: "The CVS Pharmacy manager who allegedly admitted Friday to filming women in his store's bathroom was an active participant in the 2008 charter amendment to 'keep men out of women's restrooms.' Jonathan Matheny, 27, was charged with one count of video voyeurism after a customer told police she had discovered a cell phone equipped with a camera under a pile of tissues in the CVS bathroom at 125 S.W. 34th St. Police are looking for other victims. The petition drive in the summer of 2008 was aimed at a city ordinance that provided rights, including equal access to public accommodation, for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals. ... 'It's a bit hypocritical when that group was allegedly putting the petition on the ballot to protect women in bathrooms and then the manager of the store who was allowing the petition gathering was in fact preying on women in bathrooms,' said Terry Fleming, spokesman for Equality in Gainesville's Businesses, the political action committee created to oppose the charter amendment."
Posted 8:40 AM EST by Andy Towle in Discrimination, Drag Queens, Michigan, Transgender | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Fuck Michigan - Id never go to that hatin state!
Posted by: Disgusted American | Oct 21, 2009 8:50:01 AM
I have a couple friends that are transexuals, but these photos look fake.
Posted by: Antny | Oct 21, 2009 8:53:49 AM
Does "ugly" refer to the flyers, or the trannies?
Posted by: Nick | Oct 21, 2009 9:07:20 AM
Hey I'm from Michigan, don't say that
Posted by: Carl | Oct 21, 2009 9:09:29 AM
I do not see how this is a scare tactic.
This is reality and something people do not like and the gay and transgender community does not care about how straight and gay women feel about pre-op men in the ladies room.
This is one of those radical positions where it is clear the gay community does not want to consider the impact on others.
We have many angry women in my office because a guy who is pre-op went to HR and got the approval to use the ladies room.
That is just wrong and rude to impose that situation on many people to let one person "feel better".
Organizations should create private restrooms for these people.
And please do not bore me with unisex bathroom non-sense. Life is not Ally McBeal.
Posted by: RJP3 | Oct 21, 2009 9:29:37 AM
Why are these "family" associations so obsessed with bathrooms? The ordinance is about fairness in housing and employment, not about who uses a certain bathroom. It's just fascinating to me that the "family" groups that claim the moral high ground must rely on lies and deception to scare people into voting their way.
I live in Kalamazoo, and even the anti-ordinance yard signs use misleading language to trick people into voting against it:
"Vote No. No Discrimination."
You see, if they aren't free to discriminate, then they're being discriminated against. Make sense? I didn't think so either, and the ordinance still allows faith-based organizations to discriminate to their bitter hearts' content.
Posted by: Jonathan | Oct 21, 2009 10:15:37 AM
My Dad's from Michigan. And he hasn't been there in 40 years. I can see why.
Posted by: Attmay | Oct 21, 2009 11:56:41 AM
"I do not see how this is a scare tactic."
You don't, really? You don't think reducing a LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance to narrow, unfounded fears about transgender people molesting children in bathrooms to be a scare tactic? Sorry, the discomfort of your co-workers does not warrant stripping away basic civil rights in housing and employment from LGBT citizens. Perhaps they should think about that rather than worrying about someone in the bathroom.
And, not surprisingly, the real scary people in the bathrooms are the anti-gay bigots who are demonizing us while preying on women themselves.
Anti-discrimination ordinances work fine in any number of places around the country. They're not scary. So the right cooks up the bathroom fears to distract people from the idea of basic fairness. Your co-workers need to get their heads out of the toilet.
Posted by: Ernie | Oct 21, 2009 7:43:07 PM
This ordiance has nothing to do with using bathrooms!!
THIS IS A SCARE TACTIC!
This ordiance is to protect LGBT RIGHTS to recieve fair housing and employement. Its sad that conservatives were actually able to convince anyone otherwise.
Because most cities go around making bathroom ordiances right??
LMAO!
Posted by: Morgan | Oct 23, 2009 10:03:04 PM