The Baltimore Sun is reporting that the new law, sponsored by Councilman Tom Quirk , will add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing county laws that prohibit discrimination in housing, at work and in public places. The net result will be to allow men dressed as females to use women's restrooms.
The bill was created after a transgendered woman named Chrissy Lee Polis was attacked in a women's restroom at a McDonald's after other occupants discovered that he was actually a man.
Women say a bill allowing these men to invade their restrooms will expose them to all kinds of dangers from sexual predators who will simply have to dress like women in order to gain access to potential victims in the city's public restrooms.
According to a powerful op-ed by Ruth Jacobs, M.D., President of Maryland Citizens for a Responsible Government, a long line of concerned women testified before the council about the dangers of this bill only to have their concerns dismissed by Quirk who asked them, but "what would Jesus do?"
"Yes, what would Jesus do about people like Thomas Lee Benson, a cross-dressing sex offender re-arrested for invading a female locker room?" Jacobs asks. "Benson explains why he can't stop dressing like a woman: 'In order to achieve that goal of having you think I am female, I have to do things that victimize other people... Yes, I have done things in the past that are bad, but I would also remind people I do not go around having sex with young girls anymore...' Would Jesus make it easier for Benson to enter the women's locker rooms -- again? That seems to be what Quirk believes."
When told that his bill discriminates against women by taking away privacy rights, Quirk once again dismissed the women, saying they could not be discriminated against because they are the "majority" now and no longer a protected minority.
"Why aren't we 'majority' females able to use public bathrooms without worrying about men with lipstick and high heels barging in on us and our small children?" Jacobs countered. "Is it because we do not have the political power that transgenders and their gay lobby have? After all, we are just wives, daughters, mothers, and grandmothers, and not lobbyists with funding and a staff."
She went on to say that gender identify laws dismiss women's realistic concerns and enforce acceptance of a mental illness over reality.
"When women are not respected by society, they are more likely to lose rights. Women recognize each other. We have messy periods, change diapers, adjust our bra straps, buy tampons, apply makeup, yak with other women, and breastfeed - all in the ladies' room. We are vulnerable to crazy voyeurs, pedophile predators, and rapists. Our privacy and protection is sacrosanct to us and therefore should be to society as well. Yet Quirk seems surprised that women do not want any law that would open our protected areas, our bathrooms and locker rooms, to males."
Male and female citizens of Baltimore outraged by the bill gathered outside Quirk's office yesterday to express their concerns.
Allison Baird, who organized the protest, told the Sun she didn't think anyone should be discriminated against in housing or in the workplace, but said she was concerned about how easy it will be for male sexual predators to take advantage of the new bill.
"When you put it in black and white and make it public, it then becomes an issue of people who might want to come up and take advantage of it," Baird said. "There's already too much crime in bathrooms."
U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R), also joined Baird's protest.
"It's giving special rights to a group of individuals over the rights of other individuals," Harris said. "That's not the right thing to do in America."
Quirk insists the law is an anti-discrimination bill. "This bill says it's not okay to discriminate against gay or lesbian or transgendered people. I'm actually surprised that there's still people out there who think it's okay to discriminate."
The bill will be voted upon tonight and it is expected to pass.
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