Replies to post #11938 on Bible (Bible)

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"Gender Identity" Becomes Protected Class in Gainesville

The city commission of Gainesville, Florida, passed an ordinance last month that adds "gender identity" to the list of protected classes of people. The goal of the ruling is to prevent the denial of employment, housing, public accommodation and credit based on "gender identity." The ordinance, which is intended to protect transgendered people, defines "gender identity" as "an inner sense of being a specific gender, or the expression of a gender identity by verbal statement, appearance, or mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth."

But not all members of the city commission supported adding the new protected class to the city bylaws. Ed Brady, one of the dissenting commissioners, opposed the ordinance because it wasn't a "live-and-let-live" type of law. "It requires other people to change. It makes a claim on other people's property that, because of this identity crisis, other people are having to accommodate them. No other protected class requires that," said Brady. Also, other opponents of the ordinance believe that the city's definition of gender identity as "an inner sense of being a specific gender" is ripe for abuse by sexual predators who will use the protection for access to women's bathrooms. "I call it an open invitation to sexual predators who aren't confused about their gender, but looking for any opportunity to victimize women and children," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

Perkins is encouraging concerned citizens to contact the city commission in Gainesville by calling Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan at [phone], or by emailing [e-mail].