Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Order In The Court!

There have been a number of trans-items in the news lately, so good some bad. First the bad news…
Arrested Transgendered Woman Speaks to FOX 26 News
By: Isiah Carey
Monday, 22 Nov 2010
MyFox News

HOUSTON - Tyjanae Moore is the transgendered woman who was cited and thrown behind bars by a Houston police officer because she was caught using the ladies restroom. "I felt so belittled going to a jail over something so simple and stupid," says Moore.
[…]
Moore was arrested Nov. 17 at the Houston Public Library in downtown. The offense? Police say despite being a transgendered female, she is still officially a man -- a man who was caught using the ladies' restroom.

"When I came out, the female told me I wasn't supposed to be and I asked if there was any particular reason why not. She said I'm a transgendered female and I was really shocked that they even stopped me for this," says Moore.

Even though she is seen as a protected class by the City of Houston, Moore entered a guilty plea.
Bad legal advice from her lawyer. There have been a number of similar cases in Houston where the courts have ruled in favor of the trans-person. She should have never been arrested in first place and in the second place she should have plead not-guilty.

Now the good news…
Judge Appointment Angers Pastors
First transgender judge in Texas
By: Sally MacDonald
Wednesday, 17 Nov 2010
MyFox News

HOUSTON - Hundreds of area pastors say Houston Mayor Annise Parker is pursuing a personal and radical agenda at City Hall.

They're not happy with one of the mayor's appointments. Today Mayor Parker announced her associate municipal judge appointments, and one is longtime transgender activist Phyllis Frye. Frye becomes the first transgender judge in Texas and only the third in the country.

City Council unanimously approved the appointment. Mayor Parker addressed the new judges and appeared to fight back tears when acknowledging Frye.
[…]
"She is a well-qualified attorney. She has done civil and criminal work for decades. She is also a certified professional engineer so she has pretty good knowledge that will help with building code violations. I think she's a great addition to our judiciary here as an associate municipal judge. I'm very proud I was able to nominate her and she agreed to serve."
[…]
The Houston Area Pastoral Council, which represents about 300 churches, has a big problem with the appointment. Executive Director Dave Welch says for years Frye has been undermining Texas marriage laws. He says the appointment confirms Mayor Parker, who is openly gay, is making her lifestyle a central part of her policy agenda.

"This is not just a benign act. This is someone (Frye) who is very well known as an aggressive activist on sexual diversity issues and very much against the mainstream of most of the people....As we all know municipal court judges are the first step in the elevation of different judgeships. They typically go on to civil district court judges or family court judges and beyond, so this is not a benign appointment. It's a statement. It really is. We'll be calling on the churches to stand up and be involved," said Welch.
Hey… Wait a minute, are we talking about the same city? Yup. Kind of like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

So the mayor appointed a highly qualified person for the judgeship, someone who understands the law and the building code and the Christian Churches see the appointment as a diminishment of their rights? Why? Is it because they are afraid of someone who will see both sides of the case and threat them both equally or is it because they want someone who is biased and bigoted to rule in the churches favor all the time.

Now out to San Francisco where another transgender person is now a judge…
Victoria Kolakowski, First Openly Transgender U.S. Trial Judge, Elected In California
Huffington Post

OAKLAND, Calif. — A 49-year-old California patent lawyer has been elected as the nation's first openly transgender trial judge.

Alameda County elections officials say Victoria Kolakowski beat prosecutor John Creighton 51 to 48 percent – a margin of nearly 10,000 votes – in the Nov. 2 election to fill the vacancy in California's Superior Court.
I’m still against electing judges, but I happy to have another highly qualified trans-woman as a judge and the voters saw the person, not that she's a trans-woman.

Lastly, lets go to another type of court…
Transgender Man Is on Women’s Team
By Katie Thomas
November 1, 2010
New York Times

Monday was a lazy day for Kye Allums, a typically busy junior playing Division I basketball at George Washington University. Without any classes or practice on his schedule, Allums woke up late, stopped in at a team meeting, worked on a class project, then took an afternoon nap.

But Monday was anything but ordinary because it was the day the world would learn about the decision Allums had embarked on one year earlier: to come out as a transgender man playing on a women’s basketball team.

Advocates for transgender athletes said they believed Allums was the first Division I college basketball player to compete publicly as a transgender person, although not the first to play as a college athlete. In a statement, a George Washington official said Allums would remain on the women’s basketball team.

No comments:

Post a Comment