This And That In The News

"This And That In The News" is about articles in the news that have caught my eye and I want to comment on. The first item that caught my attention is about what else, restrooms…

Denny's reverses restroom policy on transgender use
Sun Journal
By Judith Meyer, Managing Editor/days
Jul 12, 2011

LEWISTON — The corporate owner of Denny’s restaurants in Maine has reversed its restroom policy in an agreement with a transgender customer, and now permits all customers to use restrooms consistent with their gender identities.

The change, according to Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders attorney Janson Wu, “is common sense.”

The agreement, reached in March and announced on Monday, is the result of a lawsuit brought by Brianna Freeman against the chain’s Auburn restaurant after Freeman was denied access to the women’s restroom there.

The agreement was announced jointly by Realty Resources Hospitality, which owns six Denny’s restaurants in Maine, and the Boston-based GLAD Transgender Rights Project, which represented Freeman in her civil action.

The new restroom policy applies to all Denny’s restaurants in Maine.

This agreement is important because this case and a case involving a child who transitioned in school were the reason that Rep. Ken Fredette (R) introduced the bill LD 1046 “An Act to Amend the Application of the Maine Human Rights Act Regarding Public Accommodations” that would have forced people to use the restrooms of their biological gender. The bill was defeated.

Meanwhile, over in England they are also having problems with restrooms…

Sainsbury's 'told transgender woman to use disabled toilet'
BBC News
12 July 2011

A transgender woman who was told to use the disabled toilets at a Surrey supermarket has rejected the store's apology.

Stephanie Collins, 55, was born a male but has regarded herself as female for much of her life, and has considered herself transgender since 2009.

Sainsbury's wrote a letter apologising following the incident with a member of staff at its Walton-on-Thames store.

But Miss Collins dismissed it, saying: "They haven't addressed the issue."
[…]
According to the Human Rights Commission, transgender is "an umbrella term used by people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from their birth sex", regardless of whether they choose to have gender-reassignment treatment.

Why can’t we just pee in peace?

The next article is about insurance, which many trans-people do not have and those that do usually have an exclusion against coverage for anything related to transgenderism. Such as the coverage that I have…

Transsexual Surgery

For any treatment leading to or in connection with transsexual surgery, except for sickness or injury resulting from such treatment or surgery.

This policy is a little bit more progressive than some. Some policies do not cover therapy or complication due to surgery. However, more companies and municipalities are covering therapy and surgery.

Cities move toward transgender health care
USA Today
By Tracy Loew
July 12, 2011

Ten years after San Francisco became the first local government in the nation to offer transgender health care benefits for their employees, other public employers are beginning to follow suit.

Last month, city commissioners in Portland, Ore., voted unanimously to offer employees insurance covering gender reassignment surgery. Portland is in Multnomah County, which began providing similar benefits a year ago.

Berkeley, Calif., officials are working with the city's providers to offer transgender health care, spokeswoman Mary Kay Clunies-Ross said. Similar discussions are underway in Seattle and Fort Worth.

I believe that denying coverage is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 since it discriminates because of sex. I would like to see a federal civil rights case brought against a company; however, with the way the conservatives have packed the Supreme Court, I doubt that we would win. Their view of sex would probably be the 18th century view of sex.