This And That In The News – Going To The Birds

"This And That In The News" is about articles in the news that have caught my eye and I want to share or comment about. These are the articles that caught my attention last week.

Okay, my first story is about birds or more to the point about transgender birds…

Transgendered bellbird found in New Zealand
WiredNews
By Duncan Geere
14 October 12

Biologists at the Zealandia eco-sanctuary in New Zealand have spotted a bellbird that exhibits features and behaviour of both male and female members of the species.

The bird hatched in early 2011, and DNA testing then showed it as female, but since then its development has been rather different to normal female korimakos.

Normally, female bellbirds have a white feather pattern but the chick bean to show signs of the dark plumage normally seen on male birds. It also began to behave in a masculine way, not flitting between flowers like a female bellbird but instead moving with purpose, ready to defend its territory.

The bird's calls are unusual too. It makes both male calls and the distinctive "chup chup" normally heard from females, but the latter are louder and more frequent that is normal.

The article goes on to say that this is now the first trans-bird that was found and that there are also gay birds. I guess this article kind of disproves that being gay or trans in not natural.

The next story still comes to us from south of the equator from South Africa and show that there is justice for us,

Transsexual triumphs over abusive neighbour
iOL News
By SAPA
October 13, 2012

Roodepoort - A Roodepoort Equality Court ruling, condemning a local woman's harassment of her transsexual neighbour, has been hailed as a victory for the victims of hate speech.

“People have been allowed to say what they wanted to vulnerable groups of our society for far too long without suffering the consequences,” lawyer Michal Johnson of Eversheds in Johannesburg said on Friday.

“The ruling sent out a clear message that the act afforded protection to victims of hate speech and that the courts would enforce their constitutional rights.”
[…]
The magistrate ruled that Van Staden's conduct amounted to hate speech and unfair discrimination in terms of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000.

He ordered Van Staden to pay her former neighbour R27 300 for his relocation expenses, psychological counselling and the humiliation, pain and suffering she had caused him.

The neighbor would call friends over to watch the trans-woman and she ever went so far as to talk about kidnapping her. Note also the news article continued the harassment by referring to her with male pronouns.

The next news story is from Idaho where a town is trying to a non-discrimination ordinance that includes gender identity and expression…

Pocatello Moves To Become Idaho's Second City With Gay Rights Law
NPR
by Jessica Robinson
September 11, 2012

Pocatello, Idaho is on track to become the state’s second city to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. The city council there is drafting an ordinance to protect gays and lesbians in matters of housing and employment.
[…]
Pocatello is located in southeast Idaho, which is typically conservative and heavily Mormon. But little opposition to the ordinance has emerged.

So what is the first city to ban discrimination against LGBT people?

City OKs anti-discrimination ordinance
Bonner County Daily News
By CAMERON RASMUSSON Staff writer
December 23, 2011

Idaho legislation already protects citizens from discrimination against age, disability, race, color, national origin, religion and sex. The ordinance enhances state law by adding sexual orientation and gender expression to those protected classes. A human relations review board of at least three mayor-appointed individuals will review discrimination complaints regarding employment, housing or public accommodation and discard frivolous matters.

The next couple of articles are about students, the first article is about the Toronto school system adopting a gender inclusive policy…

Toronto school board introduces policy for transgender students, staff
The Star
Karissa Donkin Staff Reporter
October 04, 2012

The Toronto District School Board has introduced a new set of guidelines that spell out what kind of accommodation the board must offer to “transgender and gender non-conforming students and staff.”
[…]
The guidelines were created as a result of a student’s recent human rights complaint, Toronto District School Board spokesman Ryan Bird said.

As usual the guidelines were created after the fact instead of having them before there were problems.

The next story is about a school refusing to use the proper name of the student…

School won't call transgendered student by male name
Decision based upon Catholic beliefs
WishTV
Jay Hermacinski
Friday, 12 Oct 2012

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - School administrators at Cathedral High School say they won't recognize a transgender student. Their decision is based upon Catholic beliefs.

Officials at Cathedral High School say last spring a female student and her parents met with administrators. The student had decided to change genders and wanted to be referred to as a male.
[…]
But, after consulting with the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, the school made it clear its teachers and staff would not address the student by a male name.

“We wanted to make sure they would realize we still recognize her as a female, call her by the name she used when she enrolled as a freshman, and treat her throughout the day as a female student,” said Worland.

Okay, my view of this is based on if the school is open to all students or if they receive public funding. If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then I believe to have a legal obligation to recognize the student’s gender. If the answers is no, then it is a private school and not subject to the law. Once a business (and schools run by a church is a business) opens their doors to the public than they have to obey all laws including the anti-discrimination laws or if they are receiving government funding they also must obey all laws.