A Major Blow To Our Rights

You remember the Maines’ Maine Supreme Court case?

That was where the then teenager Nicole Maines was prevented from using the girl’s bathroom and locker room and the Maine Supreme Court ruled in her favor saying that she is a girl and has to be allowed to use the facilities of her gender.

Well now another state Supreme Court has ruled,

In ruling against Planet Fitness, Michigan court concludes trans women aren’t women
Thinkprogress
By Zack Ford
July 30, 2018

A Michigan appeals court has ruled that transgender women are not women and that a former Planet Fitness customer has a legal case against the chain of gyms.

The case dates back to 2015 when Yvette Cormier saw a transgender woman — whom she described as a “man” — in the women’s locker room of her Midland, Michigan Planet Fitness. She complained to management and warned other customers, which prompted the gym to cancel her membership for “inappropriate and disruptive” behavior. Cormier sued Planet Fitness for over $25,000 in damages, alleging that she suffered a violation of privacy, as well as embarrassment, humiliation, severe emotional distress, and damage to her reputation.

A Michigan lower court ruled against her and last year, a state court of appeals agreed that she suffered no intrusion of privacy.

But in April, the Michigan Supreme Court revived the case and sent it back to the appellate court to examine a legal question it hadn’t initially considered. And this time, the panel found that Planet Fitness violated its own contract with Cormier, but the ruling requires a foundation of transphobia.
[…]
In other words, the court agreed with Cormier’s perspective that transgender women are not women and that she never should have been expected to understand that a locker room for women would include transgender women. By not disclosing that it was taking the opposite position — respecting transgender people according to their gender identity — Planet Fitness was “failing to reveal a material fact” in an attempt to “mislead or deceive the consumer,” as the relevant Michigan law reads.

This is BAD!

Michigan does not have legal protection for us but the Michigan Civil Rights Commission has ruled administratively that we are covered by the existing laws.

There are many ramifications here with “A Michigan appeals court has ruled that transgender women are not women” this could wipe out all our advances in Michigan and overturn the Michigan Civil Rights Commission findings.