States: This Could Be Heaven Or This Could Be Hell

Depending upon where you live it could be heaven or hell.

Hell:

State, County School Officials Punt Responsibility for Enforcing West Virginia Transgender Student-Athlete Ban
The Intelligencer
By Steven Allen Adams
August 24, 2021


CHARLESTON — State and local education officials and West Virginia’s regulator of sports at middle and high schools continue to deflect responsibility for a new law prohibiting transgender female student-athletes from playing in girls’ and women’s sports, according to court documents.

The Harrison County Board of Education, the state Board of Education and the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission filed responses Friday to their earlier motions to dismiss a complaint brought in May by Becky Pepper-Jackson, an 11-year-old transgender student at Bridgeport Middle School who wished to join her middle school’s girls’ cross-country team.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin granted Pepper-Jackson a preliminary injunction in July preventing enforcement of House Bill 3293, relating to single-sex participation in interscholastic athletic events. Pepper-Jackson is represented by Lambda Legal, the state and national chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union, and law firm Cooley LLP.

Heaven:

Victory for Transgender Illinoisans
My Radio Link
Aug 17, 2021


CHICAGO – On Friday, August 13, 2021, the Second District Appellate Court of Illinois affirmed the expansive protections of the Illinois Human Rights Act (Act) for transgender individuals. In Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sommerville (2021 IL App (2d) 190362), the Court addressed an issue of first impression, holding that transgender individuals in Illinois have the right to access restrooms corresponding to their gender identity. Meggan Sommerville, a transgender woman, filed a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) against her employer Hobby Lobby for not allowing her to use the women’s restroom. The Court agreed that Hobby Lobby violated the Act both as an employer and as a place of public accommodation by discriminating against Ms. Sommerville based on her gender identity.

“I’m pleased to see the court recognize Hobby Lobby’s stance against its employee as what it is: discrimination based on gender-identity,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Ours is a welcoming and inclusive state, and the Illinois Department of Human Rights will go toe to toe with any employer or business that tries to treat individuals differently because of their identity. Just last month, I convened a round table with leaders in the state’s transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming community to connect with those on the ground, fighting these fights every day, on the work still left to do. In our continued efforts to shape a safer Illinois, my administration is on a mission to lift up and empower those who too often have been overlooked or forgotten.”

Heaven/Hell

New law gives Virginia transgender students more rights in school – here’s how districts are reacting
WRIC Ch 8
By: Alex Thorson
August 17, 2021


RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — How transgender and nonbinary students are treated in Virginia’s public schools will change this fall.

During the 2020 session, the General Assembly passed a law that would create a new, statewide set of guidelines, or “model policy” for school districts. Districts are now tasked with adopting the new model policy by the start of the 2021-2022 school year, but some Virginia school boards are pushing back against the changes.

So far, a handful of school boards, predominantly in western Virginia, have voted against adopting the new policy. These are the districts so far, according to Equality Virginia:

Hell:

Michigan senate bill targeting transgender high school athletes threatens girls
Detroit Free Press
By Brad Emons
August 17, 2021


[...]
Senate Bill 218, currently sitting in the Education and Career Readiness Committee and introduced by Sen. Lana Theis, has been co-authored by 11 other Michigan Republicans.

The bill would prohibit girls and transgender boys from competing on boys’ teams, and boys and transgender girls from competing on girls' teams. However, the Michigan High School Athletic Association, which has a policy to deal with such situations, has called the bill “unnecessary.”

The MHSAA currently allows girls to participate on combined sports teams including football, wrestling, golf, tennis and swimming.

Heaven & Heaven:

Attorney General Bonta: Transgender Americans Are Entitled to IDs Matching Their Gender Identity


OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today led a coalition of 15 attorneys general in an amicus brief in Corbitt v. Taylor in defense of the right of transgender Alabamians to obtain driver’s licenses that correspond with their gender identity. Under Alabama’s Policy Order 63, transgender Alabamians are unable to access driver’s licenses that accurately reflect the gender and sex with which they identify unless they have undergone “gender reassignment surgery.” In the friend-of-the-court brief filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the coalition blasts the patently unconstitutional policy and urges the appellate court to uphold the district court’s ruling finding that the policy was an impermissible form of sex discrimination.

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AG Tong Defends Rights Of Transgender Americans To Change IDs
"Barring transgender people from having driver's licenses consistent with their gender identity causes unnecessary stigma and isolation."

Patch

Press release from the AG's Office:
Aug. 18, 2021


Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general, led by California, in an amicus brief in Corbitt v. Taylor in defense of the right of transgender Alabamians to obtain driver's licenses that correspond with their gender identity. Under Alabama's Policy Order 63, transgender Alabamians are unable to access driver's licenses that accurately reflect the gender and sex with which they identify unless they have undergone "gender reassignment surgery." In the friend-of-the-court brief filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the coalition blasts the patently unconstitutional policy and urges the appellate court to uphold the district court's ruling finding that the policy was an impermissible form of sex discrimination.

"Discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression is wrong and barring transgender people from having driver's licenses consistent with their gender identity causes unnecessary stigma, isolation and harm," Attorney General Tong said. "This Alabama policy is unconstitutional and flies in the face of common sense and modern practices."

Depending on which state you live in your life could be either heaven or hell! It shouldn't be that way that is why we need to pass on a federal level the Equality Act