November 7, 2018
VETERAN’S DAY
Special Edition
O PINION
Page 17
MCS Still in
Business
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$50.00
A small distance/travel
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or more
$30.00 each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$50.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
and Hallway
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services) : $30.00
Heavily Soiled Area:
$10.00 each area
(Requiring Pre-Spray)
Area/Oriental Rug Cleaning
Being Trans Was Scary. Now It’s Terrifying
New order
would deny
we exist
r obin C arver
I’m a trans wom-
an, and I’m terrified.
Already, on any
given
afternoon,
I’m regularly and
publicly catcalled,
mocked, laughed at and treated as
an object of social disgust. Trans
women are one of the most as-
saulted and murdered demograph-
ics in the United States, especially
when they’re non-white.
We’re the frequent and favor-
ite target of even liberal-leaning
culture outlets like Saturday Night
Live. Even Democratic darling
Kamala Harris repeatedly fought
to deny life-saving medical treat-
ment to incarcerated trans women
when she served as California’s
attorney general.
Even lesbian, gay, and bisex-
ual advocacy organizations like
the Human Rights Campaign took
decades to support trans activism.
Worse still, in 29 states we can
by
be legally fired or evicted from our
homes simply for being trans. And
a recent Department of Health and
Human Services policy allows
any medical provider to deny
trans people care of any kind,
even in emergency rooms.
Some small progress
came with the Obama ad-
ministration, which updated
guidelines for changing the
sex marker on important ID
documents. The Obama-era
Departments of Education, Health
and Human Services, and several
others began adopting more inclu-
sive terminology that expanded
already existing civil rights pro-
tections to trans people.
In May of 2016, Attorney Gen-
eral Loretta Lynch sued North
Carolina over its controversial
“bathroom bill.” In a speech de-
livered at that time, Lynch said,
with specific reference to the trans
community, “This country was
founded on a promise of equal
rights for all, and we have always
managed to move closer to that
promise. … It may not be easy, but
we’ll get there together.”
That promise is gone.
The New York Times reports
that the Trump administration’s
Department of Health and Human
Services is working across multi-
ple agencies to establish an offi-
cial definition of sex as “a person’s
status as male or female based on
immutable biological traits identi-
fiable by or before birth.”
The memo continues, “The sex
listed on a person’s birth certif-
icate, as originally issued, shall
constitute definitive proof of a
person’s sex unless rebutted by re-
liable genetic evidence.”
This definition goes to absurd
lengths to define broad swaths of
trans people as explicitly belong-
ing to the sex they were coercive-
ly assigned at birth. It flies in the
face of the broad consensus of the
medical community that treats
trans people and worldwide stan-
dards for trans health care.
It’s a fundamental denial of our
most basic and important claim:
that our sex and gender cannot be
accurately identified at or before
birth, and they are not sufficiently
explained by a binary of female/
male, woman/man, or XX/XY.
It’s the policy equivalent of
telling trans people that we don’t
exist. It’s flatly absurd.
This policy, if put into effect,
would expose trans children to
violence and psychological trau-
ma at school. It would deny trans
adults critical access to appropri-
ately gendered homeless shelters,
prisons, and restrooms. It would
specifically eliminate the basis on
which we could make any case for
discrimination of any kind at the
federal level.
Even worse, Congress has no
say over the implementation of
this policy. In theory, it could be
overturned in the courts, but a
conservative majority there is un-
likely to support trans rights.
Even when Trump leaves office
(whether after 2020 or 2024) the
next president would have to undo
two to six years of precedent to
get us back to where we are now
— which they could only do if the
right-wing Supreme Court doesn’t
strike a blow in the intervening
time.
Being a trans person in Ameri-
ca was already scary enough. Now
it’s downright terrifying.
Robin Carver is a development
assistant at the Institute for Poli-
cy Studies. Distributed by Other-
Words.org.
Regular Area Rugs
$25.00 Minimum
Wool Oriental Rugs
$40.00 Minimum
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $70.00
Loveseat: $50.00
Sectional: $110 - $140
Chair or Recliner:
$25.00 - $50.00
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services) : $5.00
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949