The Dallas City Council voted unanimously to slip “gender identity” transgender specific language into an existing LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance on Tuesday. Councilman Philip Kingston insist the changes are not a “bathroom bill,” even though the verbiage is alarmingly similar to the Houston equal rights ordinance that, less than a week ago, voters resoundingly rejected.
Houston’s Proposition 1 dubbed HERO (Houston Equal Rights Ordinance) would have allowed men to access women’s bathrooms, showers, and changing areas based on gender identification which Breitbart Texas’ Lana Shadwick covered comprehensively.
Dallas “gender identity” supporters maintain the new ordinance does not add or take away any protections. Others assert this is only a matter of paperwork. The City Council’s Quality of Life Committee Chair Sandy Greyson claims it is not a change to the existing 2002 ordinance under Chapter 46 of the Dallas City Code that already protects the transgender community, just a better definition of them. The committee gave their blessing on the ordinance, approving it on Monday.
Councilman Art Medrano, who heads up the city’s LGBT task force and wrote the policy’s language that passed by the full city council on March 5, 2014, said the new ordinance only clarifies that “a person’s gender is determined by the person’s own perception of their gender,” meaning real or perceived perception. Coupled with a revision that adds “or gender identity and expression” to the City’s definition of discrimination, Medrano claims will provide greater anti-discrimination protections for the transgender community. Source
