Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Friday 13 april 2018

Anchorage voters are 1st in U.S. to defeat ‘bathroom bill’

By MARK THIESSEN and NBA pulled games
Associated Press from the state. An Associ-
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ated Press analysis con-
— Voters in Alaska’s largest ducted before lawmakers
city have become the first rolled back the restrictions
in the U.S. to defeat a so- found the law would cost
called bathroom bill refer- the state more than $3.76
endum that asked them to billion in lost business over a
require people to use pub- dozen years.
lic bathrooms and locker In Alaska, those against the
rooms consistent with their bathroom bill included oil
gender at birth. company BP, the Wells Far-
Anchorage voters turned go Bank and Visit Anchor-
down a proposition that age, which represents the
would have repealed part city’s tourism industry.
of a city ordinance that al- “The experience of North
lowed people to use pub- Carolina seems to be a
lic bathroom and locker pretty good case study on
rooms according to their the national reaction, kind
gender identity and would of significant and fairly unit-
have instead required ed national reaction to this
them to use those facilities kind of ordinance or law
according to their gender In this photo taken Monday, April 9, 2018, is a sign on a business door urging defeat of a proposition or proposition,” said John
at birth. that would have rolled back protections for transgender residents in Anchorage, Alaska. Kauffman, an Anchorage
Voting by mail and in per- Associated Press lawyer who campaigned
son ended on April 3 and Alliance, a public policy dations, including allow- jurisdiction to defeat such against the measure.
the repeal effort was los- partner of the conservative ing transgender people to an effort in a stand-alone Anchorage is much more
ing 53-47 percent as of Focus on the Family organi- use bathrooms and locker ballot measure, said Alex isolated than North Caro-
Monday, with nearly 78,000 zation. rooms that correspond to Morash, spokesman for the lina and the bathroom
votes counted and only Researcher Autumn Stroup their gender identities. National LGBTQ Task Force measure could have hurt
several hundred to be said in an email that track- Lennon was 14 when her Action Fund. the city, he said.
counted when tallying ing city regulations is more parents sent her from Alas- The Anchorage proposition “Just from a purely eco-
ends on Friday. Supporters complicated. ka to Utah for residential was filed by Jim and Kim nomic standpoint, it seems
of the referendum conced- The issue of transgender therapy, where conversion Minnery and their group, like a really bad idea,”
ed defeat. bathroom access moved therapy was practiced and Alaska Family Action. Kauffman said of the prop-
Transgender activists hailed into the national spotlight in the transgender teen was While conceding defeat, osition.
the victory, which they said 2015, after the Houston City placed in a boy’s dorm. Jim Minnery said “we’re en- The LGBT community has
could provide momentum Council adopted a nondis- “I was forced to go by pro- couraged that 47 percent seen a series of wins over
ahead of similar upcoming crimination ordinance that nouns and a name I didn’t of the people in Anchor- the years, from more le-
votes, including one in Mas- included protections for identify with, and was regu- age didn’t buy into the $1 nient policies allowing gays
sachusetts in November. transgender people using larly harassed and bullied million infusion that the out- to openly serve in the mili-
“Not only is this a victory restrooms based on gender for who I was and simply not side LGBT activist groups tary to legalized same-sex
for Anchorage, but a vic- identity. being able to be known as poured into the city.” marriage.
tory nationally,” said Lillian Opponents of the ordi- myself,” she said. Groups opposed to his ef- Most were focused on the
Lennon, who campaigned nance gathered enough Lennon took the semester fort reported receiving lesbian, gay and bisexual
against the Anchorage signatures for a repeal ref- off from the University of about $826,000 in dona- part of the acronym, said
vote. erendum, then mounted a Alaska Anchorage to cam- tions while Minnery’s cam- Jeremy Goldbach, an as-
“Transgender discrimina- campaign using the slogan paign against the initiative, paign effort, Yes on 1 Pro- sociate professor of social
tion is popping up every- “No Men in Women’s Bath- and said her parents spoke tect Our Privacy, raised work at the University of
where, and this victory rooms.” By a margin of 61 out against it. nearly $140,000. Southern California who
means that as a nation we percent to 39 percent, the “I wasn’t able to live my life With Alaska’s economy specializes in LGBT issues.
can stand together against anti-bias ordinance was re- fully, and I absolutely would emerging from a recession, There has been criticism
discrimination,” she said. pealed. not want anyone under influential city groups were from the transgender com-
Currently 19 states plus the In Massachusetts, voters any circumstances to have wary about a possible eco- munity that the “T’’ gets left
District of Columbia include will be asked in Novem- to go through what I had to nomic backlash if the re- off, he said.
gender identity as a pro- ber whether they want to go through,” Lennon said. peal was successful. “I think that has given room
tected class in statewide repeal a 2016 state law After the election is certi- That happened in North and rise to these bills like in
public accommodations barring discrimination on fied next week, Anchorage Carolina in 2016 after state North Carolina and these
laws, according to Colo- the basis of gender iden- will hold the distinction of lawmakers passed a bath- proposals trying to come
rado-based Family Policy tity in public accommo- being the first U.S. voting room bill and the NCAA out of Alaska,” he said.q