Diaries

Segregation: not just another word for privacy

Submitted by Robyn on Wed, 10/14/2015 - 6:06pm

Township High School School District 211 in Palatine, iL has a transgender student. In 2014, the girl was allowed to play sports, but has been forced to change in a separate room located a long way away from the gym.

The ACLU assisted the student to file a complaint with the DOE, calling the district's stance "blatant discrimination, no matter how the district tries to couch it."

We're talking about somebody who is being denied fair and equal treatment as compared to the other students, only because she is transgender.

--John Knight, ACLU of Illinois

Federal officials responded to the complaint, which was filed about a year and a half ago with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, by saying the school is in violation of the Title IX gender equality law, according to the ACLU and district officials. A representative of the civil rights office could not be reached Monday.

Following precedent in two similar cases in California, DOE's Office of Civil Rights informed District 211 in a not-yet-public decision that depriving the student of equal access to facilities violates Title IX’s sex nondiscrimination protections, calling such treatment "inadequate and discriminatory."

Open Thread - Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Submitted by gulfgal98 on Wed, 10/14/2015 - 7:00am

Good Morning, 99%'ers!

Sometimes an entry starts off as on one subject and somehow veers in a decidedly different direction. Such is today's Open Thread subject matter. Often I will be looking up a definition or a spelling or information on something that piqued my curiosity and then along the way, get diverted into something else. It is either curiosity or a lack of attention. Whatever the cause, it can lead to interesting things to learn.

Dem. Representatives petition the TSA on behalf of trans passengers

Submitted by Robyn on Tue, 10/13/2015 - 2:20pm

In the wake of the September 21 harassment by TSA officers of transgender women Shadi Petosky at Orlando International Airport for having a "genital anomaly", 32 members of Congress have demanded answers from Transportation Security Chief Peter Neffenger.

While we understand the importance of vigilant airport security, we cannot countenance a security protocol that subjects transgender travelers to this level of indignity. To that end, we urge TSA to complete a thorough review of its current procedures and address any shortcomings that may, however unintentionally, subject transgender travelers to inequitable or improper treatment by security personnel.

Open Thread 10-13-15

Submitted by JtC on Tue, 10/13/2015 - 8:13am

Good morning 99percenters!
Climate news dump and music by Doc Watson.

'Capitalism is Mother Earth's Cancer': World People's Summit Issues 12 Demands
The establishment of an independent climate tribunal to hold wealthy nations accountable emerged as a central goal of conference in Bolivia

Decrying capitalism as a "threat to life," an estimated 7,000 environmentalists, farmers, and Indigenous activists from 40 countries convened in the Bolivian town of Tiquipaya for this weekend's World People's Conference on Climate Change, aiming to elevate the demands of social movements and developing countries in the lead-up to upcoming United Nations-led climate talks.

Wow. The astounding grip the Saudis have on Western discourse.

Submitted by lotlizard on Tue, 10/13/2015 - 5:07am

The West Rightly Condemns Isis Vandalism of Ancient Sites – But Not When the Saudis Do It

Explosives pulverize historic sites in the Middle East, bulldozers erase ancient tombs and shrines, historic forts are torn down and Ottoman facades destroyed. The home of the favourite wife of the most revered man in an entire religion is even turned into a block of toilets. How can the world prevent this wicked desecration and extinction of a heritage that belongs to all mankind? I am, of course, referring to those iconoclastic Wahhabi-Salafist Muslim head-choppers … the Saudis!

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