The City Council in Oxford, Alabama, has introduced a new law in order to prevent Target from allowing transgender people to use the bathrooms and changing rooms that match their gender identity.
The new law, that was voted in unanimously, makes it illegal for anyone to use a public bathroom or changing room that does not match the gender on their birth certificate. The law applies within both the city limits and police jurisdiction.
Under the new law violations must be reported by an eyewitness to the event, or be committed in front of a police officer to be able to be prosecuted. Those who are found to be breaking the law will face a fine of $500, or face six months in prison.
Council President Steven Waits said that the decision came following an 'overwhelming' number of complaints from city residents regarding the decision made by the shopping chain Target to allow inclusion for transgender people.
Waits also said that the law was introduced by he and the council 'not out of concerns for the 0.3 percent of the population who identify as transgender, but to protect our women and children'. He went on to say that the measures are not discriminatory.
Personally, I have to disagree with Mr Waits, this new law is completely discriminatory. You have admitted to introducing it purely as a response to Target trying to give fair treatment to transgender people. You label trans people as sex offenders and a threat to women and children. This law is discriminatory, and you are disgusting.
You have made your city no better than Mississippi and North Carolina. You have made Oxford a place that will be know as a city that discriminates, that allows bigots to make laws and to condemn marginalised groups. History will not look favourably on you and those who voted for this new law, and frankly, you disgust me.
Amy.
xx
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