A Tale Of Two Arizonas

Arizona is quite the mixed bag as far as states go. They have an enormous immigrant population, but they seem to loathe immigrants. They have a sizable LGBT community and yet they seem to despise the Ls, the Gs, the Bs and the Ts.

But one town in Arizona, Bisbee, an old copper mining town that has become a sort of artist enclave in southern Arizona just might be the first city in the state to allow civil unions to any couple, regardless of sexual orientation.

Last week, the day before the US Supreme Court began its hearings on Prop H8 and DOMA, Bisbee City Council members voted to allow civil unions; the vote was a unanimous seven to nothing, making it highly likely it will pass on a final vote in two weeks.

“I think it’s time. We’ve been working on this as a country for a long time.”—Mayor Adriana Zavala Badal

Of course, it’s just a city ordinance, so it would only be effective within Bisbee and would only affect certain benefits and policies within the city, but, hey, Bisbee, a town of 5,600, is taking a stand for equality.

The proposal, though, actually used the same language that was in a civil union bill proposed in the Arizona Legislature—a measure that will likely fail as Arizona is a GOP-controlled state and the Republicans, for the most part, are not LGBT-friendly. Arizona law, dating back to 1996, defines marriage as between one male and one female, and five years ago, the people of Arizona voted to add that discrimination to their Constitution. And that leads many to think that the state will challenge Bisbee’s equality ordinance, even though there is no law on the books regarding civil unions.

Still, it’s Arizona, the same state where…..

A House of Representatives House panel just approved a measure targeting transgendered people who want to use bathrooms of the gender with which they identify. The 7-4 vote ended after hours of testimony from both transgendered and straight people who tried to persuade the panel to oppose the bill. When the bill was approved, the crowd shouted, “shame, shame, shame”.

The original bill would have made it a crime for a transgendered person to use a bathroom other than his or her birth sex, while the new bill shields businesses from civil or criminal liability if they ban people from restrooms that don’t match their birth sex.

This new hate law was prompted by the recent passage of a Phoenix anti-discrimination ordinance that conservatives say prevents businesses from keeping transgendered people out of locker rooms, showers and bathrooms. They played the ‘We must protect the children’ card, feeding into both hate and ignorance regarding transgendered people.

And yet many transgendered people testified that this was a fear-based bill. Claire Swinford, a Tucson resident who was born a man but identifies and dresses as a woman, said, “Search as you might there is not enough evidence that there is any risk in allowing a person with gender identity to use a restroom of their choice.”

And, she made the point that, since she identifies and dresses as a woman, forcing her to use a men’s bathroom, put her at risk, but, you know, who cares about transgendered people?

See, here’s the deal: if a transgendered women—born male, but dressing and identifying as female—uses a female bathroom, she will use a stall, and close the door, and no one will know what kind of genitals she may have; the same goes with female-to-male transgendered people. It won’t be in anyone’s faces, it’ll be a private issue and none of anyone’s business.

But in Arizona, the land of racial profiling, anti-LGBT rhetoric, and Constitutional discrimination, I guess a persons’ private business is really the business of government.

Sidenote: A doctor's office in New York City has this sign on their bathroom door. Maybe one day Arizona will be as understanding? [h/t to Towleroad.com]

Arizona Town Poised To OK Civil Unions For Same-Sex Couples

Arizona House Panel Passes Anti-transgender Bathroom Bill