Last May the governor of Colorado signed a senate bill (SB 200) that added sexual orientation and sexual identity as classes of people deserving protection from discrimination in housing, employment, public services and other areas of life that straight folks take for granted. The bill also barred “discrimination in places of public accomodation” — which the religious right and conservative commentators immediately interpreted as “bathrooms.” Given the definitions laid out in the statutes, this interpretation was not unreasonable:

SECTION 6. 24-34-601 (1) and (2), Colorado Revised Statutes, are
amended to read:
24-34-601. Discrimination in places of public accommodation.

(1) As used in this part 6, “place of public accommodation” means any
place of business engaged in any sales to the public and any place offering
services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations to the public,
including but not limited to any business offering wholesale or retail sales
to the public; any place to eat, drink, sleep, or rest, or any combination
thereof; any sporting or recreational area and facility; any public
transportation facility; a barber shop, bathhouse, swimming pool, bath,
steam or massage parlor, gymnasium, or other establishment conducted to
serve the health, appearance, or physical condition of a person; a campsite
or trailer camp; a dispensary, clinic, hospital, convalescent home, or other
institution for the sick, ailing, aged, or infirm; a mortuary, undertaking
parlor, or cemetery; an educational institution; or any public building, park,
arena, theater, hall, auditorium, museum, library, exhibit, or public facility
of any kind whether indoor or outdoor. “PLACE OF PUBLIC
ACCOMMODATION” SHALL NOT INCLUDE A CHURCH, SYNAGOGUE, MOSQUE,
OR OTHER PLACE THAT IS PRINCIPALLY USED FOR RELIGIOUS PURPOSES.

(2) It is a discriminatory practice and unlawful for a person, directly
or indirectly, to refuse, withhold from, or deny to an individual or a group,
because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, marital
status, national origin, or ancestry, the full and equal enjoyment of the
goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a
place of public accommodation or, directly or indirectly, to publish,
circulate, issue, display, post, or mail any written, ELECTRONIC, or printed
communication, notice, or advertisement which THAT indicates that the full
and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges,
advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation will
be refused, withheld from, or denied an individual or that an individual’s
patronage or presence at a place of public accommodation is unwelcome,
objectionable, unacceptable, or undesirable because of disability, race,
creed, color, sex, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, marital status, national origin, or
ancestry.

Sounds good to me. Here’s where the conservative critics have been not so reasonable. In fact, another political cartoonist, Chuck Asay crystallized the homophobic-transphobic fear-mongering that immediately followed the governor’s signature in this odious cartoon:

My buddy Matt Bors rightly awarded this cartoon the Turd of the Day.

A lot of people have written intelligently on this issue — mostly notably Autumn Sandeen at Pam’s House Blend, which includes an audiofile of a “OMG TEH BATHROOMS GOT PERVIES” ad that ran on right wing Colorado stations. For me it just comes down to this: everyone has to use the bathroom. Why stand in the way?

For fun, check out this post by The Watcher at the Fundies Say the Darnedest Things forum.

Tags: homophobia, SB 200, transgender, transphobia

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 12:29 am and is filed under In Contempt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.