Orange County: Trustees Meet Again Over Letter
Los Angeles Times
Orange County: Trustees Meet Again Over Letter Westminster board lets the public comment on mailing its account of the gender controversy. Again it votes to send it.
By Arlene Martínez, Times Staff Writer

Facing litigation by the Orange County district attorney's office, trustees in the Westminster School District on Friday affirmed their earlier decision to distribute a letter explaining their controversial position on a state law – but, this time, after allowing public discussion on the issue.

The trustees had been told that their earlier decision to send the letter violated state law that governs public meetings because the public had not been allowed to read the letter and weigh in before trustees voted to distribute it.

In the letter, the board majority defends its decision to challenge the wording of a state law intended to protect gays, transsexuals and others from harassment. They opposed the law's provision allowing students and teachers to define their own gender.

To satisfy prosecutors, trustees met in special session Friday to open the matter for public debate. They got an earful.

"How much are you willing to spend to advance your agenda?" asked parent Patsy Ashcraft, to loud applause from a crowd of about 45.


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GRAANJ TO RETURN UNSPENT PART OF EQUALITY GRANT TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN
TRANSGENDER ORGANIZATION CRITICIZES HRC’S DOUBLE STANDARD ON TRANS INCLUSION


The Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey, announced today that it will return the unspent portion of a $3,500 Equality Grant to the Human Rights Campaign. The action is being taken to protest HRC’s continuing ambivalent position on transgender inclusion in federal civil rights and hate crimes legislation.

“Despite our hopes that HRC leaders would come to fully embrace transgender inclusion at the federal level, they continue to support and lobby for a civil rights bill, ENDA, that covers sexual orientation only, and federal hate-crimes legislation that does not have clear and explicit language protecting transgender Americans,” said Barbra Casbar, GRAANJ’s Political Coordinator. “We call on the entire GLBTI community to join us in sending the message to HRC that there is only one genuine path toward equal rights in this country, one that fully includes all Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Americans.” GRAANJ applied for the HRC Equality Grant last summer, to support its efforts to persuade the New Jersey Legislature to write explicit protection for transgender and gender-different people into the state’s Law Against Discrimination.

“While the grant has helped us to carry out valuable work in New Jersey, we feel that the entire GLBTI community is at a crossroads on the issue of full inclusion. We cannot keep silent about the failure of the community’s most powerful lobbying organization in Washington, to embrace inclusion, once and for all,” said Ms Casbar.