6A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY HAIRY KANSAN
LAWRENCE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
City votes against addition to policy
Protection for gender identity and expression will not be added to Lawrence legislation
BY ZACH WHITE zwhite@kansan.com
Rita Hester was murdered — stabbed repeatedly in her home. She was a transgender woman from
Allston, Mass., a suburb of Boston. The Boston transgender community held a candlelight vigil and procession through Allston in her memory.
A year after the 1998 murder, the first Transgender Day
of Remembrance was observed near the anniversary of her death to raise awareness of violence against transgender people.
Today is the tenth year of the observance. After 10 years, transgender people are still fighting for equal rights.
"I think that even the fact that we are entertaining this coverage speaks to how progressive Lawrence is."
Last February, the Kansas Equality Coalition (KEC) started an effort to have the Lawrence city commission change the city's policy to include protection from discrimination based on "gender identity and expression." The group had succeeded more than a decade before by having sexual orientation added to the discrimination policy.
Thursday, the Lawrence Human Relations Commission decided not to recommend a change in city discrimination policy to protect gender identity.
After more than a half hour of discussion, the commission voted no three to six.
Thursday's decision came at the end of nine months of forums and meetings.
Transgender issues were raised last Nov. when Queers & Allies and the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center started an annual transgender panel called "Tranny Talk." The panels, last year's and this year's, were scheduled to coincide with the Day
Rememberance. The time between the panels has been quite active.
Jay Pryor, a member of KEC and one of the "Tranny Talk" panelists, said he was encouraged by Lawrence's openness.
On campus, Student Senate changed its discrimination policy to include gender identity last spring. This change applied to students, but not faculty or staff.
"I think that even the fact that we are entertaining this conversation speaks to how progressive Lawrence is," Pryor said. "This is Kansas."
Last month, the policy change passed by Student Senate was brought before the University Senate Executive Committee. It was passed unanimously, extending discrimination protection to the staff and faculty.
Fresh off the University vote, and a full room at the second "Tranny Talk," hopes were high for yesterday's Human Relations Commission meeting.
When the change was proposed last February, the city commission voted to have the issue sent to the Human Relations Commission. The commission, which meets quarterly, was to consider the ramifications of changing the policy and report back to the city commission with a recommendation. The commission's next meeting was in May.
missioner, said he didn't really see the relevance of the change.
Mike Amyx, Lawrence city com
"These sorts of issues are more state issues," Amyx said earlier this week, "but we'll wait and see what the Human Relations
Commission recommends."
When the Human Relations Commission met in May, they decided that they needed more information to make a decision, and set up some public forums on the issue.
According to Maggie Childs, chairwoman of the Lawrence chapter of KEC, one of the meetings was set up to discuss the legal ramifications of the policy change. But the meeting was advertised as discussing the issue in general
The commission made a similar decision at its meeting in August, deferring a decision until the Nov. 19 meeting.
which led to a lot of comments not focused on the legal matter at hand.
Check out video of a transgender panel discussion at Kansan.com.
"It makes more sense to make policy expecting compliance."
At the meeting, commissioners
JOSEPH JARVIS Lenexa law student
discussed their concerns over the change before letting people in attendance voice their thoughts.
The crowd raised several concerns. Several people said they feared for their daughters' safety,
"It's a blow to the transgender community. I think it represents fear and ignorance more than anything."
should transgender women be allowed in women's bathrooms.
MAGGIE CHILD5
Chairwoman of Kansas
Equality Coalition
Joseph Jarvis, Lenexa law student, recited a statistic offered earlier in the hearing, that the city had not received one complaint of sexual orientation discrimination in the past two years. Jarvis said he
Childs rebutted that there have never been any reported cases of transgender people attacking anyone in bathrooms, while there are several cases of transgender people being attacked.
"It makes more sense to make policy expecting compliance," Jarvis said.
thought the last policy change was positive and this one would be too.
Many speakers said that the cost of enforcing this policy would not be worth it, thinking that there would be a large number of complaints coming in
if the policy was changed.
"It's a blow to the transgender community," Childs said, "I think it represents fear and ignorance more than anything."
CAMPUS Regents vote to name center for Hemenway
Edited by Megan Morriss
Former Chancellor Robert Hemenway has a permanent home at the University of Kansas Medical Center. The Life Sciences
Innovation Center will now be known as the Robert E. Hemenway Life Sciences Innovation Center afterward
mous vote by the Kansas Board of Regents yesterday morning.
Arna Hemenway, son of the former chancellor, said his parents were excited and grateful when he spoke with them Thursday morning.
"They are really, really excited" Hemenway said. "My dad always has been very committed to KU Med and its research. He's very humble, but I can tell he is very happy."
The Life Sciences Innovation Center is a three-year-old, $57.2 million research facility
that houses 300 people and 129 research projects. The center's work focuses on liver disease, reproductive sciences, neurology, proteomics and diabetes research. According to a press release,the center's projects are worth more than $109 million in total funding.
Vanessa Lamoreaux, associate director of communications for the Kansas Board of Regents, said the building would be a monument for the former chancellor's contributions to academics and research.
"During his 14 years of service, his leadership positioned KU as a national academic and research leader among public higher education institutions,"Lamoreaux said.
Although he said his father was too humble to throw a big celebration, Arna Hemenway planned to commemorate the achievement with his mom and brothers.
"We're definitely celebrating." Hemenway said. "It feels very nice as his family to see an appreciation for how much he's done echoed in the University"
ODD
Daniel Johnson
LOS ANGELES — Customs officials say they got a surprise when they found 316,000 glass bongs disguised as Christmas ornaments at the Los Angeles harbor.
ODD Customs finds bongs disquised as ornaments
U. S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday that agents found the highly decorated drug pipes in 860 boxes shipped from China. The cargo, estimated to be worth more than $2.6 million, had been described as glass figures and Christmas ornaments.
Customs spokeswoman Cristina Gamez said the importer remained under investigation and there have been no arrests. She says it is illegal to import or export drug paraphernalia.
The bongs were seized Tuesday at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex.
Excessive force not used in clown arrest at shop
NEW YORK — A federal jury has ruled that New York City police didn't use excessive force when they arrested a professional clown who left a suspicious device that turned out to be a balloon inflator inside a coffee shop.
Alexander Alhovsky sued following his 2006 arrest, which stemmed from an investigation of a report of a suspicious package with tubes and wiring at a Manhattan Starbucks.
Alhovsky went to the Starbucks the next day and was arrested after officers saw he had a similar device.
The arrest was voided when a police search of Alhovsky's home found nothing suspicious, but he claimed that he suffered physical and mental injuries.
Associated Press
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