ANCHORAGE - The group supporting Proposition 5, the bill that could add sexual orientation and transgender to the Anchorage anti-discrimination code, said the debate has taken an “ugly turn.”
One Anchorage said the commercials being run by the opposition are offensive and stigmatizing.
They said the cartoon characters used in the ads depict gay and transgender individuals and are “dehumanizing stereotypes.”
Supporters of Prop 5, including former Governor Tony Knowles and Mayor Rick Mystrom, addressed the media today and called for the No on 5 campaign to pull their commercials.
“Several people behind those ads are people that I consider friends and colleagues, so it's always difficult to confront people that you really care about, but friends these ads are wrong,” said Michael Burke.
In an email from No on 5 supporter Jim Minnery, he said because proponents of Prop 5 refused to provide a definition of “transgender identity” in the proposed law, it is very difficult to determine what a transgender looks like.
Minnery also said they support the ads and have no plans of pulling them off the air.
Results released recently by a Dave Dittman poll show 50 percent of Anchorage voters surveyed will be voting yes on Proposition 5.
Here is Minnery's email to KTVA in its entirety:
Because proponents of Prop. 5 refused to provide a definition of
"transgendered identity" in their proposed law, it is very difficult to
determine just what a transgendered individual is or looks like. Here's how
the American Psychological Association describes it -
"Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender
expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with
the sex to which they were assigned at birth. Gender identity refers to a
person's internal sense of being male, female, or something else; gender
expression refers to the way a person communicates gender identity to others
through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice, or body characteristics."
It's entirely plausible that our fictional, trans-cartoon character might be
perfectly comfortable with his/her outward appearance based on what his/her
"internal sense" is that day. It might be that he/she was feeling like
"something else" that day. It is very revealing that Prop. 5 proponents find
our character "offensive." Are they saying that transgendered individuals
have to fit into a specific outward mold in order to be affirmed by the GLBT
community?
Anchorage Employment Law Attorney Thomas Daniel's comment in the Anchorage
Daily News about the ad was very telling: "... I don't think we would know
the answer until it comes up in practice." In other words, Daniel knows
that when key terms are left undefined in a law, the sky's the limit. It
means whatever an ACLU attorney thinks it means, provided they can get at
least one liberal judge to agree with their interpretation.
We stand by the ads, believe they provide a necessary educational moment for
voters and we have no intention of pulling the ads.
Jim
