When Omar Miskinyar opened 14th Street NW nightlife spot Policy earlier this year, he invested in the unexpected. Inside the sprawling restaurant, bar, and lounge, ornate chandeliers hang below exposed pipes and ducts. Graffiti by artist Andrew Funk blazes across the tasteful taupe walls. Cherry-red patent-leather booths ring a bar with a wall of flat-screen televisions. And rather than pants vs. triangle, “ladies” vs. “gents,” or “Barbie” vs. “Ken,” the doors to the restrooms are marked with a pair of swirled Plexiglas exclamation points. One is blue, the other is pink. They’re the size of human beings.

Human beings, however, do not always fit the color scheme. That raises something of a grammatical problem for Miskinyar: Policy’s subtly gendered punctuation may be inconsistent with a little-known provision of D.C. human rights law.
Read More “D.C. Bathroom Signs: Ignored By Many, Hated By Some, Expensive, and Possibly Illegal” »

It’s been over a month since testimony was heard on Maryland’s Bill 566, a proposition which would prohibit discrimination “based on gender identity with regard to public accommodations, housing, and employment” in the state. The Maryland legislature is slated to adjourn on Monday, and both the House and the Senate have failed to take action on the legislation.

They’re just waiting for it to die.

Read More “Maryland Legislature Delays Transgender Rights Bill” »

Today, testimony was to be heard by the Maryland Senate “on a measure that would prohibit discrimination against transgender people.” The proposition, Bill 566, would prohibit discrimination “based on gender identity with regard to public accommodations, housing, and employment.”

If passed, Maryland would join thirteen other states and the District of Columbia in protecting transgender citizens. The D.C. Human Rights Act was amended to add protections for “gender identity and expression” in 2006, but District institutions are still ironing out the hick-ups.

A group of ex-gays—people who claim they were once gay, but have turned straight—are now also claiming they’ve been snubbed by the D.C. Office of Human Rights, The Blade’s Lou Chibarro, Jr. reports:

Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, a national group known as PFOX, last week announced it was “suing” the D.C. Office of Human Rights to overturn a decision that ex-gays do not belong to a protected category under the city’s Human Rights Act.

Well, that depends by what you mean by “suing.” According to Chibarro, “An office spokesperson called the PFOX announcement inaccurate, though, and noted the group filed a petition, not a lawsuit, before the D.C. Superior Court to appeal the 2005 decision.”

PFOX fired back, calling the petition “a lawsuit of sorts.”

The fake lawsuit “stems from a decision to dismiss a complaint that PFOX filed against the National Education Association,” which said that the NEA “discriminated against “ex-gays” as a class by denying a PFOX application to maintain an exhibit booth during a 2003 NEA convention.”