Canadian Identity Screening Regulation Changes Angers Transgender Community, Washington D.C. Police And Transgender Coalition Seek Public Help In Identifying Murder Victim, While Santa Barbara Police Continue To Investigate New Year’s Day Hate Crime Reward Offered For Any Information Leading To Arrest, Opponents Of Washington State Same Sex Marriage Measure Receive $1 Million Donation, J.C. Penny Refuses To Be Intimidated By Anti-Gay Group And Stands Behind Ellen DeGeneres

A controversial Transport Canada regulation has many accusing the government of discrimination. According to the department’s Identity Screening Regulations, if “a passenger does not appear to be of the gender indicated on the identification he or she presents,” that person should not be allowed to fly. The Globe and Mail reports that members of the LGBT community are concerned this will pose a problem for transgender people. Canadian citizens can only get the gender on their passport permanently changed if they have had sex reassignment surgery or can provide a letter guaranteeing the procedure will take place within a year. Under the criteria set by the government, hormone therapy, mastectomies, and other interventions are not enough. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Talia Johnson, a transsexual woman in Ottawa, says she was told by Passport Canada that there is also the option of a temporary, two-year passport identifying them as their preferred gender but, again, this is only available to those who can prove that they will have SRS in the next 12 months. (Neither Britain nor the United States require people to undergo SRS before they can change the gender on their passport.) But these are terms many transgender people are unable to meet. In Ontario, for instance, the government will only cover SRS for people who have lived as their preferred gender for at least two years. And some transgender people undergo hormone treatments but choose not to have surgery for financial or medical reasons. Transgender blogger Christin Milloy wrote that “for non-operative transgender persons, for gender non-conforming (genderqueer) persons, and for the vast majority of pre-operative transsexual persons, it is literally impossible to obtain proper travel documentation marked with the sex designation which ‘matches’ the gender identity in which they live.” The Transport Canada regulation is not an archaic rule leftover from decades ago; although it’s only gained notoriety in the blogosphere in the past few days, it actually was enacted in July 2011. In contrast, as of September, Australia has offered three gender options (male, female and indeterminate) on passports and allowed people to declare a gender other than their biological sex, as long as they can provide a letter from their doctor. Pierre Floréa, spokesman for Transport Minister Denis Lebel, wrote in an e-mail to The Huffington Post that the identification rules are necessary for security reasons and are not discriminatory. “They apply to all passengers, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. … Any passenger whose physical appearance does not correspond to their identification can continue to board a plane by supplying a letter from a health-care professional explaining the discrepancy.” So far, no one has come forward with an allegation of being denied travel under this rule but, as Ms. Johnson says, “all it takes is one person to start implementing the letter of the law.”

After a transgender person died after being stabbed at a bus stop Thursday evening, the D.C. Trans Coalition is asking for help in identifying the victim. “We are working with the police to try to identify the victim in this case. Please take some time today to check in on your friends and loved ones. If someone you know is missing, or you can’t get in touch with them, please let us know,” read a Friday statement from the coalition. According to The Washington Post, on Thursday evening, a Metro transit police officer found the victim at a bus shelter. Officers were called to the 4900 block of East Capitol Street about 8:15 pm, according to a spokesman. Police have not yet characterized the stabbing as a hate crime. But the incident is the latest in a string of violent crimes committed against members of the local trans community over the past year, beginning with a brutal beating of a 22-year-old transgender woman in Baltimore. Three transgender people were shot over the course of the summer last year, and in November, Russell Brock-Smith, 25, was convicted of assault after attempting to rob a transgender woman in Northwest Washington. “There is no safe city — there is no safe state — for transgender people in the United States,” Lisa Mottet, a co-author of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, told NPR in September. The survey found that over half of the 6,500 transgender Americans experienced serious discrimination, while 26 percent reported some type of physical assault.

In California, Santa Barbara police remain tight-lipped about the investigation into an apparent hate crime that occurred early on New Year’s Day but are pursuing several active leads, Sgt. Riley Harwood said. As I previously posted, two men left a downtown bar in the early morning hours and were assaulted, apparently because they were perceived by their attackers to be gay, according to police. No arrests have been made. “Two men were assaulted because of nothing that they did, nothing that they did wrong, but because of who they were,” Deputy Police Chief Frank Mannix said at a news conference and rally held in January to support the victims. The Noozhawk reports that the Gay and Lesbian Business Association and Wildcat Lounge are now offering a $7,500 reward for any information leading to the arrests and convictions of the attackers. Volunteers are needed to distribute reward fliers. The group will meet at 10:30 am Saturday at Wildcat Lounge, 15 W. Ortega St., for a community meeting with members of the Police Department. The first suspect has been described as 5 feet 4 inches tall, 160 pounds and wearing a white and black plaid long-sleeve shirt. The second suspect is believed to be 6 foot 1 and was wearing dark clothing, while the third has been described only as wearing dark clothing. One victim had a broken jaw and a head injury that needed staples to close. The second victim suffered minor injuries. A bystander got part of the attack on video, and anyone with information about the case is asked to call Detective Michael Claytor at 805.897.2346.

Opponents of same sex marriage say they've already received $1 million to fund the campaign for a ballot challenge would halt any summertime weddings in Washington State. They will not disclose where the money came from, but Q 13- reports opponents of same sex marriage received a million dollar commitment from an out of state organization. The money will help the campaign gather the 120,000 signatures needed to get the issue on the November ballot. The money will also go to a major blitz of ads. Most of the money in this fight will be coming from outside Washington. The National Organization for Marriage which is based in Washington, DC says it is committed to overturning this legislation. It has helped do the same thing in California and Maine. It is currently working on campaigns in North Carolina and Minnesota. An official referendum campaign to overturn the law has not yet been formed, but opponents say that are in the process of organizing one. "This is an issue that moves people unlike most," said Joseph Backholm, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington. Backholm's group was among those who unsuccessfully tried to overturn the state's 2009 expansion of domestic partnership rights for gay and lesbian couples, known as the "everything but marriage" bill. The law was upheld by 53-percent of voters. Backholm said that this campaign will be different than that behind R-71. "We're going to be more organized," he said. "We'll have a strong state effort and a larger national presence as well." Opponents must turn in 120,577 signatures by June 6. If opponents fall short in the number of signatures they turn in, gay and lesbian couples would be able to be wed as soon as the signature count is done, likely sometime in June. Otherwise, they would have to wait until the results of a November election.

J.C. Penney is turning its back on OneMillionMoms.com, a group which called for the retailer to dump talk show host Ellen DeGeneres as its national spokeswoman because she is gay. In an e-mailed statement to Yahoo! Shine on Friday, J.C. Penney confirmed it "stands behind its partnership with Ellen DeGeneres." One Million Moms, a project of the American Family Association, earlier said that "DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there." The group claims to be "the most powerful tool you have to stand against the immorality, violence, vulgarity and profanity the entertainment media is throwing at your children." The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation applauded J.C. Penney's decision to stick with DeGeneres. "This week Americans spoke out in overwhelming support of LGBT people and J.C. Penney’s decision not to fire Ellen simply for who she happens to love,” said Herndon Graddick, senior director of programs and communications at GLAAD. GLAAD says it has received nearly 25,000 signatures on a website dedicated to showing support for J.C. Penney and DeGeneres.