Marc Tyler Nobleman: the man who dared to say G-A-Y during a school presentation in Georgia. Hats off to you, sir!
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY?
I was going to start this column with a report on, not one, but two federal appellate decisions on GLBT issues. I know! Exciting stuff! Well, it is, because the 12 federal appellate courts are one rung down from the U.S. Supreme Court, and anything they decide becomes binding law on an entire region. So it’s not quite like a High Court ruling, but it’s still up there as far as legal news is concerned.
But I was distracted by what seems like a small item, a decision by an elementary school principal in Suwanee, Georgia, to apologize to parents for a speaker who used the word “gay” in a presentation.
I was all set to skip right over this, but I read the story and learned that the speaker, Marc Tyler Nobleman, used the word once in a speech that went on for nearly one hour. The speech was about some guy who has not been given due credit for inventing Batman, so it’s not exactly a provocative topic. One of the reasons he’s been ignored, Nobleman says, is because he was thought to have died without any family to care about his legacy. Eventually, someone discovered a gay son who managed to produce a daughter before he died of AIDS, so the original guy had a granddaughter. Well, it’s something like that anyway. And when Nobleman refused to pledge that he would avoid the one-word description of the son’s sexual orientation in future talks, he was cancelled.
Readers, what are we coming to? What the hell is going on in this country? Just a few years ago, we were making more and more progress, winning the right to marry and more importantly, the increasing respect of our fellow citizens. Obviously, there’s been a backlash, particularly directed at transgender Americans. But this is extraordinary. The principal, Brian Nelson, sent a frigging letter to parents as follows:
“As trust and transparency are foundational to our partnership, I am reaching out to make you aware of subject matter that was brought up today by a guest author during his speech to our 5th grade students.”
“I apologize that this took place. Action was taken to ensure that this was not included in Mr. Nobleman’s subsequent speeches and further measures will be taken to prevent situations like this in the future”
Are you $%*ing kidding me?
TRUMP, DIRTY DISHES & INFERIOR DETERGENTS
I’m watching Trump with the sound off as I write and wondering if 10:20am is too early for a margarita. Oh, I’m just kidding you. Of course I’ll wait…a bit. I was so annoyed by that principal and his apology letter that I took a break and unloaded part of the dishwasher, becoming even more annoyed by the poor performance of the machine and the Cascade pod, only to realize that I had left the thing loaded with dirty dishes and never ran it. I then had to determine which things I had reluctantly returned to the shelves because they were “clean enough.” (Most had been set aside for a rewash.)
Why am I telling you this? Because I’m not in the mood for appellate law even though it’s my favorite subject.
Oh, can I add that I am irritated whenever I see the commercial for “Cascade Platinum Plus,” which claims to be the absolute best best bestest product ever? I buy regular Cascade, which I always liked, but now I have the sense that this is an inferior detergent. Clearly, the manufacturers have set aside something extra special for the elite customers who pay out the nose for Platinum Plus, and who will be rewarded with sparkling clean dishes instead of the regularly clean dishes relegated to the rest of us poor slobs. Half of me wants to get Platinum Plus, and the other half feels manipulated by that half and wants to use baking soda or something.
OUR SIDE IS FACED WITH A DIFFICULT CHOICE
The conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (cue hisses and boos) just ruled that Alabama’s draconian law against the treatment of transgender minors can be enforced during what will presumably be a lengthy legal challenge. I say “draconian” because Alabama doesn’t just ban hormones and puberty blockers. It imposes a criminal penalty, a felony charge, on medical personnel who provide such treatment.
The three-judge panel included three Trump nominees, illustrating once again the damage this president inflicted on us in his four long years. It reversed an injunction that had been issued by a lower court, and will almost certainly lead to an immediate reinstatement of similar laws in Georgia and Florida which had also been put on hold during legal proceedings in lower courts. (The Eleventh Circuit sets legal standards for Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.)
So now, our side is faced with a difficult choice. We can’t ask the full bench of the Eleventh Circuit to review the decision, because we will likely lose. If we do nothing and wait for the lower court to issue a decision on the merits of the law which would then be appealed back to the Eleventh Circuit, trans kids in those three states will spend the next two or three years high and dry, although I guess some of the richer families can take regular trips out of the region.
Alternatively, we can appeal our injunction loss to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will likely take the case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has also issued a preliminary anti-trans ruling in a similar injunction case which will be decided next month. But the Eighth Circuit has ruled the other way, blocking Arkansas from enforcing its anti-trans health care law during ongoing litigation. Meanwhile, last April, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed to hear two trans health care cases simultaneously, one from West Virginia and one from North Carolina, but I’m not sure when that will take place.
