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otherkinnews2023-02-22 12:38 pm
frameacloud) wrote in otherkinnews2023-02-22 12:38 pm
In US, three anti-transgender bills also oppose alterhumans; similar recent Supreme Court cases
Content warnings: About opposition to transgender rights in US politics. Rated PG-13, safe for work.
Accessibility notes: If some words in this article are unfamiliar to you, you may find them in the glossary at the end of the article. The references section after that has unmasked web addresses, which make it printer friendly, but also make it annoying to listen to through a screen reader.
Disclaimer: For historical purposes, this article collects some recent events that have been in the news about bills and court cases. All of this is publicly available information. I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For legal advice, you must consult with your lawyer.
Summary: In the US, groups have attempted to oppose the legal rights of transgender people by comparing them to furries, otherkin, or trans-species people. Of the many bills introduced in January opposing transgender rights, three bills also opposed furries or people who identify as animals: ND HB 1522, OK SB 943, and IN SH 380. The background leading up to this includes three Supreme Court cases from around 2019: G.G. v. Gloucester County School Bd., G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Doe v. Boyertown Area School Dist. In these, amici curiae tried to discredit transgender people by comparing them to otherkin or trans-species people. This is a continuation of at least a decade of sexists making this comparison, with or without the knowledge that any alterhuman groups exist, as a straw-man fallacy.
--
During January in the US, many bills were introduced that opposed transgender rights. Three of these bills also opposed furries or people who identify as animals: North Dakota House Bill 1522, Oklahoma Senate Bill 943, and Indiana Statehouse Bill 380. Before we look at these bills, let's look at what led up to this situation. Why did anyone get the idea of trying to introduce legislature against furries?
Last month's bills likely drew inspiration from a new urban legend. Some right-wingers started it a couple of years ago. Its purpose was to criticize schools for allowing transgender students to use the appropriate restrooms. The legend falsely claims that high schools put cat litter boxes in restrooms for furries. The schools made public statements explaining they haven't. For more information about the development of that legend, see this panel about it from last summer's OtherCon, by an alterhuman community historian (House of Chimeras, 2022). Also, a furry news blog, Dogpatch Press, has also been continuing to keep track of the ongoing spread of the legend.
Another influence might have been three recent Supreme Court cases. In these, amici curiae submitted briefs trying to undermine the legitimacy of transgender people by comparing them to trans-species people. They also compared transgender people to several other sorts of people that they saw as socially unacceptable or mentally ill. Here are those recent cases:
G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board
In 2020, the Supreme Court decided this case in favor of transgender-friendly restroom policies in high schools. CNN has a readable summary of the case (de Vogue, 2021). In 2017, the school's amici curiae had submitted a brief arguing that being transgender is a "dangerous delusion," and compared them to otherkin at length. They cited two sources: Baker-Whitelaw's magazine article (2015), and the Gawker article (Read, 2012). That brief was called "Brief of Amicus Curiae of Public Advocate of the United States, U.S. Justice Foundation, and Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund in Support of Petitioner." In that list of amici curiae who submitted it, the first is a nonprofit social welfare organization, and the second two are nonprofit educational organizations. This is the brief and a place where you can read it online without needing any database access:
“Brief Amicus Curiae of Public Advocate of the United States, U.S. Justice Foundation, and Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund in Support of Petitioner.” Gloucester County School Bd. v. G. G. ex rel. Grimm, No. 16-273, 2017 WL 192454 (Jan. 10, 2017). http://files.eqcf.org/cases/16-273-amicus-brief-public-advocate-et-al/
R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
In this case, a funeral home fired one of its employees because she came out as a transgender woman. In 2020, the Supreme Court decided in the employee's favor, agreeing that discrimination against people for being LGBTQ counts as sex discrimination. This grants federal job protections for all LGBTQ employees. Before then, the Free Speech Advocates (FSA) supporting the funeral home as amicus curiae had submitted a brief in 2019. In it, the FSA compared transgender people to otherkin, also citing Baker-Whitelaw. Here's the brief:
“Amicus Brief of Free Speech Advocates in Support of Petitioner.” R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2019 WL 4013300 (U.S.) (U.S.,2019) https://docslib.org/doc/7549153/free-speech-advocates-in-support-of-petitioner
Doe v. Boyertown Area School District
A student sued to oppose transgender restroom rights in high school. In 2019, the Supreme Court declined to take action on the case, so that school can keep its policies supporting transgender students. The American Civil Liberties Union has a readable summary of the case (2019). On the case's way there, an author of Christian anti-LGBTQ books submitted a brief in 2018 that compared transgender people to being trans-species, but didn't cite a source for that. This is the brief and where you can read it:
“Motion for Leave to File and Brief of Amicus Curiae Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D. in Support of Petitioners.” Doe, et al, v. Boyertown Area School Dist., et al, No. 18-658, WL 6788561 (Dec. 21, 2018). https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-658/77609/20181226145911702_18-658%20Motion%20for%20Leave%20to%20File%20and%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20Ryan%20T.%20Anderson.pdf
Sexists trying to ridicule transgender people by comparing them to trans-species people has been a rising cliché for the last decade. Two of the Supreme Court cases cite sources about actual alterhumans, but increasing visibility of alterhumans is not what caused this, because sexists have been making this comparison even when they clearly had not heard that there were any real trans-species people. These sexists nonetheless invent trans-species people in satirical and hypothetical straw-man scenarios and allegories. See a couple examples of it in satire that Otherkin News found in 2013. I saw many examples of these satirical articles in right-wing newspapers, each as trite and made-up as the next. Even if alterhumans were to disappear or had never existed in the first place, hateful writers would still have been using this cliché anyway.
Now that we have covered relevant recent history, let’s focus back to the current anti-transgender bills that also happen to be anti-alterhuman. The LegiScan site makes it possible for anyone to follow the status of bills. I'll give links to the LegiScan listing for each of those three bills.
ND HB 1522
North Dakota House Bill 1522, as it was introduced, would prohibit school boards and teachers from a variety of actions supporting transgender students. It also would prohibit school boards and teachers from "Adopt[ing] a policy establishing or providing a place, facility, school program, or accommodation that caters to a student's perception of being any animal species other than human." The portion about being other than human is visible only in the draft of this bill as it was introduced. The update on LegiScan shows that in the latest draft of this bill, the portion about animals has been deleted.
https://legiscan.com/ND/bill/HB1522/2023
OK SB 943
Oklahoma Senate Bill 943 explicitly opposes transgender rights, and also specifically mentions furries. The bill itself says, "'Trigger district' means a school district in this state where any of the following concepts or activities have been advocated or tolerated: [...] instruction in gender identity and sexual orientation including instruction designed to promote gender confusion [...or] the presence of any school employee or volunteer engaged in anthropomorphic behavior commonly referred to as furries."
https://legiscan.com/OK/bill/SB943/2023
IN SH 380
Another one is Indiana Statehouse Bill 380. SB 380 itself doesn't say anything more specific than enforcing dress codes to prevent disruptive attire in school. We can read between the lines to find the hateful purpose: interpreting gender-affirming clothing as disruptive attire. Senator Raatz who wrote it claims it's meant to prevent students from wearing furry attire to school. The schools there say they haven't had any students wearing furry attire to school. This news article gives quotes about furries from Raatz and the schools (Herron, 2023).
https://legiscan.com/IN/bill/SB0380/2023
Can any of you find out if there are more anti-furry bills like these? Please add it as a comment, or submit a post about it to this Otherkin News blog. ■
About the author: Orion Scribner administrates the collaborative Otherkin News blog, about current events in or related to the alterhuman communities. Scribner has made the alterhuman comic Theri There since 2005, and wrote a community history book, Otherkin Timeline, which has been cited in academic journals and many other sources.
--
Glossary of some words used in this article
I tried to avoid jargon, but a few words from special areas of knowledge were necessary in this article, relating to the US government, transgender people, and alterhumans. Here are some definitions.
Alterhuman. Short for Alternative Humanity Personal Identity. Malchior coined this word in 2014 as an umbrella term meant to potentially include otherkin, furries, and more. Individual members of those groups can opt into considering themselves included by the label. This was meant to be a better option than using the word "otherkin" to include some of these groups as well as otherkin themselves.
Amicus brief. This is a type of written document. Amici curiae submit this brief to a court, usually together with a motion. Lawyers can use the brief to convey to the court some types of information related to the case. The brief can be about, for example, relevant facts to the case, or it might recommend a particular result of the case because of what other groups might be affected by the outcome. Usually these briefs come from subject matter experts, but anyone can file an amicus brief, if the court allows it. Learn more on LegalDictionary.net.
Amicus curiae. From Latin, meaning "a friend of the court." This is a person or group who is not involved in a legal case. The court allows amici to offer advice about something in the case. Plural: amici curiae.
Bill. A draft of a proposed law presented for approval to a legislative body. It's not a law yet, and it may or may not get to become one. A classic Schoolhouse Rock animated short explains how that process works in the US (1975).
Furry. Furries are imaginary human-like animals in cartoons, art, costumes, and other media. People in the furry fandom also call themselves furries, and/or have a personal role-playing character that is such a creature, their furry persona. This often represents a sort of idealized self, but it can also just be for fun. This article from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary tells more about furries (ca 2016).
LGBTQ. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning. These groups unite because they have a shared interest in getting the human rights that all people deserve.
Otherkin. Some real people have the identity and experience of being other than human, as an intrinsic part of who they are. Each one comes to discover this on their own, and their explanations may be spiritual, psychological, or something else. It's not something they choose to do just for fun. They created the word "otherkin" for themselves in 1990. See my "Simple Introduction to Otherkin and Therianthropes" article (2023).
Sexism. Stereotyping, discrimination against, and systematic oppression of people based on their sex. In the US, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex. Cases based on it have decided that sex discrimination also means discrimination against people for their gender identity or sexual orientation. One of those cases was the one mentioned above, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Straw man fallacy. A type of argument that isn't effective because it misrepresents the opponent's actual position by distorting or exaggerating it to make it look absurd. Basically, making up a guy and getting mad at him. Learn more about it on a major fact-checking site, Snopes (Dapsevich, 2022).
Transgender. Transgender has been an umbrella term for all sorts of people who express themselves without conforming to what is outlined by society's gender roles. More often lately, and in this article and its sources, transgender means one specific sort: someone whose gender identity differs from the gender role that society assigned to them at birth. The book Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is a good source for knowledge all about this subject because experts, doctors, and ordinary transgender people helped write it together (Erickson-Schroth, 2022).
Trans-species. Some people use this to mean that they wish they could be another species than human. However, hateful people also use this to make up straw-men to ridicule transgender people. In Othercon 2021, the House of Chimeras ran an excellent panel about why alterhumans support or oppose this word.
--
References
ACLU (July 1, 2019). "Doe v. Boyertown Area School District." American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). https://www.aclu.org/cases/doe-v-boyertown-area-school-district
Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (Feb. 22, 2015). “Understanding the otherkin.” The Kernel. Archived March 18, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150318110839/http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/11866/otherkin-tumblr-definition-pronouns/
Brief of Amicus Curiae Free Speech Advocates in Support of Petitioner. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2019 WL 4013300 (U.S.) (U.S.,2019)
Brief of Amicus Curiae of Public Advocate of the United States, U.S. Justice Foundation, and Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund in Support of Petitioner. Gloucester County School Bd. v. G. G. ex rel. Grimm, No. 16-273, 2017 WL 192454 (Jan. 10, 2017).
Brief of Amicus Curiae Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D. in Support of Petitioners. Doe, et al, v. Boyertown Area School Dist., et al, No. 18-658, WL 6788561 (Dec. 21, 2018).
Dapsevich, Madison (Jun 14, 2022). "Snopestionary: The 'Straw Man' Logical Fallacy." Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/articles/420855/strawman-logical-fallacy/
de Vogue, Ariane, and Chandelis Duster (June 28, 2021). "Supreme Court gives victory to transgender student who sued to use bathroom." CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/28/politics/gavin-grimm-supreme-court/index.html Archived October 30, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211030172445/https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/28/politics/gavin-grimm-supreme-court/index.html
Dogpatch Press. Twitter. https://twitter.com/DogpatchPress/
Erickson-Schroth, Laura, ed. (2022). Trans bodies, trans selves: A resource by and for transgender communities (Second). Oxford University Press.
Herron, Arika (Jan. 26, 2023). "Indiana lawmaker targets furries in schools. Schools say there's no problem." IndyStar. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/26/indiana-statehouse-bill-targets-furries-schools-say-no-problem/69840839007/ Archived Jan. 26, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230126101035/https://eu.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/26/indiana-statehouse-bill-targets-furries-schools-say-no-problem/69840839007/
House of Chimeras (Aug. 12, 2022). "Litter Boxes in School Bathrooms: Dissecting the Alt-Right’s Current Moral Panic." https://houseofchimeras.neocities.org/Lectures
House of Chimeras (Aug. 14, 2021). "The Use and Misuse of The Term Transspecies." https://houseofchimeras.neocities.org/Lectures
Malchior (Sept. 26, 2014). "This will probably be my last post on semantics for a while..." Crotchety Dragon (Phasmovore). https://phasmovore.tumblr.com/post/98482696958/this-will-probably-be-my-last-post-on-semantics Archived February 20, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230222053939/https://frameacloud.tumblr.com/post/708280450245902336/phasmovore-this-will-probably-be-my-last-post-on
Merriam-Webster (n.d., ca 2016). "Words We're Watching: 'Furry' and 'Fursona.'" Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/history-of-furry-and-fursona
Schoolhouse Rock (1975). "I'm Just a Bill - Schoolhouse Rock." YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ8psP4S6BQ
Scribner, Orion (Feb. 11, 2023). "A Simple Introduction to Otherkin and Therianthropes, version 2.4.6." https://frameacloud.tumblr.com/post/708359714734489600/simpleintro
Sopelsa, Brooke (Jan. 24, 2023). "Don't identify as human? North Dakota schools don't want you." NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/north-dakota-bill-fuels-myth-students-are-identifying-animals-rcna67304 Archived Feb. 16, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230216184348/https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/north-dakota-bill-fuels-myth-students-are-identifying-animals-rcna67304
Read, Max. (Sept. 6, 2012). “From Otherkin to Transethnicity: Your Field Guide to the Weird World of Tumblr Identity Politics." Gawker. https://www.gawker.com/5940947/from-otherkin-to-transethnicity-your-field-guide-to-the-weird-world-of-tumblr-identity-politics Archived February 2, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230202024520/https://www.gawker.com/5940947/from-otherkin-to-transethnicity-your-field-guide-to-the-weird-world-of-tumblr-identity-politics
Accessibility notes: If some words in this article are unfamiliar to you, you may find them in the glossary at the end of the article. The references section after that has unmasked web addresses, which make it printer friendly, but also make it annoying to listen to through a screen reader.
Disclaimer: For historical purposes, this article collects some recent events that have been in the news about bills and court cases. All of this is publicly available information. I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For legal advice, you must consult with your lawyer.
Summary: In the US, groups have attempted to oppose the legal rights of transgender people by comparing them to furries, otherkin, or trans-species people. Of the many bills introduced in January opposing transgender rights, three bills also opposed furries or people who identify as animals: ND HB 1522, OK SB 943, and IN SH 380. The background leading up to this includes three Supreme Court cases from around 2019: G.G. v. Gloucester County School Bd., G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Doe v. Boyertown Area School Dist. In these, amici curiae tried to discredit transgender people by comparing them to otherkin or trans-species people. This is a continuation of at least a decade of sexists making this comparison, with or without the knowledge that any alterhuman groups exist, as a straw-man fallacy.
--
During January in the US, many bills were introduced that opposed transgender rights. Three of these bills also opposed furries or people who identify as animals: North Dakota House Bill 1522, Oklahoma Senate Bill 943, and Indiana Statehouse Bill 380. Before we look at these bills, let's look at what led up to this situation. Why did anyone get the idea of trying to introduce legislature against furries?
Last month's bills likely drew inspiration from a new urban legend. Some right-wingers started it a couple of years ago. Its purpose was to criticize schools for allowing transgender students to use the appropriate restrooms. The legend falsely claims that high schools put cat litter boxes in restrooms for furries. The schools made public statements explaining they haven't. For more information about the development of that legend, see this panel about it from last summer's OtherCon, by an alterhuman community historian (House of Chimeras, 2022). Also, a furry news blog, Dogpatch Press, has also been continuing to keep track of the ongoing spread of the legend.
Another influence might have been three recent Supreme Court cases. In these, amici curiae submitted briefs trying to undermine the legitimacy of transgender people by comparing them to trans-species people. They also compared transgender people to several other sorts of people that they saw as socially unacceptable or mentally ill. Here are those recent cases:
G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board
In 2020, the Supreme Court decided this case in favor of transgender-friendly restroom policies in high schools. CNN has a readable summary of the case (de Vogue, 2021). In 2017, the school's amici curiae had submitted a brief arguing that being transgender is a "dangerous delusion," and compared them to otherkin at length. They cited two sources: Baker-Whitelaw's magazine article (2015), and the Gawker article (Read, 2012). That brief was called "Brief of Amicus Curiae of Public Advocate of the United States, U.S. Justice Foundation, and Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund in Support of Petitioner." In that list of amici curiae who submitted it, the first is a nonprofit social welfare organization, and the second two are nonprofit educational organizations. This is the brief and a place where you can read it online without needing any database access:
“Brief Amicus Curiae of Public Advocate of the United States, U.S. Justice Foundation, and Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund in Support of Petitioner.” Gloucester County School Bd. v. G. G. ex rel. Grimm, No. 16-273, 2017 WL 192454 (Jan. 10, 2017). http://files.eqcf.org/cases/16-273-amicus-brief-public-advocate-et-al/
R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
In this case, a funeral home fired one of its employees because she came out as a transgender woman. In 2020, the Supreme Court decided in the employee's favor, agreeing that discrimination against people for being LGBTQ counts as sex discrimination. This grants federal job protections for all LGBTQ employees. Before then, the Free Speech Advocates (FSA) supporting the funeral home as amicus curiae had submitted a brief in 2019. In it, the FSA compared transgender people to otherkin, also citing Baker-Whitelaw. Here's the brief:
“Amicus Brief of Free Speech Advocates in Support of Petitioner.” R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2019 WL 4013300 (U.S.) (U.S.,2019) https://docslib.org/doc/7549153/free-speech-advocates-in-support-of-petitioner
Doe v. Boyertown Area School District
A student sued to oppose transgender restroom rights in high school. In 2019, the Supreme Court declined to take action on the case, so that school can keep its policies supporting transgender students. The American Civil Liberties Union has a readable summary of the case (2019). On the case's way there, an author of Christian anti-LGBTQ books submitted a brief in 2018 that compared transgender people to being trans-species, but didn't cite a source for that. This is the brief and where you can read it:
“Motion for Leave to File and Brief of Amicus Curiae Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D. in Support of Petitioners.” Doe, et al, v. Boyertown Area School Dist., et al, No. 18-658, WL 6788561 (Dec. 21, 2018). https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-658/77609/20181226145911702_18-658%20Motion%20for%20Leave%20to%20File%20and%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20Ryan%20T.%20Anderson.pdf
Sexists trying to ridicule transgender people by comparing them to trans-species people has been a rising cliché for the last decade. Two of the Supreme Court cases cite sources about actual alterhumans, but increasing visibility of alterhumans is not what caused this, because sexists have been making this comparison even when they clearly had not heard that there were any real trans-species people. These sexists nonetheless invent trans-species people in satirical and hypothetical straw-man scenarios and allegories. See a couple examples of it in satire that Otherkin News found in 2013. I saw many examples of these satirical articles in right-wing newspapers, each as trite and made-up as the next. Even if alterhumans were to disappear or had never existed in the first place, hateful writers would still have been using this cliché anyway.
Now that we have covered relevant recent history, let’s focus back to the current anti-transgender bills that also happen to be anti-alterhuman. The LegiScan site makes it possible for anyone to follow the status of bills. I'll give links to the LegiScan listing for each of those three bills.
ND HB 1522
North Dakota House Bill 1522, as it was introduced, would prohibit school boards and teachers from a variety of actions supporting transgender students. It also would prohibit school boards and teachers from "Adopt[ing] a policy establishing or providing a place, facility, school program, or accommodation that caters to a student's perception of being any animal species other than human." The portion about being other than human is visible only in the draft of this bill as it was introduced. The update on LegiScan shows that in the latest draft of this bill, the portion about animals has been deleted.
https://legiscan.com/ND/bill/HB1522/2023
OK SB 943
Oklahoma Senate Bill 943 explicitly opposes transgender rights, and also specifically mentions furries. The bill itself says, "'Trigger district' means a school district in this state where any of the following concepts or activities have been advocated or tolerated: [...] instruction in gender identity and sexual orientation including instruction designed to promote gender confusion [...or] the presence of any school employee or volunteer engaged in anthropomorphic behavior commonly referred to as furries."
https://legiscan.com/OK/bill/SB943/2023
IN SH 380
Another one is Indiana Statehouse Bill 380. SB 380 itself doesn't say anything more specific than enforcing dress codes to prevent disruptive attire in school. We can read between the lines to find the hateful purpose: interpreting gender-affirming clothing as disruptive attire. Senator Raatz who wrote it claims it's meant to prevent students from wearing furry attire to school. The schools there say they haven't had any students wearing furry attire to school. This news article gives quotes about furries from Raatz and the schools (Herron, 2023).
https://legiscan.com/IN/bill/SB0380/2023
Can any of you find out if there are more anti-furry bills like these? Please add it as a comment, or submit a post about it to this Otherkin News blog. ■
About the author: Orion Scribner administrates the collaborative Otherkin News blog, about current events in or related to the alterhuman communities. Scribner has made the alterhuman comic Theri There since 2005, and wrote a community history book, Otherkin Timeline, which has been cited in academic journals and many other sources.
--
Glossary of some words used in this article
I tried to avoid jargon, but a few words from special areas of knowledge were necessary in this article, relating to the US government, transgender people, and alterhumans. Here are some definitions.
Alterhuman. Short for Alternative Humanity Personal Identity. Malchior coined this word in 2014 as an umbrella term meant to potentially include otherkin, furries, and more. Individual members of those groups can opt into considering themselves included by the label. This was meant to be a better option than using the word "otherkin" to include some of these groups as well as otherkin themselves.
Amicus brief. This is a type of written document. Amici curiae submit this brief to a court, usually together with a motion. Lawyers can use the brief to convey to the court some types of information related to the case. The brief can be about, for example, relevant facts to the case, or it might recommend a particular result of the case because of what other groups might be affected by the outcome. Usually these briefs come from subject matter experts, but anyone can file an amicus brief, if the court allows it. Learn more on LegalDictionary.net.
Amicus curiae. From Latin, meaning "a friend of the court." This is a person or group who is not involved in a legal case. The court allows amici to offer advice about something in the case. Plural: amici curiae.
Bill. A draft of a proposed law presented for approval to a legislative body. It's not a law yet, and it may or may not get to become one. A classic Schoolhouse Rock animated short explains how that process works in the US (1975).
Furry. Furries are imaginary human-like animals in cartoons, art, costumes, and other media. People in the furry fandom also call themselves furries, and/or have a personal role-playing character that is such a creature, their furry persona. This often represents a sort of idealized self, but it can also just be for fun. This article from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary tells more about furries (ca 2016).
LGBTQ. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning. These groups unite because they have a shared interest in getting the human rights that all people deserve.
Otherkin. Some real people have the identity and experience of being other than human, as an intrinsic part of who they are. Each one comes to discover this on their own, and their explanations may be spiritual, psychological, or something else. It's not something they choose to do just for fun. They created the word "otherkin" for themselves in 1990. See my "Simple Introduction to Otherkin and Therianthropes" article (2023).
Sexism. Stereotyping, discrimination against, and systematic oppression of people based on their sex. In the US, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination on the basis of sex. Cases based on it have decided that sex discrimination also means discrimination against people for their gender identity or sexual orientation. One of those cases was the one mentioned above, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Straw man fallacy. A type of argument that isn't effective because it misrepresents the opponent's actual position by distorting or exaggerating it to make it look absurd. Basically, making up a guy and getting mad at him. Learn more about it on a major fact-checking site, Snopes (Dapsevich, 2022).
Transgender. Transgender has been an umbrella term for all sorts of people who express themselves without conforming to what is outlined by society's gender roles. More often lately, and in this article and its sources, transgender means one specific sort: someone whose gender identity differs from the gender role that society assigned to them at birth. The book Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is a good source for knowledge all about this subject because experts, doctors, and ordinary transgender people helped write it together (Erickson-Schroth, 2022).
Trans-species. Some people use this to mean that they wish they could be another species than human. However, hateful people also use this to make up straw-men to ridicule transgender people. In Othercon 2021, the House of Chimeras ran an excellent panel about why alterhumans support or oppose this word.
--
References
ACLU (July 1, 2019). "Doe v. Boyertown Area School District." American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). https://www.aclu.org/cases/doe-v-boyertown-area-school-district
Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (Feb. 22, 2015). “Understanding the otherkin.” The Kernel. Archived March 18, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150318110839/http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/11866/otherkin-tumblr-definition-pronouns/
Brief of Amicus Curiae Free Speech Advocates in Support of Petitioner. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2019 WL 4013300 (U.S.) (U.S.,2019)
Brief of Amicus Curiae of Public Advocate of the United States, U.S. Justice Foundation, and Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund in Support of Petitioner. Gloucester County School Bd. v. G. G. ex rel. Grimm, No. 16-273, 2017 WL 192454 (Jan. 10, 2017).
Brief of Amicus Curiae Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D. in Support of Petitioners. Doe, et al, v. Boyertown Area School Dist., et al, No. 18-658, WL 6788561 (Dec. 21, 2018).
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Well, I keep telling people, they will make all of us illegal if they can, and I mean it, and they keep proving me right. Why it's so hard to get people to take it seriously...
well.
I know why.
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