My Week in Anchorage Opposing an Anti-Trans Ballot Measure
“Hi, this is Rebecca with Fair Anchorage. Do you have a moment to talk about nondiscrimination protections in Anchorage?”
An automatic dialer was connecting me with people in Anchorage who were likely to vote in favor of protecting transgender people. I had flown to Anchorage from Washington, DC to support Fair Anchorage’s #NoOnProp1 campaign.
Back in 2015, the Anchorage Assembly voted 9–2 in favor of a non-discrimination law that “made it illegal in the city to discriminate over sexual orientation or gender identity” in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
With a population of almost 300,000, Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city and was the first to pass a non-discrimination ordinance that protected transgender residents. Now, in 2018, an anti-transgender coalition including the Alaska Family Council and the ridiculously named Protect Our Privacy has put those protections up for a vote.
Specifically, Proposition 1 would define sex as an “individual’s immutable biological condition of being male or female, as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at the time of birth.” This is how opponents of transgender equality attempt to look neutral and objective these days, instead of calling what they’re doing what it is: transphobic attacks on transgender people.
