Letters

I still write letters.  I write a lot of them.  Usually long hand, sometimes typed, sometimes both.  Often, I write these at night when I'm alone with my thoughts.

Remember when everyone used to write letters?  And mail them?  And getting a letter made your day?  Just doesn't happen anymore does it?  Not in this world of instant communication.

99% of the letters I write, no one ever sees.

For example, I have, in my life, written six different "final letters."  To date, no one has read them.  (I have also written a final blog entry, which is somewhere in the "drafts" folder on this site.  No one has read that one either.  I update it from time to time, during long late nights.)

So why write them, you ask?

Well, it's writing for one- y'know keeping the ol' writing muscle in shape.  But it's also a way to get some things out of my system.  Kind of like therapy (especially since I haven't seen a therapist in over a year.)

Sometimes, the letters are written to facialbook friends, and they can get pretty long.  Most of those I DO send, as they're usually in reply to something sent to me.  Just today I sent a two page typed letter to someone on FB.

I also write letters in emails in response to questions people email to me.  They can be short or long, depending upon the question and my mood.

Keep your minds out of the gutter.

Wearing letters, July 2013 (get it?)  (Hee hee)

Most of the letters are longhand, and will never be read, as they are written to... well, people who won't read them.  Most of them are written to my dear sister Lisa, who has been gone 2 1/2 years.  We used to talk often, and this is just my way of keeping up.

With all that said, sometimes things from the letters DO turn up in a blog or column, or just on facialbook.  If I like them enough.

Remember when everyone used to write letters?  And mail them?  And getting a letter made your day?  Just doesn't happen anymore does it?  Not in this world of instant communication.  When I was away at Penn State, getting a letter from someone back home was just wonderful!  It was like a slice of friendship on paper.  And after graduation, getting letters from people who I went to school with meant even more.  They were lifelines to a time now gone and to people now distant.

I save all the letters: good or bad.

This letter is nearly 30 years old.

I miss getting paper letters.  But getting a personal email is almost as good!  With all the spam I (and I assume you, dear reader) receive, getting a personal message is a welcome change.

Makes a girl feel connected somehow, in this age of impersonal instant communication.

Am I the only one who writes letters?  Who likes reading them?  I doubt it.

Be well.

Kim's Challenge: Her Topic

A few weeks back. one of my coworkers and I were discussing writing.  The fruits of this discussion were a challenge- I would provide a topic, and she would write about it on her blog.  And she would provide one for me.  As it was, she had me write on the same topic she did.
Her piece is HERE.  My piece is HERE.

The other day, she gave me a new topic.  

"Discuss the one book/cd/movie/etc that changed your life."

Now, I'd already covered this topic last August.  Book wise anyway.  So I decided to discuss an album.  She has already completed her piece, but, as I had a couple of pieces to finish first, I'm getting to this now.

Read her thoughts on the topic HERE.

And yes, Kim, it's part of my sneaky plan.  My subversive agenda.

Anyway.  Cast your mind back a few decades.  The Sizzling Summer of 1983.  I was 16, and was working at Burger King.  I had stopped dressing and purged all the girl clothes I bought.  I'd fallen into a deep depression, suicidal, and was angry at the world.  I also was dealing with my first real unrequited crush.  

By then, MTV had swept the US in new forms of music.  It was the summer of the Police Synchronicity.  Eurythmics, and Footloose.  Loverboy, Flashdance, and the Tubes.  Men at Work and INXS.

Now, the year before, I answered an ad for Columbia House where you got like twelve cassettes for a penny if you joined their club.  I remember I got Jackson Brown's Lawyers in Love, Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, Nazareth 2XS... and Pete Townshend's  All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes.

So, my source of music at that time was a "boom box" I bought at Sears.  It was small, but could get loud (this was before Walkman became the craze.)

Back to the summer of 1983.  By then, I'd become obsessed by Music.  (I'm STILL obsessed by 80s music!)  But the album I kept returning to, and quickly memorized was All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes.

Pete Townshend is the writer/lead guitar player for the Who.  (I wrote about my love for this group HERE.)  But I, um, didn't realize that when I bought the album.  Hey- I was a kid!

He actually had more sales success with his solo albums then with the Who.  However, this album was an arty, experimental piece featuring a lot of synth and spoken word.  It had a couple of singles:  Face Dances (Part II) and Slit Skirts.  Pete wrote the album while getting clean from alcohol and trying to deal with his crumbling marriage.    It's funny- for many Pete fans, myself included, this is their favorite of his solo works.

But it also spoke directly to my soul, at a time when I really needed it.  I was in the worst psychological pain of my short life, and I didn't understand it.

The first song, Stop Hurting People, contained the lines

So you, without question, know your first love is your last
and you will never, you never, never will, never love again.

And the way he said it was so very sarcastic, so... "get over yourself" that it cut deep,

And so it went on.  Almost every song spoke to who I was, and who I wanted to be.  The Sea Refuses no River, after all.

The final song on the record is Slit Skirts.  It contains the line that was and still is my motto:

"No one respects the flame quite like the fool who's badly burned."

I listened to the tape so much that it eventually went bad, and I had to replace it.  The first CD I ever bought was All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes.  And I bought it before I had a CD player!

Why?  This album literally saved my life.  Pete's words, at times haranguing, at other times encouraging, told me that everything would be all right if I could just hold on.  And so I held on, and hoped... and waited.

I have completely memorized this album.  Is it my favorite record of all time?  No, that would still be Quadrophenia.  Pete wrote that one as well.  But that's not the topic, is it?

All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes isn't for everybody.  As I said before: it's arty, and not like anything else from the time.  None of my friends in 1983 liked it.  But that's ok.

Sometimes, we need something just for ourselves.

For Sandy

Some people think I'm a broken record.  I keep returning to one topic, over and over.

Lisa.

Lisa Empanada.

She's been gone for two and a half years now.  Not a day goes by that I don't think about her.  But, for as much Pain I still have from her death, someone has it far worse.

Her wife.  Her Soul mate.  Sandy Empanada.

I met Sandy on Saturday, August 4, 2012.  I wrote a blog entry about it.  It was the night I was arrested for DUI.

As the Darkness began to consume Lisa, I began speaking more and more to Sandy.  She had questions- "how is she feeling, really?"  "What does it feel like to be THAT depressed?"  And, most importantly, "What can I do to help her?"

After Lisa attempted suicide in April 2013, Sandy and I spoke more often.  We both kept tabs on how Lisa was feeling, etc.  Then, magically, she seemed to pull out of the Darkness.  There was the party.  All was well.  Both lisa and Sandy told me that they considered me family.

Then, in September 2013, Lisa killed herself.  I received a text from Sandy at 4 AM on the 17th.  Had Lisa contacted me?  No, she hadn't.  I volunteered to help search.  No, the police are on it.  Then...

I drove down to Baltimore as fast as could to be with Sandy- to help.  If I could.

I started a GoFundMe to help pay the funeral expenses.  Sandy and I kept in close contact.  Because she knew... she knew I would be next.  She saw the signs.  Her frequent messages of encouragement, support, and sometimes frustration, kept me going.  And I did my best to support her.


That was two and a half years ago.  Sandy had every right to turn away from the Trans community.  After all, her Soul Mate was gone.  Why remind herself of that pain?

But she didn't.  After some months, she attended a party at the Raven in New Hope.  She was treated like a rock star.  Everyone wanted to see her, speak to her, share with her.  And Sandy bore it all with grace and strength.

She has attended all three Keystone Conferences since Lisa's death.  She attends the Raven trans functions regularly.

Again, why?

Because the Community is her extended family.  And her best friends are Trans.

I like to think we helped share her overwhelming burden.  Only she can really answer that question.

With Sandy at the 2015 Keystone Conference

I don't see Sandy as my friend.  At all.  She is my Family.  She is my Sister.  She is blood.  Before I went full time, I worried that my parents wouldn't accept or support me (I was thankfully proven very wrong.)  I asked Sandy permission to take her surname in case I was disowned.  She happily agreed.  I didn't need to take that particular step.

Sandy has always given freely of herself to this community in general, and to me personally.

I can't speak for us all, Sandy, just for me.

Thank you for being my Sister.  Thank you for helping me through all that you have.  Thank you for being who you are.

I love you, sister!

Out of Love II: God Loves You

Back in January, I posted a blog entry titled "Out of Love," which detailed a customer at the bookstore where I work giving me a DVD featuring a Trans-reparative preacher.  Trans-reparative therapy has been proven not only to not work, but also to cause suicide in many cases.

I was upset, and informed the bookstore management about the incident.

That was two months ago.

Corporate got back to the store management with a plan: I was to have no discussions with this customer, and to avoid contact if possible.  Fair enough.  Even the District Manager, who has his office in our store, was involved.  As I said in the last piece on this topic, the Bookstore management has been extremely supportive of my transition.

And that was fine.

At work on a better day

Then a few weeks later, I was working the Customer Service desk, and this same customer, let's designate her by the initials "BT," asked me about a certain magazine, which I helped her find.  She asked about a second magazine, but we didn't have that.  She then brought up the DVD.  I told her I couldn't discuss that, and walked away.  I went directly to the break room, and informed the two managers who were on duty exactly what happened.

Now these two managers knew me back before transition- after all, I helped train them when they started as fellow drones before their promotions.  How did they react to these events?

Well, we went into the managers' office and closed the door.  I sat in a corner chair with them sitting at my 10 and 2 o'clocks.  And they started hammering me for even speaking to her.  One after the other, sometimes in stereo, about how I screwed up the plan; there's nothing they can do because I spoke to her; how it's all my fault.

They didn't exactly say that last bit- that's just how I felt.

And I told them so.

So, they asked me what I wanted done, given that I had screwed up the carefully laid plan sent down from on-high by, you know, doing my job.  At that point, I was so upset and frustrated that I was about to just hand them my nametag and walk out.  I felt like I was being victim-shamed.

So, the one manager went out to speak to BT, and tell her not to give the staff any gifts; that I was deeply insulted and hurt, etc.  At least that's what I'm told he said.  I stayed back in the break room.  Another incident report was filed.

And a day or so later, I sat down with the head manager to discuss the event.  I pointed out exactly how I felt about the events of that day.  But nothing concrete was hashed out.  I was told that if I saw her, I had permission to leave the floor immediately.  Abandon my post.

So.  Friday March 18, approximately 3:30 PM.  We were shorthanded due to two call outs.  I was alone at the registers, which is pretty common.  The register at which I was working has a big gift card display in front of it which creates a blind spot at my 1 o'clock, if you can grasp that.  I had a customer in front of me with three children all under five and all out of control.  I finished with them, and turned to call for the next customer (there was a line of four people that I could see) when BT stepped out of the blind spot.  I recognized her, and rung up her purchase silently.

She leaned in and said "You know I'm your friend right?  God Loves you.  God loves you."

I looked her in the eye, and said "I cannot discuss this," finished her transaction and signaled for the next customer.

As BT walked away she turned back to me and said "God loves you" again.

I took maybe five minutes or so to work through the line.  I then called the manager on duty.  This manager is an assistant store manager (ASM,) second in command of the store.  She's also been at our store for less than a week.  I don't know much about her, but she seems nice.  But the point is, she wasn't aware of the situation between BT and I.  I told her what happened.  And at that point, my relief showed up, and I went on break.  The manager asked to speak to me about the issue when my break was finished.  While I was on break, I texted the head manager about the incident.

Fifteen minutes later, I was back in the managers' office with the door closed.  The new ASM had reviewed the files on this person, and the two incident reports already filed.  I told her exactly what happened.  She re-iterated that I could leave my post when I saw BT.  I pointed out that 1) I was alone at register, with a line, and 2) abandoning my post isn't how I operate.  I am paid to do my job.

An incident report was filed- the third on this particular person.

After the store closed, I went back to the apartment and cried.

The next day, I spoke to the head manager in person.  I re-iterated what I told the ASM, and I told her that I felt like I was in a no-win situation.  Yesterday, she told me that the District Manager wanted to speak to me the next day.

That was today.

So when I was given time to do so, I knocked on the DM's door.  We spoke about what happened, and he told me that he was waiting for guidance from the Head office.  That maybe, just maybe, the Store manager will be allowed to contact BT and invite her in for coffee and to discuss not speaking to me again.

So, for now, nothing is happening.

I made it clear to the store manager and District manager that I will not abandon my post if I am alone.  That's not fair to the customers who come to our store to purchase books or whatever.

So, how do I feel?

Hung out to dry.

I feel vulnerable.  BT will not stop harassing me, nor do I believe she will listen to reason.  So maybe I should just shut up and Take it.  Stiff Upper Lip and all that.  "Man up."  I mean, after all, I screwed everything up, remember?  It's all my fault.

But I shouldn't have to.  What if she were harassing someone for being black?  Or gay?  Or Jewish?

See my point?

This situation is still developing.  Maybe it will turn out for the best.  I know my Store manager is in my corner.  I know she WANTS this resolved.  What do I want?  I want to not to have to deal with BT again in the store.  But that won't happen.  She's a paying, regular customer, and in the end, I'm just a replaceable cog in the machine.

So right now, I'm sitting at my keyboard, typing in what I wrote longhand.  It's 1:23 in the morning.  I've cried enough tears tonight.

Be well.

In Awe, Reprise

This past week was the Keystone Conference.  Unlike past years, there will be no major review of the events.  I may do an entry on it.  Depends upon how I feel.

Anyway, last April I wrote an entry titled "In Awe."  In it, I discussed how I get tongue-tied around certain breathtakingly beautiful transwomen.

Since then, I thought about this topic.  And I remembered what I learned from Linda Lewis- that these women may be gorgeous, but they are also people.  And I determined that I would go out of my way to speak to at least one of these people this year.

And so I did.

There were two women that I felt tongue tied about at this conference.  And I spoke to them both.

These are in no particular order.

So in that blog from last year, I mentioned Stephanie Wardlow by name.  She is from Arkansas, and is a fellow sister of Vanity Club.  I finally screwed up the courage to introduce myself to her.  And she was as nice as everyone said.

With Stephanie Wardlow

We spoke a few times at the conference (when she wasn't surrounded by admirers), even though I still felt like an idiot while doing so.  I was so afraid of saying the wrong thing.  But she really is a fantastic person, and did her best to put me at ease.  We have IMed since then.

Stephanie and my roomie Linda Lewis

Another person I met at the conference is someone I hadn't met before.  Her name is Kimberly Moore, and she's another woman who is drop-dead gorgeous, and is also a Vanity Club sister.

As with Stephanie, I swallowed my fear, walked up, and introduced myself.  I did my best not to sound like an idiot.  We spoke several times during the conference.  She has a wicked sense of humor.

During karaoke on Thursday night, she did a wicked version of "Wagon Wheel."  I'd never heard the song before (I was surprised to see it was based on a Bob Dylan bootleg), and she made it her own.

Kimberly sings "Wagon Wheel."

We have connected online after the conference as well.  It turns out that we have a lot in common, like how we both read military history, etc.  She's a wonderful person.  Like Stephanie, she often was surrounded by friends and admirers.  And like Stephanie, she deserves them.


Most people don't believe when I say that I am, by nature, actually very shy.  (I can hear some people shouting "Bullsh*t!")  All through my elementary school, junior high, and high school, I kept to myself.  Most of this was due to my not wanting ANYONE to discover my secret.  Ever.  This behavior continued though my two years at Drexel University.  It was only after transferring to Penn State, where I knew only a couple of people, that I was forced to "put myself out there."  Alcohol helped.  Lots and lots of alcohol.

With Kimberly Moore

For some, the mere act of meeting people is terrifying.  And to actually DO it is an act of bravery.  And so it was with me.  But, as I've related many times in this blog, I used to run into burning buildings as a member of a rescue squad in my youth.  I use the same "damn the torpedoes" approach when my shyness stops me short.  Just step forward and do it.

So, at least twice during this conference, I've had to close my eyes and just overcome my fear:  an overwhelming Fear of rejection; Fear of embarrassment.

I've conquered worse fears, after all.  I transitioned.

I've written it many times:  Fear Kills.

Now I have two new friends that I didn't have before- friends that share the... condition... I have.  Friends that know the Pain of being trans.

They are wonderful people- beautiful inside and out.  I'm lucky to know them!

Kim's Challenge: Meaning of Womanhood

One of my friends and coworkers at the bookstore, Kim, recently re-started her blog.  She told me it's because this blog "inspired her."

Aww shucks!  Guess I'm good for something!

In any case, I was imparting some of the wisdom that my writing teachers imparted to me (and I'll tell you as well if you attend my session on Blogging at the Keystone Conference this Saturday!) (shameless plug), which was "write every day- even if it's just a little."

To assist her in this, I challenged her to write on a topic of my choosing, and I would write on a topic of HER choosing.  I challenged her with "What Being a Woman Means to Me."  She's a GG, and I was genuinely interested to read what she came up with.  And she absolutely nailed it!  Read her piece HERE.

Then, she had the cheek to throw my topic right back at me!

Well, this is something I think about a LOT.  And my view has evolved over time, and I've actually touched on this topic several times both in my blogs and in my column at TG Forum.

For the first 40+ years of my life, I saw Womanhood as the unattainable Dream.  I saw woman as being infinitely better than Men- as Men were all about the next Fight, Challenge, Way to Prove their Manhood.  Being a guy was all a big "D**k Measuring Contest.  Women produced Life.  Women had emotions.  And I so desperately knew I was one but could never ever reveal it.

In 2008, that changed.  My feminine side re-awakened.  I was Sophie once a month.  Being a Woman became a quest, yet a shameful secret.  I was raised to think being trans was horrible- that I was a freak.  I grew up in the 70s and 80s after all!  My early blogs discuss my torn feeling about this quite a bit.

But, as I learned more, and met more people, my confidence grew.  Being a woman was still the unattainable dream, or was it?  I mean, I started HRT...

Then, MIL discovered my secret.  I was thrown out.  Lisa, my dearest friend, died.  My old life collapsed into fragments.

Being a Woman was no longer a Quest or a Dream... it was an Inevitability.  I had no other options, save death.

And so I went Full Time two years ago this month.

What Does Womanhood Mean to me Now?

It's something I, and my sisters like me, have to Earn.  Every day.  It is a cherished gift.  For GGs, it's a birthright.  For my sisters and I, it is Nirvana.

Being Female has so many challenges.  Men treat me differently.  They assume stupidity.  Yes, they do.  They "man-splain."

As I've written before, males of my generation were raised to think themselves to females.  I actually wonder if that's why there is so much violence against transwomen- we have surrendered our "birthright" of male "superiority" willingly.  Or is it because if a man finds us attractive, his friends will accuse him of *horrors* being Gay?

(For my generation, calling a guy "gay" was an instant fight.  Any insinuation of femininity was and is considered an insult.  And it seems that is still the way it is today.)

Of course, I am so much more than my Gender.  I am an educated person.  I am a devoted parent.  I do my best to help others.  BUT...

But...

I no longer have to think about my gender every day.  I no longer have to ache Every Day.  I no longer have to wonder Why not Me  EVERY DAY.  Live with that for over forty years...

Yes, I think about being a woman.  Every time I see a guy staring at my breasts.  Every time I put on a bra.  Every time some guy talks down to me and I think "you have NO idea stupid you sound."

But mostly, when I think about being a Woman, I just Smile.

Because I am a Woman.  And that means everything to me.

Hear Me Write... no that's not right.

Promise to Lisa

It's been nearly two and a half years since my dearest friend, Lisa Empanada, killed herself.  I think of her constantly.  


At her funeral, I promised Lisa that I would transition for the both of us.  I keep my promises.  But the Darkness never left me. Lisa used to say she was “one bad day away from trying again.”  And she acted happy.  No one knew she was planning to die.  I was trained to spot suicidal “clues” but I never saw them in her.  I failed her.  And she’s dead.  Her death is a scar on my soul that will never heal.

What about my promise to Lisa to transition?  

I hold it fulfilled.  

I can go no further in transition than where I am now, as I simply have no money and doctors aren’t known for doing freebies.  Nor would I ask for one.  So I will always walk between genders, forever neither one nor the other.  I am a Woman, yet I am not.  

I wish things were different, but wishes simply don't come true, and dreams are deceptions.

Lisa, I'm sorry.  I've done all that is humanly possible.  I live as a woman full time.  My male self is long dead and buried.  However, the obstacles that prevent the completion of my transition are simply insurmountable.  No amount of tears or hard work can change that.  With the promise fulfilled, I can make other plans.  Try to conquer other obstacles, I guess.  There are always obstacles.

I started life poor.  I will end that way as well it seems.  I am weak.  

But, I kept my Promise.  

I miss you Lisa.

With Lisa, June 2013

Republican National Committee Declaration of War against Transgender People

Daer readers, it's happened.  Several days ago, the Republican National Committee issued a Resolution.  I've reproduced it down below, word for word.

Screen shot from RNC website, link below.

Yes, the print is small in that picture.  So, as I said, it's reproduced below.

It's a lot of big hateful words there.  Please allow me to summarize it.

"Transgender people do not exist.  They do NOT deserve equal rights, like the rest of the country."  (well, except for African Americans.  And women.  And...Oh, sorry.)

According to the GOP, our Truth is a Lie.  We are simply perverted.  Or Gay.  Or "confused" (that's the nicest thing I've heard them call us.)

Think about that for a second.  The RNC is ordering all Republicans to discriminate against us at all times.

That's not just Federal level.  That's state level.  And Local level.  And most importantly, School Boards.  Think about it.  School boards are the ones who control what the next generations learn.  Yes, they are supposed follow the State and federal guidelines, but there are times they don't.  But remember, republicans are at those levels as well, denying our reality.

Remember also, that major GOP candidates, especially Rafael Eduardo Cruz, have attended anti-LGBT rallies, and had speakers on their stages calling for our extermination.  Cruz has dome it multiple times now.

I recently posted a piece in this blog written by my dear friend Kayden, in which she eloquently stated the following:

Seriously... if you're going to vote for these people, then step up to the plate here and own it. Explain to me why you're okay with all of that. Tell me how it's worth it to you to support a platform built on blind hatred of myself and others like me (not to mention countless other minority citizens). Tell my why you support people who are more concerned with terrorizing me than they are with fixing real problems in our country.

Or better yet, the next time you see me, look me in the eyes and tell me "I'm voting for people who want to strip away your rights and your marriage and your happiness and to put your safety in jeopardy, and I'm okay with that because..." If you have the courage to do that, I'll give you a fair listen.

She's absolutely spot on.  And I echo her words.  As Bob Dylan once wrote "You've got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend.  When I was down, you just stood there grinning."

If you claim to be my friend, yet support stripping my rights, well, how can you claim to be my friend?  Simple.  You can't.  The stakes are too high now.  Transpeople are dying- suicide... murder... and the GOP wants to push us along.

Just... go away.

As promised, what follows is the text of the RNC resolution, copied directly from their website.  Link below as well.

*****************************************

Republican National Committee

 Counsel’s Office

RESOLUTION CONDEMNING GOVERNMENTAL OVERREACH REGARDING TITLE IX POLICIES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

WHEREAS, A person’s sex is defined as the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined at conception, identified at birth by a person’s anatomy, recorded on their official birth certificate, and can be confirmed by DNA testing;

WHEREAS, Transgender policies deal with students who choose to be designated by their desired gender identity; an identity that conflicts with their anatomical sex;

WHEREAS, The U.S. Congress has never included gender identity within the Title IX Federal Law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity and that mandates allowing students of one biological sex to play sports designated for the opposite biological sex;

WHEREAS, Federal courts have ruled that Title IX does not extend to claims of discrimination based on gender identity and that schools can maintain separate restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities on the basis of sex where privacy is a concern;

WHEREAS, The Obama Administration’s Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights released an updated policy letter stating that Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to an individual’s chosen gender identity of male or female;

WHEREAS, Federal courts have ruled that the U.S. Department of Education’s interpretation of Title IX is not legally binding because the Department lacks authority to promulgate such an interpretation; and WHEREAS, Policies of the Obama Administration, presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and public schools that allow any students to use the restrooms, locker rooms, or other facilities designated for the exclusive use of the other sex infringes on the rights of privacy and conscience of other students; and therefore be it

RESOLVED, The Republican National Committee calls on the Department of Education to rescind its interpretation of Title IX that wrongly includes facility use issues by transgender students.

RESOLVED, The Republican National Committee encourages State Legislatures to recognize that these Obama gender identity policies are a federal governmental overreach, a misinterpretation of Title IX policies, and an infringement upon the majority of students’ Constitutional rights; and

RESOLVED, The Republican National Committee encourages state legislatures to enact laws that protect student privacy and limit the use of restrooms, locker rooms and similar facilities to members of the sex to whom the facility is designated.

 (Source: Republican National Committee)