ONLY SOME PROGRESS
As director of the NAATP (National Association for the Advancement of Transgendered People), I would like to thank the City Council on the progress all of you have made to the fine city of Eugene. However we were appalled when we heard that you left us out of your human rights ordinance and fell victim to the whims of bigotry.

Because of that fact the NAATP has chosen your city to be one of the stops yearly for its "March for Change," and we are going to open a chapter in Eugene and Portland. We at the NAATP are requesting you to pass a civil rights ordinance and in its wording we want it to include the transgender population. In many other cities an ordinance reads: "It is hereby declared to be contrary to the public policy of the city for any person to deny any other person the enjoyment of his/her civil rights or for any person to discriminate against any other person in the exercise of his/her civil rights or to harass any person because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, height, weight, disability, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, student status, or because of the use by any individual of adaptive devices or aids."

We want a similar law in Eugene. Where it reads "sexual orientation," we want you to put after that a comma and "transgender status." This would make all of us in the transgender population feel much more protected in your city.

Melissa Sue Robinson
Director NAATP www.melissarobinsonco.com