City puts $10,000 bounty of trans people’s heads if they use a public restroom

FYI Texas has been marked as a "do not travel" state on Erin Reed's trans risk map: https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/final-pre-election-2024-anti-trans
- I think that was inevitable unfortunately...
  
  I'm in one of the worst states, I'm scared about where things are going ...
- I have a trans teenage cousin in Texas. We're not close, but I worry. All I can really do is let him and his mom know I exist in a "safe" state and hope they reach out if they decide to leave.
- Fuck, I didn't realize we have a green* book
- I live in TX and see lots of trans people living their lives. It's a much more purple area though, but we still have a lot of crazies
  
  Yes, lots of trans people live in Texas and Florida, that's exactly what is terrifying about these laws - there are real victims.
- Oh, last time I saw only Florida had that dubious distinction. They've been busy. It's infuriating what a shithole a large portion of this country has become.

Despite what the law might say, there's no evidence whatsoever that letting trans people use their preferred bathroom causes any "injury or harm" to cis people.
To the contrary, there is evidence that restricting bathroom access is harmful to trans people - and cis people too, like Jay, a cis woman who was harassed in a bathroom after being mistaken for a trans person.
Even if they use the "right" restroom trans people are in danger of being harassed all the same if they pass too well: https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/7/12/trans-man-brutally-assaulted-using-womens-restroom-campground
Damned if you do, and damned if you don't. The point of laws like this isn't to protect cis women and girls, it's just to cause as much suffering as possible, because that's all Republicans care about.
- Also there is evidence that it is harmful to cis people. Especially cis women who might be queer or straight or gender nonconforming or not. These fuckwads always forget trans men exist and just harass women more with this shit. They don't give a fuck off you're trans or not, it's about control. And their especially interested in controlling women.
  It's also directly tied to fascism. Eco points to Machismo in point 12 of Ur-Fascism. "[Fascists hold] both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality." Meaning it's not just women, trans women, gay men, people outside of traditional 1940s gender roles, but it also includes straight, cis men who just don't seem to be straight and cis enough.
- harmful to trans people.
  And there's the true intent of the Republican legislators.
- What, we're supposed to let them use the restroom that matches their identity just because it's the moral right thing to do, costs us nothing, and the alternative harms everyone!? Sounds like someone is WOKE!!!
- Despite what the law might say, there's no evidence whatsoever that letting trans people use their preferred bathroom causes any "injury or harm" to cis people.
  Can confirm: Having shared many a bathroom with trans folks and I have managed to survive unharmed. Who would have thunk?
  
  I was once in a public bathroom. Just when i was about to wash my hands, a women walked in. I was shocked, i looked around and saw that there were urinals, so the lady was in the wrong bathroom, not me. We laughed and then we both left. That was i close one, i tell you.
  
  Can confirm: have no idea if I've ever shared a bathroom with a trans person because I am there to go to the bathroom, not interact with strangers.

Trans identity supersedes all law, or medical context, or any other bullshit justification for dehumanizing anyone experiencing any form of Gender Dysphoria.
You as a person reading this have value. Just by your very sentience you have worth. You are loved.
We will overcome this moment in our history eventually, we may not all live to see it happen but we will. I know that's an atom of relief in a sea of pain. Don't let this bullshit dim your shine.
I love each and every one of you.

Pop Quiz:
Which bathroom should he use?
- As long as it's not my stall, I don't care
  
  He can use mine
  
  Pssshhhhh!!!! Look at this bourgeoisie mother fucker over here, refusing to share their stall with others!
  Selfish. Yes, that's the word!
  The common working man poops on the left half of the toilet, and a stranger from the streets poop on the right half! AND THEY BOTH HATE THE YANKEES!!!
  Because fuck the Yankees. Can't believe I have to cheer for the god damn Dodgers ......
- Whichever he want to use. Period.
  
  Just like everyone else.
- That's OBVIOUSLY a Woman and should use my Daughter's Bathroom!
- I've done things like this when people do the 'trans women make "real" women feel uncomfortable in locker rooms' argument.
  "So you're saying women would be more comfortable with that guy changing next to them?"
  They don't really have an argument against that part.
  
  "Oh, she's just a tomboy, the phase will pass."
- The one with the toilet.
- I'm gonna need to see his tits first. Duh.
- Depends on the state.

too many taps to get to rejecting cookies so I’ll save you the click: Odessa, Texas is the city
- I was about to ask, what's with the privacy policy of that site? How can a website that focuses on an oppressed minority be so shitty about their personal data?
  I'm not telling your community what to do, but this seems very unsafe und unwise to use.
- Loads fine on tor browser with JavaScript disabled and no modals

Here is the names and photo of the Odessa city council.
https://www.odessa-tx.gov/670/City-Council
Here is the mayor.
https://www.odessa-tx.gov/Directory.aspx?EID=112
I think it's definitely worth observing the city hall restrooms in case they are using the one that doesn't fit their gender so you can collect that bounty.
And remember, you don't have to make sure, you know one when you see one.
- Each and every one of those fuckers looks like they're in a retail store about to demand to speak to someone's manager.

Some of us remember the coed bathroom featured on the hit 90s show Ally McBeal. It seemed like a progressive but not so far fetched idea at the time. So WTF are we doing still arguing about this 25 years later? These bathroom nazis need to get a grip.
- The real answer. Skip the whole gender thing if it's an issue. Certainly public restrooms being ungendered entirely won't be a problem, who knows why we have it this way...
  
  who knows why we have it this way...
  The answer is sexism. When women started to enter the workforce there was concern that they would get "overwhelmed", so gendered bathrooms were created to give them a space they could go to that feels like the home.
- Agreed. I've never cared what the person who uses my bathroom at home has between their legs. Why should I care in a public bathroom?

"Both sides are the same."

Any allies game to go to the mayor's office and conduct a shit-in?
Can't legally use a bathroom? Let's go on the floor.
- I can legally shit in any room. I even have a card somewhere licensing me to do so. My shits are the stankiest. I can't make it to Odessa until 11/1 (i have an appointment today) but I will gladly drop a deuce directly in his office.
  edit: i just got home from my appointment I need a flight to odessa if we're gonna do this
  edit: I've been saving up. It's gonna be a très
  
  "PROVE, THAT YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH AND COURAGE, TO BE FREE" They said, shitting on the floor
- There should be a name for this. "The constituent letter" or "The Pelosi kiss" or maybe "The MAGA crayon."
  
  The Hidalgo swim
- Shit on the floor. Time to get schwifty in here.

Johnathan Gooch, communications director for Equality Texas, told the Texas Tribune, “It’s a very aggressive way to alienate trans people from public life, and I think it is counter to the spirit of friendship that most Texans embody.”
- Spirit of friendship? Bitch, ya'll threaten to secede every other year.
  
  And the cowards NEVER follow through.
  
  I do get the sentiment, although for the opposite reasons that they have.

Fucking Texas.
- This can’t possibly be the United States of—oh shit…

Cool, they got a useless law to "protect" children. Where is the law that protects them in churches/camps/etc?
- Why would they do that? These laws are there to convince ma and pa dipshit that child predators are trans people not a group that’s not open or openly or formally organized and consists of people in all strata of society. In short these laws are to protect the pedos in power from suspicion

While the bounty is set to a minimum of $10,000, there is no cap on how large the bounty can be.

is there an easy way for us to abuse this system to get ourselves paid a bunch of money?
- Call in every dude who enters the bathroom. Surely one of them will get you paid and the rest will sure be happy to be checked in whatever barbaric method I'm sure they've planned out.
  Stupid laws like this assume that it's only 'perverted men' who want to put on dresses and don't actually have any thoughts grounded in reality. Every single time a law like this gets enacted it's the job of everyone to waste as much government funding as possible so they quickly rethink their stupid bigoted schemes.
  
  Call in every dude who enters the bathroom. Surely one of them will get you paid and the rest will sure be happy to be checked in whatever barbaric method I'm sure they've planned out.
  I'd recommend starting with the bathroom at City Hall.

I desperately need to get out of this state

statutory damages in an amount of not less than $10,000
Fuck, its a minimum fine of $10,000 every time you have to pee. Wtf
- Out of curiosity what's their fine for regular public indecency, like, urinating in an alley? I'd imagine it's literally cheaper for a trans person there to piss on the side of city hall than it is a regular god damn restroom
  What an awful little shitville
  
  Maybe that's their plan, to get trans people on the sex offender list because they peed in public.
  I think it's illegal in some countries to deny someone to pee.
  
  The penalties for peeing in public in Texas can range from fines of up to $500 to facing charges that might lead to community service or even a short jail term, depending on the circumstances and whether other offenses are involved. The variance in these penalties is due to factors such as the offender’s intent, location of the act, prior offenses, and any additional disruptive behavior associated with the incident.
  https://1800lionlaw.com/is-peeing-in-public-illegal-in-texas/
  That said, baring yourself in some alley may expose you to dangers other than the cops.
  
  When I lived in Texas, urinating in public was a potential misdemeanor crime, but was also a affirmative defense against public indecency. One of the few statutes in Texas that actually made sense.
- Actually the fine is $500 at most. This is a guaranteed civil court payout, on top of any "damages" someone may receive. And since this is civil court, you operate on preponderance of evidence instead of beyond a reasonable doubt.
  This sort of legislated punitive damages is what should be happening for instances of wage theft, but instead we're using it for harassing trans people while wage theft tends to have few if any punitive damages and mostly amounts to "ok, now give them their paycheck."
  
  Thats the bounty pay out, not the fine collected. Right?

I used to live in Odessa. It's a shit hole. Glad to be out of there

I don't want to post the "Da Fuck ya doing over there"-meme again. But what the hell.

The bounty defines biological sex based on birth certificates, either at the time of birth or corrected if there was a clerical error.
What if you were born intersex? The story talks about the lack of provisions for disabled persons. There are so many holes in this ordinance. It is so going to get thrown out in court.

what a stupid fucking country

What a bunch of insecure bitches must be the lawmakers in that city.

Can someone explain what this headline was supposed to say? The grammar is... Confusing.
- It has a typo, of should be on. $10,000 bounty on trans people’s heads.

It's Halloween time. Could be some easy money to be made

And high fives from everybody for the heads of the people who put up the bounty!

A bounty on trans people? So I get paid by the state to catch 'em and turn 'em in so they can be issued their 'up to $500 fine'? How cost ineffective.
Ah, it's misinformation and done so poorly, in an attempt to dramatise, they used the wrong word.
So, the $10,000 is actually for lawsuits and can start there if anyone found guilty of the crime had also caused damages. That's very normal for laws of people being somewhere they've been told not to be and damaging stuff. Like if I break the toilet seat I'm standing on while peering over the top of the cubicle to watch you pee.
It's articles like this that do not help a cause at all.
It can only be assumed this works in favour of anyone on that 5-2 vote that doesn't like trans people. If that's the case then it should be attacking gender identity issues for bathroom use, not trespass laws started in 1989 using binaries. (Yes, in an effort to get the actual information, I read other actual news articles)
- https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/odessa-tx-just-put-10000-bounties
  As far as I can see, the article doesn't misrepresent this law. It says that anyone has standing to sue a trans person for using a gender-appropriate bathroom, and the damages of at least $10,000 would be awarded if the trans person lost the lawsuit. Normally, as I understand it, you wouldn't have standing unless someone's activity had provably harmed you, but by waiving this the door is open for the trans person's use of a bathroom to be judged harmful in itself. So, a bounty on trans people.
  
  This is in a similar legal realm as the abortion bounty. There are a lot of legal experts who claim that there is no standing, while the conservative judges have held that it is a harm against society at large. So any member of society has standing.
  It's a twisted and dangerous legal framework to establish. It's already been used to attack the second amendment as well. It's not good for any political side.
- Are you willfully ignorant or do you not understand how Jim Crow laws work?
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws
- The 10k is the statuatory minimum and its paid from the person just trying to take a piss to the psychopath policing who can piss where who was not in any way damaged. It is not at all normal to pay random people out of the pockets of those breaking the law.
  In this case it encourages bigots to attack trans people trying to pee by allowing them to legally rob them if they catch them.
  Worse it encourages such attacks whichever bathroom they use. Dress like a girl use the womans room get attacked for using the wrong bathroom, use the mens room get attacked for being a woman in the means room.
  Using the bounty as a method of enforcement exists because the law is deemed likely unlawful. It exists explicitly to stop a pre emptive lawsuit against the government to stop enforcement.