|
|
|
Trans artist challenges liquor law
by Matt Simonette
2016-08-24
|
|
This article shared 1882 times since Wed Aug 24, 2016
|
|
A queer and transgender performance artist, on Aug. 24, filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Chicago and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, maintaining that the city's policy prohibiting women from baring their breasts in venues with liquor licenses is discriminatory.
Bea Sullivan-Knoff said at an Aug. 24 press conference at City Hall that the rule has impeded her ability to earn a living.
"This is a constitutional challenge to a law that should be off the books," said Sullivan-Knoff's attorney, Mary Grieb.
Sullivan-Knoff said her performances frequently address the human body. According to the complaint, one such performance features Sullivan-Knoff wearing only a sheet and a brown-paper bag over her head. The bag is marked "Touch Me" on all four sides, and audience members are then invited to touch Sullivan-Knoff's body. She has not been able to perform that piece in certain venues, she said.
Sullivan-Knoff's suit challenges the city's ordinance on multiple grounds, among them the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the state of Illinois' Human Rights Ordinance, which prohibits gender discrimination.
The city's law as it stands "reflects 19th-century ideas about gender and sex, and gender and identification," added Grieb.
Sullivan-Knoff explained that her act is meant to counter misunderstandings and misrepresentations of trans bodies, and the current law gets in the way of that. She is asking for compensatory and punitive damages as well as a declaratory judgement that the city statutes are unconstitutional.
"Since there are I restrictions on male performers, there should not be restrictions on any gender," she said. |
 |
|
|
This article shared 1882 times since Wed Aug 24, 2016
|
| ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
|---|
| 
|  | WORLD Australian law, soccer players, Grindr suit, South Korean situation
2024-05-03
In Australia, Queensland has updated its Anti-Discrimination Act to explicitly protect non-binary and gender-diverse people for the first time, PinkNews reported. The changes came into effect on April 29, and they impose tougher penalties for hate ...
| 
| | NATIONAL Funding, 'Bytes' event, Oregon housing, Florida's refusal
2024-05-03
U.S. House lawmakers will no longer be able to request earmarked funding for some nonprofits under a change in eligibility made by the Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee, the Rhode Island Current noted. The change ...
| 
| | Sixth Circuit hears appeal of ruling upholding Tennessee's discriminatory birth certificate policy
2024-05-02
--From a press release - (Nashville, TN, May 2, 2024) — Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit heard oral argument in Lambda Legal's appeal of a district court ruling upholding Tennessee's discriminatory birth certificate policy. Tennessee' ...
|
| | Half of LGBTQ+ college faculty surveyed consider moving to another state due to anti-diversity, equity, inclusion laws
2024-05-01
--From a Williams Institute press release - Anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) laws have negatively impacted the teaching, research, and health of LGBTQ+ college faculty, according to a new study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. As a result of ...
|
| | 2024 LGBTQ+ Advocacy Day happening May 8
2024-05-01
On Wednesday May 8th, 2024, Equality Illinois and LGBTQ+ community partners from across the state are hosting the annual LGBTQ+ Advocacy Day. At a time when anti-equality governors and legislators are pursuing harmful and discriminatory initiatives ...
| 
| | Iraq's parliament passes harsh anti-LGBTQ+ law
2024-04-30
Iraq's parliament has passed a law criminalizing same-sex relations with up to 15 years in prison, media outlets reported. The law aims to "protect Iraqi society from moral depravity and the calls for homosexuality that have ...
| 
| | Court: State healthcare plans must pay for gender-affirming operations
2024-04-29
In a major win for transgender rights, the Richmond, Virginia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit became the first such judicial body in the country to rule that state healthcare plans must pay for ...
| 
| | Women & Children First owners say they'll keep advocating for Palestinian people after store vandalism
2024-04-27
The owners of Women & Children First Bookstore, 5233 N. Clark St., want people to know the best way to support their business following the shattering of a window displaying a Palestinian flag is simple: "Buy ...
|
| | GLAAD responds to Biden administration release of updated rules to Section 1557 of ACA
2024-04-27
--From a press release - (New York, NY - April 26, 2024) - Today GLAAD, the world's leading LGBTQ media advocacy organization, responded to the release by the Department of Health and Human Services of updated regulations to Section 1557 of ...
| 
| | WORLD Queer-friendly spots, religion items, Argentine protests, Iraqi bill
2024-04-26
Following a travel warning issued for LGBTQ+ tourists in Greece, euronews published a list of the European spots that are most welcoming to queer people. Even though same-sex marriage was recently legalized in Greece, the British ...
| 
| | NATIONAL Montana suit, equality campaign, Michigan St. incident, hacker group
2024-04-26
Video below - A class-action lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Montana is challenging that state's policies restricting transgender people from updating the gender markers on their birth certificates and driver's licenses, Montana Public Radio reported. The suit, fi ...
| 
| | Activists highlight benefits of decriminalizing sex work
2024-04-25
Community advocates from across Chicago gathered at Maggiano's Little Italy, 516 N. Clark St., on April 25 to discuss the safety of Illinois sex workers. After a brief introduction, Equality Illinois CEO Brian C. Johnson and ...
| 
| | New Title IX rules protect LGBTQ+ students...to a point
2024-04-19
New Title IX guidelines finalized April 19 will protect the rights of LGBTQ+ students by federal law and further safeguards of victims of campus sexual assault, according to ABC News. But those protections don't extend to ...
| 
| | WORLD Nigeria arrest, Chilean murderer, trans ban, Olivier Awards, marriage items
2024-04-19
Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's (EFCC's) decision to arrest well-known transgender woman Idris Okuneye (also known as Bobrisky) over the practice of flaunting money has sparked questions among several ...
| 
| | NATIONAL Ohio law blocked, Trevor Project, Rev. Troy Perry, ICE suit, Elon Musk
2024-04-19
In Ohio, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook temporarily blocked a Republican-backed state law banning gender-affirming care (such as puberty blockers and hormones) for transgender minors from ...
| | |
|
|
