HomeMy WebLinkAboutNon-Discrimination Public Comment from Cassidy Anne Medicine Horse 5-1-14 Address to the Bozeman City Counsel
First, I wish to take a moment to thank the members of the city counsel for allowing me to
speak to you this evening, My name is Cassidy Anne Medicine Horse and I reside at 37 W. Main in
Bozeman, Montana. I am an adjunct instructor at MSU as well as a doctoral candidate in the
department of American Studies and expect to receive my Ph.D. In the Spring of 2015.
I have come before you this evening to speak on behalf of the upcoming vote that you will
make concerning whether Bozeman will sanction discrimination within its city limits. However,the
essence of this ordnance extends far beyond Bozeman; it extends far beyond Montana. Indeed, it
speaks to whether this country,the bastion of equality, will allow the exclusion of millions of its
citizens based on sexual preference or gender presentation. That, members of the counsel is the
question before you.
Vice President Biden said, in a 2012 interview that transgender rights are the civil rights
movement of the twenty-first century. And, like the civil rights movement of the 1960's, transgender
inclusion speaks directly to the dignity of mankind.
Discrimination is ugly, hurtful, and stupid. It rears its head and speaks from the podium of
political expediency. It hides behind the vail of religion. Its weapons are bigotry, hate and money. It
applauds separatism and revels in the perpetuation of ignorance.
My first exposure to the affects of legal discrimination was when I was a young person traveling
through California with my parents. One evening, as we stopped in a local restaurant for dinner, it
became obvious that we were being ignored. After a period of time the manager of the restaurant came
and stood by our table and addressed my father. Throwing a sign that he had apparently taken from the
window on to our table he said, "we do not serve your kind here". The Sign read No Negros,No
Indians.
My next experience occurred approximately a year later as I exited from the wash room of a