General Public Shut out of Gender-Identity Discussion

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Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Nancy Hansen For The Register-Guard

Gender identity is a term with which few people are familiar. It's an innocuous-sounding phrase with a rather shocking definition. The term is used by the Eugene Human Rights Commission to describe a person's view of his or her own sex, not simply one's sex at birth.

The commission says that, among other things, it includes transgenderists, transsexuals, cross-dressers, drag kings and queens, and even gender variants who may not identify with either sex.

The city of Eugene is considering giving special minority status to this group. Gender identity would be on par with race, religion, color, sex, disability, etc. Anyone who discriminated against this …