How important is your vote for privacy this Tuesday?
For women and girls who live in or visit Anchorage, your vote could make the difference between their privacy being violated or not. Even if the polls weren’t close, that’s a huge reason to make your voice heard with your vote – simply because it’s right.
But the polls are close – close enough to remind me of two previous elections.
- One was last fall in Virginia – a state House race that would determine which party controlled the entire House. After recounts, it ended in an exact tie. Thankfully – for life and religious freedom – a coin flip to decide the race went the right way.
- Rare? But not that rare. I know, because a number of years ago, I voted in another state legislative race that also ended in a tie. Instead of a coin flip, this race went to the state legislature to decide, and they chose in favor of the pro-life, pro-family candidate. I’ve never been so glad that I voted!
And countless races – including major races – have been decided by a single vote per precinct.
Will you be that vote? Be sure your ballot is postmarked no later than this Tuesday, April 3.
And even if you’ve already voted, will you remind friends, family and church members to vote YES to protect privacy in Anchorage? If they need more information, here’s a helpful article to share with them.
This vote is critical. That’s why Family Policy Alliance has invested so much in this effort, joining with our allies at Alaska Family Action.
And thank you for making a difference with your vote!
John Paulton
Family Policy Alliance
P.S. Please also forward or share this information with others, as every vote is critical! If you live outside of Anchorage, please share with Anchorage voters. Thank you!
As an Anchorage voter, you have a chance to shape the nation with your vote on or before April 3.
That’s because leaders around the country are watching to see what Anchorage voters will do on Prop 1, the Protect Our Privacy measure.
As you may know, in September 2015, the Anchorage Assembly passed a new law – Ordinance 96 – that gives men the right to enter women’s intimate facilities such as locker rooms and restrooms simply by claiming a “gender identity” different from their biological sex. This intrusive and dangerous ordinance forces everyone – even private facilities like athletic clubs – to open their restrooms, changing rooms, and showers to members of both biological sexes. Similar laws have been passed in other cities and states – opening a Pandora’s box of problems.
That’s why Family Policy Alliance has invested significantly in Prop 1, which was initiated by our allies at Alaska Family Action to overturn that dangerous policy.
Ballots have been mailed, and your YES vote on Prop 1 will help to accomplish the following:
- Ensure that in city-owned or operated buildings, all intimate facilities (locker rooms, showers, restrooms, etc.) will be designated for use by persons of the same sex, if the facility is intended for use by multiple persons at the same time. Simple: one room for women, one for men.
- Authorize the municipality to provide special accommodations for those who may need it — including, for example, persons who experience gender dysphoria. But the privacy rights of others must be respected. Simple: protect everyone’s rights.
- Repeal the “one-size-fits-all” mandate on every Anchorage business, church and charitable group that prohibits them from protecting the privacy and safety of staff and customers, by not allowing them to reserve access to intimate areas (locker rooms, etc.) based on a person’s physical sex. Prop 1 replaces this unfair mandate with a common-sense provision that allows a church, charity or business to set a policy that takes into consideration the nature of their operations and the desires of their staff and clientele.
Family Policy Alliance has invested in this critical project by making a $10,000 matching grant to help encourage Anchorage citizens to vote YES on Prop 1. Protect Our Privacy is also using two of our Ask Me First videos on their website.
Nobody bothered to ask women in Anchorage before they passed Ordinance 96. Prop 1 is giving all Alaskans, but especially women and children, their voice back.
For more information, please visit the Yes on 1 – Protect Our Privacy website.
And click here if you need more information on the voting process.
Thank you for making your voice heard with your vote!
The Family Policy Alliance Team
P.S. Please also forward or share this information with others, as every vote is critical! If you live outside of Anchorage, please share with Anchorage voters.
Our allies at Alaska Family Action celebrated a huge success recently by gathering enough signatures to put a “bathroom-privacy” initiative on the 2018 ballot. The measure—originally named the Protecting Our Privacy Initiative—would protect the dignity, safety and privacy of women and girls in showers, restrooms and locker rooms by requiring intimate spaces to be segregated by biological sex as determined at birth rather than how individuals “identify.”
Supporters of the Protect Our Privacy initiative gathered close to 8,500 signatures — thousands more than the number required to certify a place on the 2018 ballot.
The ballot measure aims to blunt one of the many dangerous effects of a so-called nondiscrimination ordinance passed by the city of Anchorage almost two years ago that included “gender identity” as a protected class. The ordinance allows boys and men who identify as transgender to use women’s restrooms and other facilities designated only for females.
“That’s obviously a huge privacy and safety issue for women and girls,” said Jim Minnery, executive director of Alaska Family Action, one of Family Policy Alliance’s state-based allies. “Everyone is made in the image of God and should be respected and loved but not everyone should have access to any intimate space they want because of how they feel. It’s common sense.”
The Human Rights Campaign says there are more than 100 cities in the U.S. that have similar “public accommodation” ordinances that allow men who identify as transgender to use women’s bathrooms. That means privacy measures to protect women and girls—like the one championed by Alaska Family Action—are needed now more than ever.
Minnery said despite facing marked opposition from transgender-activists who threatened and harassed their signature gatherers, the effort enjoyed a large and ethnically-diverse coalition of support from people and churches across Anchorage.
If passed, the privacy initiative would protect against, for example, a boy using the girls’ locker room at a sporting event. Don’t think that could happen? Check out this Ask Me First video about how Alaska girls already were forced to compete against a young man who says he identifies as female in the 2016 girls state track competition.
Voters will have a chance to approve the privacy measure in April 2018. Congratulations to Jim and the entire Alaska Family Action team!