Being a Michigander, this story hits a little close to home to me.  It’s not possible to describe this in a way that makes it sound funnier or more ridiculous than it already is, so I’ll let everyone see for themselves.

Paul Scott seems prepared to court controversy in his candidacy for Michigan Secretary of State.

In an announcement letter posted last week, Scott, a Republican state representative from Grand Blanc, includes this double-take-worthy bullet point:

“I will make it a priority to ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license in any circumstance.”

He’s referring to a change in policy that dates to 2005, when Transgender Michigan and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan’s LGBT Project successfully lobbied the Secretary of State’s office to allow individuals to change the gender markers on driver’s licenses and state ID cards. (We have since learned that this rule was reversed).

In short, Scotty Boy here is campaigning under a rather surprising assumption: that the most pressing issue currently facing the state of Michigan is transgendered people and their driver’s licenses.

I have little to say about this, except “Bravo!”  Scotty Boy apparently has the inside track on some terrific news.  Only an idiot could possibly run their campaign on a basis like this if they didn’t secretly know that our economy (which is totally fucked in the ass) wasn’t about to make a miraculous upturn, therefore removing it from the table of shit that’s actually important.

A vote for Scotty Boy is a vote for optimism.  You heard it here first, folks.

It had been the long-standing policy of the office that a person’s gender could not be changed unless the individual had first undergone gender reassignment surgery.

In a letter to the Secretary of State, ACLU of Michigan’s LGBT Project attorney Jay Kaplan wrote, “The current policy excludes a majority of the transgender community who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and are under treatment of medical professionals. Most transgender persons cannot afford sexual reassignment surgery, nor have health insurance that will pay for such surgery.”

Don’t give me any of these phony baloney “facts.”  Any stuck-up educmacated twit can prove anything as long as they have “facts” to back it up.  What, you think you’re better than me?  I bet I could kick your ass!

Scott’s letter also emphasizes pro-life values. He’s best known in his district for introducing a workplace smoking ban.

That’s fantastic.  God knows that if anything’s been putting my ass in the poorhouse besides transgendered people and their driver’s licenses, it’s women having the right to decide whether or not to carry out a pregnancy.

The smoking ban makes him seem kind of faggy though.  USA!  USA!

The content of his letter already has attracted some ire online. The en|Gender blogger, who writes about gender-issues, says:

“I thought for a minute I was reading a parody & checked the page to make sure it wasn’t The Onion. On the one hand, I’m kind of blown away that the need for gender marker changes on ID is even being recognized as something transgender people need to do. On the other: really? Is blocking a transgender person’s right to change their gender marker a key issue?”

Of course it is.  Hippie.

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