TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Transgender people born in Kansas could be barred from altering their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity if the conservative Republican prosecutor succeeds in a legal action he launched late Friday.

Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a motion in federal court asking a judge to reverse the requirement in Kansas to allow transgender people to alter their birth certificates.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree in 2019 imposed a requirement to settle a lawsuit filed by four transgender residents of Kansas against three officials at the state’s Department of Health and Human Services over a policy that critics said prevented transgender people from doing so even after the transition Make changes, legally change their name, and get a new driver Driver’s licenses and social security cards.

It wasn’t clear if Kobach’s efforts would succeed, as a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling declared that a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in the workplace also prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This year, federal judges in Idaho and Ohio overturned rules against transgender people changing their birth certificates, but on Thursday a federal judge in Tennessee dismissed a lawsuit challenging one of the country’s few remaining state measures against such changes.

Kobach’s move appears to be in line with a new, sweeping Kansas law that goes into effect July 1 and rolls back transgender rights. It was enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature due to the veto of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. A memo filed electronically with Kobach’s application just before midnight cited the law as reason for a re-examination of the 2019 settlement.

The memo argued that Crabtree’s order made it “impossible” to follow the new state law and that the state health department, which administers birth certificates, was now “obligated to execute the law as written” since the legislature had “spoken.” .

Kobach had already scheduled a press conference at the Statehouse for Monday afternoon to discuss the enforcement of the new law.

Crabtree’s 2019 order blocked a policy imposed by former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration that was among the harshest anti-birth certificate changes in the United States. Kelly is a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and her government agreed to settle the lawsuit less than six months after taking office.

That decision came nearly a year after Crabtree said the Kansas policy violated the constitutional right of transgender people to due process and equal treatment before the law. His order notes that federal courts in Idaho and Puerto Rico had rejected the no-change policy. Kobach’s memo called those judgments outdated.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and the LGBTQ+ rights group Lambda Legal, which represents the four Kansas residents, condemned Kobach’s move. Lamda Legal’s Omar Gonzalez-Pagan called it “unnecessary and cruel”.

Kansas ACLU executive director Micah Kubic added in a statement, “Mr. Kobach should reconsider the wisdom — and the sheer lewdness — of this attempt to weaponize his office’s authority to attack transgender Kansas just trying to get on with their lives.”

Kansas’ new law aims to prevent transgender people from using restrooms, locker rooms and other same-sex facilities related to their identity. At least nine other states have such laws, mostly focused on public schools.

Kobach said he believes Kansas’ new law will also prevent transgender people from changing their driver’s license, although the law does not provide specific enforcement mechanisms. Legislators drafted the bill so they can prevent transgender people from changing their birth certificates, except for the 2019 federal court order, without specifically mentioning birth certificates or driver’s licenses.

For weeks, a project by Kansas Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm, encouraged transgender people from Kansas to change their driver’s licenses before the new law went into effect. Kelly’s administration, which is responsible for licensing drivers, hasn’t said whether it thinks such changes would still be allowed under the new law.

Ellen Bertels, the attorney who led the effort, said that while a transgender person could sue after the law went into effect to protect people’s right to change their driver’s licenses, a lawsuit by a state official against Kelly’s government could be aimed at prevent such changes.

“That’s sort of the obvious place they would end up,” Bertels said.

As for birth certificates, the number of states that don’t allow transgender people to alter birth certificates has decreased due to challenges in federal courts like the one in Kansas. In Oklahoma, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is being sued over his 2021 executive order banning such changes.

According to Alex Rate, one of their attorneys, the Montana ACLU plans to challenge a rule enacted there last year that prohibits people from changing the gender on their birth certificates. The state has tightened its rules since GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte took office in 2021.

Previously, since 2017, when Democrat Steve Bullock was governor, Montana allowed transgender people to alter their birth certificates by filling out an affidavit.

Advocates of LGBTQ+ rights say that changing birth certificates, driver’s licenses and other records to reflect a transgender person’s gender identity is key to confirming their identity and often vastly improves their mental health.

Policies against altering birth certificates and other documents also have practical implications for transgender residents. For example, Kansas requires voters to show photo identification when voting or obtaining an absentee ballot.

Critics of the new Kansas law say it aims to legally exclude transgender people.

It explains that state law recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and defines them based on a person’s “biological reproductive system” at birth. A woman is someone whose system is “designed to produce eggs,” while a man is just someone with a system “to fertilize a woman’s eggs.”

The law then states that “important government objectives” to protect people’s health, safety and privacy justify the establishment of gender-segregated spaces consistent with these definitions.

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Associated Press writer Amy Hanson of Helena, Montana contributed to this story.

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This story has been updated to reflect that Gary Oldman’s documentary “Flying Horse” has not yet been released.

In 2013, veteran documentary filmmaker Marc Shaffer was working on a film in San Francisco when he became captivated by the work of English photographer Eadweard Muybridge. The film, “American Jerusalem: Jews and the Making of San Francisco” that aired on PBS in 2014, used some of Muybridge’s photography.

It was then when Shaffer conceptualized the idea of ​​creating a film about Muybridge, who is considered to be the father of stop-motion photography.

“[Exposing Muybridge] tells the fantastical story of the pioneering 19th century motion photographer whose breakthrough photography influenced today’s cinema,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer will screen his 2021 film “Exposing Muybridge” at the Boulder International Film Festival this weekend. In Shaffer’s first visit to BIFF, he will be present for three screenings — two in Boulder and one in Longmont.

The film was brought to the attention of Robin Beeck, BIFF’s executive director, after festival staff member Sherri Fike saw “Exposing Muybridge” at a New York festival.

“’Exposing Muybridge’ is one of those films that engrosses you so much in the story that you forget you’re sitting in a movie theater,” Beeck said. “And when you leave the theater, you have to reorient yourself to place and time a little bit. That’s the sign of a great film and is why we selected it to bring to our audiences.”

Muybridge is famously known for capturing motion by taking photos of a running horse in each stage of its gallop, a photo sequence that helped set the tone of modern-day cinema. This sequence has been said to be the first time a photographer captured movement faster than the human eye can see.

“Aspects of his work, once understood, made you feel different about how you can trust the person behind the machine,” Shaffer said.

Among historians and professionals, the film also features Academy Award-winning actor Gary Oldman, a collector of Muybridge’s work.

“It’s like splitting the atom, it’s like discovering penicillin — it’s a monumental achievement,” Oldman says in the film, when talking about Muybridge’s discoveries.

Oldman has written a screenplay about Muybridge, “Flying Horse,” with the plan of directing and starring in the movie. Shaffer said the film is yet to be released due to funding shortfalls.

“I wanted Gary Oldman in the film,” Shaffer said, “not because I wanted a celebrity plant, but because, as an artist and a public figure, Gary relates to Muybridge on a deeply personal level, in a way others do not. ”

Shaffer began production of the film in 2019, after receiving funding, including a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“The hardest part in making a film is the funding,” Shaffer said. “Getting approved for funding and trying to figure how much you’ll actually end up needing is the most difficult part.”

After nine years of work and two years of filming through a pandemic, “Exposing Muybridge”’ will now hit BIFF’s big screens. It will be screened in Boulder at the Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., at 3 pm Saturday and at eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., at 7:30 pm Sunday. It will be screened at Longmont Museum’s Stewart Auditorium, 400 Quail Road, at 5:15 pm Saturday.

“[Boulder International Film Festival staff] have been terrific and I’m really looking forward to being there and sharing our film,” Shaffer said.

The post ‘Exposing Muybridge’ paperwork the beginning of transferring photos – Boulder Each day Digital camera appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

This story has been updated to reflect that Gary Oldman’s documentary “Flying Horse” has not yet been released.

In 2013, veteran documentary filmmaker Marc Shaffer was working on a film in San Francisco when he became captivated by the work of English photographer Eadweard Muybridge. The film, “American Jerusalem: Jews and the Making of San Francisco” that aired on PBS in 2014, used some of Muybridge’s photography.

It was then when Shaffer conceptualized the idea of ​​creating a film about Muybridge, who is considered to be the father of stop-motion photography.

“[Exposing Muybridge] tells the fantastical story of the pioneering 19th century motion photographer whose breakthrough photography influenced today’s cinema,” Shaffer said.

Shaffer will screen his 2021 film “Exposing Muybridge” at the Boulder International Film Festival this weekend. In Shaffer’s first visit to BIFF, he will be present for three screenings — two in Boulder and one in Longmont.

The film was brought to the attention of Robin Beeck, BIFF’s executive director, after festival staff member Sherri Fike saw “Exposing Muybridge” at a New York festival.

“’Exposing Muybridge’ is one of those films that engrosses you so much in the story that you forget you’re sitting in a movie theater,” Beeck said. “And when you leave the theater, you have to reorient yourself to place and time a little bit. That’s the sign of a great film and is why we selected it to bring to our audiences.”

Muybridge is famously known for capturing motion by taking photos of a running horse in each stage of its gallop, a photo sequence that helped set the tone of modern-day cinema. This sequence has been said to be the first time a photographer captured movement faster than the human eye can see.

“Aspects of his work, once understood, made you feel different about how you can trust the person behind the machine,” Shaffer said.

Among historians and professionals, the film also features Academy Award-winning actor Gary Oldman, a collector of Muybridge’s work.

“It’s like splitting the atom, it’s like discovering penicillin — it’s a monumental achievement,” Oldman says in the film, when talking about Muybridge’s discoveries.

Oldman has written a screenplay about Muybridge, “Flying Horse,” with the plan of directing and starring in the movie. Shaffer said the film is yet to be released due to funding shortfalls.

“I wanted Gary Oldman in the film,” Shaffer said, “not because I wanted a celebrity plant, but because, as an artist and a public figure, Gary relates to Muybridge on a deeply personal level, in a way others do not. ”

Shaffer began production of the film in 2019, after receiving funding, including a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“The hardest part in making a film is the funding,” Shaffer said. “Getting approved for funding and trying to figure how much you’ll actually end up needing is the most difficult part.”

After nine years of work and two years of filming through a pandemic, “Exposing Muybridge”’ will now hit BIFF’s big screens. It will be screened in Boulder at the Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St., at 3 pm Saturday and at eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St., at 7:30 pm Sunday. It will be screened at Longmont Museum’s Stewart Auditorium, 400 Quail Road, at 5:15 pm Saturday.

“[Boulder International Film Festival staff] have been terrific and I’m really looking forward to being there and sharing our film,” Shaffer said.

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The phone is such an integral part of modern life that it’s easy to forget that for years after Alexander Graham Bell patented it in 1876, it was considered a toy. That was certainly the case in San Francisco, and there was a reason for the skepticism among the population: The development of the telephone service here was accompanied by an above-average number of incorrect numbers and disconnections. The story of the early San Francisco telephone system is a little-known and fascinating chapter in the annals of communications for a city famous as an innovator in the field.

The city’s first electrical communication system used the precursor to the telephone, the telegraph, and was developed in response to the famous San Francisco fog. During the gold rush it was valuable information for traders to know which ships were arriving at the Golden Gate, so in 1850 two entrepreneurs set up an observation station on a hill in the city center that the Spaniards called Loma Alta. From here they forwarded information via semaphore to the traders’ exchanges in the financial district. To get the information even earlier, a year later they set up a second observation station at Point Lobos, known as the outer station, which visually relayed the information to the inner station on the Loma Alta through a system of semaphores and signals. This system worked fine on a clear day, but in foggy conditions the semaphores were invisible. So in 1853 the two men built an eight-mile telegraph line from the outer station to the inner station, which later became known as Telegraph Hill.

As the young city grew and businesses moved further away from the small area around Montgomery Street, business professionals and freelancers increasingly needed a high-speed communications system. They turned to an innovative telegraph system operated by a company called the American District Telegraph Company. As described in “A Historical Review of the San Francisco Exchange,” a book published in 1927 by the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, that company, founded in 1874, maintained “a telegraphic call box system similar to the messenger call boxes that still exist today use. The boxes were installed in the offices of the city’s main trading companies and professionals. By simply pressing the correct button on a rotary dial, a subscriber could send his request to the control center, where the signal would be recorded on tape. One of a large group of messenger boys employed by the telegraph company was immediately dispatched to call the taxi, policeman, doctor, or whatever party they wanted to the address where services were needed. “The” tape ” on which the signal was recorded resembled the stock market ticker tape invented in 1867.

The city’s first telephone appeared in 1876, and Bell patented his invention that same year. It was an experimental line built between Meiggs’ Wharf off North Beach and the Merchant’s Exchange building in the Financial District. The next year the first handy phone line was set up for Frederick Marriott, an English banker and editor who was not only the first to use the phone on the West Coast, but also a visionary promoter of air travel. (In 1869, Marriott’s prototype of the Avitor unmanned aerial vehicle successfully orbited a field near Tanforan – the first American flight of a motorized and steerable aircraft.) The line connected Marriott’s Lombard and Jones home and its newspaper office on Merchant Street.

The city’s first telephone company was called the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, which also included the American District Telegraph Company. In 1877 the company installed its first switchboard in its office at 222 Sansome Street. There were only 18 telephones in the system. The switchboard was a crude device made up of two boards, each holding a series of brass clips into which a switchboard operator inserted brass plugs tied with cotton-sheathed wire to establish a connection between the participants’ lines. Telephoning was not an easy thing. There was no way for customers to call the attendant. To make a call, they first had to send a telegraph to the district telegraph office, which was in the same room as the switchboard. As with the call box system discussed above, the telegraphic message was recorded on tape and forwarded to the operator, who would then connect the customer to the desired line.

The Gold and Stock Telegraph Company soon changed its name to the American Speaking Telephone Company and acquired a competitor, the National Bell Telephone Company. This rival company set up a series of bells, one over each line, that rang when a call came in. But the ringing sounded so similar that the operators had difficulty identifying which line was calling. They solved this problem by hanging a cork on the tenon of each bell with an 18-inch string. Whenever a call came in, the line could be identified by the bob of the cork.

After several years of intense competition, many of which vied for patents, the American Speaking Telephone Company and the National Bell Company consolidated into the Pacific Bell Telephone Company in 1880. But the new company still had a peculiar customer service problem to solve. As the Historical Review notes, “Until shortly after the two companies merged, the switchboards were operated by teenage boys. The friendly relations between the telephone company and its patrons were repeatedly jeopardized by the tendency of these young fellows to use improper language. Your usual “hello hello what do you want?” and “Are you done? Well, why don’t you hang up? ”Didn’t seem like the right way to talk to customers to company officials. Attempts to instill in the boys the need to be polite proved unsuccessful and they were eventually transferred to other jobs, with women being replaced in their place. “

Despite the teens’ dubious track record, Pacific Bell kept her busy night shift for several years believing that women didn’t want to work at night. But one night, responding to numerous customer complaints about poor service, the company’s vice president made an unannounced inspection visit and found the boys curled up next to their switchboards, snoring to themselves. “The boys were released and women were put to night work,” says the “Review” and adds: “Since then, telephone operations have been considered to be just as peculiarly feminine as the home.”

San Francisco’s nascent phone industry was out of diapers, but it had to overcome many obstacles before it could become a practical means of mass communication. The next portals will tell the story of these trials and tribulations, from the romantic years in which two-man “long-line patrols” led a gypsy-like existence in order to track down interruptions in long-distance lines, to inexpensive one-way kitchen phones for housewives, one of whom one hoped they would then order full-service phones, right down to the first payphones that could defraud unscrupulous customers by rubbing the coin box with a comb.

Gary Kamiya is the author of the bestseller “Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco”. His latest book is “Spirits of San Francisco: Voyages Through the Unknown City”. All material in Portals of the Past is original for The San Francisco Chronicle. To read previous portals in the past, go to sfchronicle.com/portals.

The final quiz question: What unusual items covered the floor in Gold Rush San Francisco?

Answers: Shirts. Laundry was so expensive that many 49ers just tossed their dirty shirts on the floor.

This week’s question: Who was known as “the rudest waiter in the world”?

See morecollapse

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