LAFAYETTE — After a second — and final vote — Monday by the Tippecanoe County Board of Commissioners, gender identity protections now span Tippecanoe County.
Commissioners voted 3-0 to pass the amendment, joining the cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette in support of gender ID protections.
Like previous hearings, the ordinance remained a heated topic among the public.
Jamie Keating identified as a transgender woman and spoke in favor of the amendment, dismissing claims that the protections would embolden sexual predictors in restrooms.
"Deviant behavior, no matter where it comes from — straight or gay — will occur no matter what in our world," Keating said. "Whether this law passes or not, if someone is going to be a deviant in the bathroom, they will be. And this law nor any other law put into existence will stop them."
Susan Blake spoke against the amendment, identifying herself as a scientist and questioning the scientific backing behind gender identity. Blake cited a study by Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh in the fall edition of "The New Atlantis" as evidence that the jury is still out on the science of gender identity.
The executive summary of the study argues that gender identity is not an "innate, fixed property of human beings that is independent of biological sex."