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individuals. She said the transgendered community was small but was a target of harassment for a lot of people. She said they deserved the same respect other people in the community enjoyed. She said the code revisions were not legalizing someone to go into a restroom and hurt anyone but were saying that discrimination over restrooms would not be tolerated. Jim Self, 87201 Reynolds Drive, expressed his intense pride in his daughter who had just spoken. He spoke in support of the changes/amendments in the human rights code. He said the domestic partnership registration would enable appropriate inheritance in times of death. He also expressed his specific support for the addition of ethnicity and gender identity. He said ignorance was not an excuse to go to a place of fear and discrimination in dealing with something that was a social fact. He said transgendered people deserved the same rights as anyone else in the community and expressed his sadness that the debate came down to the use of public restrooms. Jolene Siernsen, spoke in support of the proposed changes to the human rights code. She said the passage of the ordinance would provide an opportunity for same sex couples to demonstrate their commitment to each other. Lori Buckwalter, 2271 Southeast 37th Avenue, Director of "It's Time Oregon", said the proposal was not a special rights issue. She spoke in support of the ordinance. She said in the real world, transgendered people faced constant struggles to live their lives. She noted that she and her family had been repeated victims of hate crimes. She urged the council to consider transgendered rights and safety on the same basis as any other citizen. Elise Self, 87201 Reynolds Drive, expressed her support for the changes in the code. She raised concern that her lesbian daughter did not have the same rights and was not as safe as other people in the community. She said this was the fault of a society that did not educate its members, did not accept people who were different, feared people who were different and allowed a climate of disrespect to prevail. Ms. Self said family was two or more persons who shared resources, responsibility for decisions, values, goals, and had commitments to each other. She said these were values that the City of Eugene should encourage and said the domestic partner registry was a way for the City to acknowledge those relationships. Ms. Self said gay, lesbian, transgendered, and bi-sexual people were vital members of families and society. She stressed that they functioned in leadership and support roles in every level of public life. She said they deserved to live their lives with dignity. Vince Savelich Jr., 3657 Westleigh Street, expressed his opposition to the code revisions. He urged the council not to approve the revisions. Harriet Merrick, 1332 Oak Patch, said that the code revisions would benefit businesses in the community. She said the code revisions would provide an accepted framework and a straightforward method to identify domestic partners. She said this would be a positive step forward for the community. She stressed that the registry would have fees that would allow it to pay for itself. She urged passage of the code revisions. MINUTES--Eugene City Council October 14, 2002 Page 6 Regular Meeting