Letters to the Editor 5/6

Problem: Solution

Problem: Budget deficit due to decreased sales tax revenue.

Solution: Reduce expenses. Cut state employee pay.

Problem: Budget deficit worsens due to further decreases in sales tax revenue.

Solution: Reduce expenses. Cut state employee pay.

Problem: Budget deficit worsens due to decreased sales tax revenue.

Solution: Reduce expenses. Cut state employee pay.

Problem: Downward spiral detected.

Solution: Adjourn legislature.

JOHN MARGOLIN

Carson City

Be grateful Gibbons and Buckley not talking

Sen. Barbara Buckley complains that the current governor doesn't talk to her, while she and former Gov. Kenny Guinn talked constantly. And their communications resulted in the biggest tax increase in the history of Nevada. We should be grateful that Gov. Jim Gibbons doesn't talk to her.

The governor can veto the legislation but, in the end, it is up to Sen. Bill Raggio and the other Republican members of the senate whether or not we suffer another massive increase at the hands of their tax and spend colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

E.C. COWAN

Carson City

Senate proposal doesn't address transgender issues

I am very disappointed that Senate bill SB207 (which allows for the protection of gays and lesbians in regards to access to public accommodations) passed out of the Assembly Commerce and Labor Committee on Friday without the added protection for transgender individuals.

In 2008, Jennifer Gale, a 47-year-old transgender homeless woman died in Austin, Texas, because a homeless shelter refused to allow her access to the facility. A 2008 study of 646 transgender Californians conducted by San Francisco's Transgender Law Center found that 20 percent of them reported having been homeless, and a third of those said they had been denied access to a shelter.

Transgender individuals have disproportionately low income and often depend heavily on access to public accommodations, such as the library, food banks, homeless shelters and low-cost medical facilities. SB207 in its current form allows transgender individuals to be refused access to these vital resources.

The passage of SB207, without the added protection for transgender individuals, empowers the rights and privileges of one minority group, while once again leaving another behind, to fend for themselves in the streets.

LAUREN SCOTT

Reno