{"id":40708,"date":"2016-07-30T12:56:03","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T16:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=40708"},"modified":"2016-08-08T12:46:48","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T16:46:48","slug":"candidate-vows-to-break-the-jaw-of-a-transgender-commissioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2016\/07\/candidate-vows-to-break-the-jaw-of-a-transgender-commissioner\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Candidate Vows to Break the Jaw of a Transgender Commissioner"},"content":{"rendered":"

by A. Barrett Staff Writer<\/p>\n

\"\"
Charles Edwards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District\u2019s monthly meeting the accord? on July 26, 2016, Charles\u00a0F\u00a0Edwards, a candidate for seat #1, was speaking to Fire Commissioner Matt Smith and made this statement \u201cthat if it walked or rolled into a bathroom where my wife or granddaughter was using I would break its jaw!\u201d<\/p>\n

I then walked over to Charles\u00a0F\u00a0Edwards and Fire Commissioner Matt Smith to confirm what I had just heard. Mr. Edwards confirmed \u201cthat yes I was talking about Fire Commissioner Linda Carter\u201d<\/p>\n

Fire Commissioner Linda Carter, US military Vietnam vet and advocate for the senior, disabled and all-round well liked in the community and is transgender female. Fire Commissioner Carter is not currently up for reelection.<\/p>\n

Edwards also mentioned to Smith in a joking manner \u201cThat I would spend one hundred thousand dollar to win this campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards\u2019 candidates Facebook page states, \u201cLet’s bring integrity back to the Lehigh Acres Fire Commission!\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards\u2019 Facebook page says, \u201cMost important to me is to make sure the citizens of Lehigh Acres, and the firemen that work here feel like at least one person on the board will listen to them and make their feelings heard!\u201d<\/p>\n

We also reached out to Fire Commissioner Matt Smith and asked him about his feelings on this matter. Smith said, you should use the same restroom that you where identified at birth.<\/p>\n

Chairperson Cathy Kruse of the LAFC&RD who is currently up for reelection for seat #1 also, She was unavailable for comment at the time of the posting of this article.<\/p>\n

We reached out to the local Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) group here in Lee County, Pride SWFL and this is the response we received from\u00a0Arlene Goldberg
\na LGBT Activist<\/p>\n

It appears Charles Edwards, currently running for Fire Commissioner in Lehigh Acres, has no tolerance for those who are different than him even in his own community.\u00a0 He is uneducated and ignorant about transgendered persons, by the way who are citizens of Lee County and pay taxes just like Charles Edwards does. \u00a0THEY ARE HERE, Mr. Edwards!!!<\/em><\/p>\n

A reporter of the Lehigh Acres Gazette overheard Charles Edwards make this comment, \u201cIf it walked or rolled into a bathroom where my wife or granddaughter was using I would break its jaw.\u201d IT IS A PERSON!! NOT AN IT!!!<\/em><\/p>\n

Charles Edwards was referring to a person who is currently a Fire Commissioner on the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District.\u00a0 He was referring to someone\u2019s gender identification\u2026.a transgender person.<\/em><\/p>\n

Charles Edwards, transgender people have utilized restrooms that fit their identity forever\u2026.you just never knew\u2026most of the time you can\u2019t even tell.\u00a0 Just imagine a person identifying as a woman, dressed as a woman and looking just like a woman entering the men\u2019s restroom.\u00a0\u00a0 Is that what you want them to do????\u00a0 ARE YOU SERIOUS????\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t make any sense at all!!!\u00a0 The result would be disastrous!!!\u00a0\u00a0 Think about it. All that person wants to do is relieve themself like you do\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Charles Edwards is so worried about what a trans women will do to cisgender((hetero-sexual) women and girls in women\u2019s restrooms, but I\u2019m more worried about what cisgender (hetero-sexual) men and boys will do to trans women and girls in men\u2019s restrooms.<\/em><\/p>\n

There has never been any evidence that a trans person has ever attacked people (non-transgender) in a public restroom. \u201cTrans bathroom panic\u201d (as it has been coined) is a harmful, bigoted phenomena and it is anti-trans. Transgender persons are not a threat.\u00a0 What about the one in five women that are raped at some point in their lives? What about the fact that trans women are 1.8 times more likely to experience sexual violence when compared with other survivors?<\/em><\/p>\n

The reality is that people are making excuses for their bigotry, for their anti-trans feelings, for their transphobia, for their hatred of trans women. If people really cared more about women and girls, they wouldn\u2019t treat them like they\u2019re inferior and useless. If people really cared more about women and girls, maybe they wouldn\u2019t deem them lesser and below their peers of the opposite sex in every corner of their lives\u200a\u2014\u200atheir jobs, their schools, their homes. If people really cared more about women and girls, they wouldn\u2019t mock and humiliate them every chance they get. And… maybe if people cared more about trans people, they wouldn\u2019t have already killed 11 in 2016-7 of which were transgender women.<\/em><\/p>\n

Charles Edwards what if you were born in a body that did not fit who you truly are?\u00a0 What if\u2026. inside you felt like a female, thought like a female, liked things females like but had the body of a male??\u00a0 You would have been a transgender and that is not a choice!! It is genetic and does not make a person dangerous.\u00a0 It just makes them different.\u00a0 Imagine growing up in a body that is foreign to you?? <\/em><\/p>\n

To the citizens of Lehigh Acres:\u00a0 You don\u2019t want a bigot serving the public\u2026yes Charles Edwards is a bigot and has the potential to be viol<\/em>ent by his own words.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Remember to vote but not for Charles Edwards!!!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Arlene Goldberg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Respectfully submitted by,<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

Arlene Goldberg
\nLGBT Activist
\n<\/em>
\nHow do you the readers feel about this matter? Do you support civil rights or bigotry? Do you feel a candidate for elected office should be of good moral stock or honest about what they think? Leave us your comments below or email them to us at news@lehighacresgazette.com<\/a> . We would like to know your thoughts on the matter in this article.<\/p>\n

It will seem too many that I or the Lehigh Acres Gazette may have a bias or an agenda as I write this article. I wish to make it very clear I do not nor does the Lehigh Acres Gazette management have a bias or agenda in this matter. To point a fact out, I am as is the Lehigh Acres Gazette indifferent to who wins the seat for the LAFC&RD board of commissioners. I and the Lehigh Acres Gazette are merely reporting the facts on this matter and how it my concern the public trust.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by A. Barrett Staff Writer After the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District\u2019s monthly meeting the accord? on July 26, 2016, Charles\u00a0F\u00a0Edwards, a candidate for seat #1, was speaking… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":40710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}