Ocelopotamus

This is appalling. I’m ashamed of my state right now.

Several Illinois lawmakers mocked sex changes and the idea of debating the subject Tuesday before rejecting a measure that would have made it easier to get a new birth certificate after switching genders.

One representative compared sex changes to voodoo and joked that he had thought about getting one so he wouldn’t have to shave. Another suggested the House could be debating more important matters.

The man presiding over the debate spoke in a falsetto as he called for a vote, although he ended up supporting the measure.

Bless Sara Feigenholtz for trying to advance the bill, and for calling BS on the smug little bigot boys making fun of it.

“I didn’t think it was good-natured at all,” said Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago. “I think a lot of my colleagues demonstrated some serious insensitivity to a very complex issue. I thought it was very unprofessional.”

The legislation failed 32-78.

And this guy definitely wins the Illinois State jackass of the week award:

The legislation came up shortly after a debate about neutering deer to control their population. Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, joked that the state might start issuing sex-change documents to deer.

He complained about spending time on the issue when bigger problems, such as electricity prices, remain unresolved.

“How do you possibly — possibly — bring this forward when there’s so much this body needs to be considering?” Rose asked Feigenholtz.

That’s right. Rep. Chapin Rose just can’t imagine why the state legislature should spend a minute of its precious time on the problems faced by transgendered people. It doesn’t matter that they work and pay taxes to pay his salary, just like everyone else in the state. To him they’re just not important.

Dear karma gods … in his next incarnation, please sentence Rep. Chapin Rose to a lifetime of ridicule and mockery for characteristics outside his control. A nice long lifetime like that.