LGBTQ news and entertainment
Using phrases like “crazy false narrative” and “bogus issue,” some conservatives are openly suspicious of the true nature of these ‘bathroom bills,’ even as lawmakers continue to introduce more anti-LGBT hate laws.
The questions come from conservative pundits across the media landscape, even Fox News.
“Liberal Redneck” comedian Trea Crowder gets it ALL out there explaining the current rash of anti-transgender hate laws.
Thanks to Boy Culture for pointing up this video. I like this guy!
Conservatives are using bogus scare tactics about “bathroom predators” to pass creepy, invasive laws regulating transgender people’s bathroom access.
And uncritical media coverage is helping them do it.
From Media Matters:
That “bathroom predator” talking point is a myth. Law enforcement experts and people who work with victims of sexual assault have called it “beyond specious” and “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” There have been zero proven incidents in the more than 17 states and 200 cities where transgender people are currently protected from discrimination and allowed to use public bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.
But the “bathroom predator” myth has dominated news coverage of the fight for transgender equality. Reporters repeat the talking point without debunking it, so viewers are left thinking that LGBT nondiscrimination protections might lead to sexual assault.
Republican politicians are using imaginary horror stories about bathroom predators to pass creepy, invasive laws policing the gender of anyone who goes to the bathroom in a public place. That’s the story media outlets should be telling when covering “bathroom bills” like North Carolina’s.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, during an appearance on Face The Nation, said he probably wouldn’t have signed North Carolina’s hate law which legalizes discrimination against LGBTs.
He added that “we are not having this issue in our state” in terms of religious freedoms being hampered.
From Mediaite:
Kasich avoided getting into the specifics of the “bathroom” bill, which––in addition to rejecting anti-discrimination law––demands that everyone must use the bathroom of the gender on their birth certificate.
He complained, “Why do we need to write a law every time we turn around in this country?”, and said, “Chill out, get over it if you have a disagreement with somebody.” (It’s not clear if he was specifically referring to the people behind the anti-trans legislation.)
Matt Baume breaks down the lies and myths about transgender folks using the appropriate bathrooms.
With so many crazy folk like Mike Huckabee making bad jokes and hitting the transphobic panic button, we need to get to the heart of the matter – what are folks thinking is going to happen?
And what really happens when a trans person uses the bathroom?
Hint: they’re using the bathroom…
Cortney Bogorad, while having dinner at restaurant chain Fishbone’s Rhythm City Cafe in Detroit, was making use of the bathroom facilities when she heard yelling outside the door. A voice, that turned out to be a security guard, was demanding that “whatever man is in the restroom needs to come out now.” Being a woman, Bogorad ignored him.
And that’s where things escalated.
From The Advocate:
The guard allegedly entered the bathroom yelling, “This is a woman’s bathroom, if you are a man, come out!” and pulled Bogorad by the arms out of the stall when she opened its door. She said he then pushed her up against the wall, saying “boys aren’t allowed in this restroom,” according to the Detroit Free Press.
“He was much bigger than me, at least three times my size,” Bogorad told WXYZ. In her lawsuit, she explained that she and a friend informed the man repeatedly that she was a woman, and offered to show her legal identification stating that she was female, but the guard refused to see it, instead shouting inches from her face, “Get out of the women’s restroom!”
According to Bogorad, the guard then pushed her out of the bathroom where she saw a person she thought might be a restaurant manager. When Bogorad tried to explain to the man that she was a woman and show him her ID, she said he, too, ignored her efforts to prove her identity.
The guard allegedly then took his security badge, and holding it just inches from Bogorad’s face, yelled that he was a security guard.
When Bogorad pushed the badge away, that’s when she said the guard picked her up “against my will” by the shirt and bra. He then “aggressively” pushed her to the restaurant’s front door, exposing her “upper torso” to other customers, and threw her out of the resturant onto the street outside, causing physical injuries, Bogorad said.
Her lawsuit, filed at Wayne County Circuit Court on June 10, is seeking $25,000 for physical and emotional damages, battery, and gross negligence.
“This could have happened to anybody,” Bogorad told WXYZ. “There’s lots of females out there who look like boys, but at the end of the day we’re not.” She added that she is suing in hopes that the same humiliating experience never happens again to another customer at a Fishbone’s.
Fishbone’s has declined to publicly comment on Bogorad’s allegations.
Many states have attempted to pass “bathroom bills” that could lead to many more situations just like this in an attempt to police gender specific bathrooms.
var p = new anv_pl_def(); p.config = {}; p.config.width = 480; p.config.height = 270; p.loadVideoExpressV3(‘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|1000011|SPS’);
Opponents of LGBT rights in California have begun yet another attack on transgender folks as the group “Privacy For All” has announced that it has submitted the so-called “Privacy Protection Act” to state election officials and will attempt to gather 365,880 signatures to place the measure on the ballot in 2016.
While the initiative doesn’t use the word “transgender” specifically, it’s clear the intent:
If approved by California voters, the Personal Privacy Protection Act requires that individuals “use facilities in accordance with their biological sex in all government buildings”. The proposed initiative does not require private businesses to maintain sex separated facilities, but protects these businesses from legal action if they do require employees and patrons to “use facilities in accordance with their biological sex.”
“We have great compassion for any person that is uncomfortable in traditional, sex separated facilities.
But we also want to protect the privacy that most of us expect when we are in public bathrooms, showers and dressing areas” said Gina Gleason, a proponent of the initiative.
California’s legislature took an unprecedented step in 2013 by passing AB 1266 that allowed students in California public schools to choose the bathroom, shower and locker room that corresponds to the gender they identify with even if that is different from their biological sex. But that law was put on hold as opponents gathered almost 620,000 voter signatures for a referendum to allow voters to vote on the controversial new law. The matter is currently in court following voter officials rejecting more than one in five signatures to keep the measure off of the November 2014 ballot.
“California voters may have two chances to vote against co-ed bathrooms in 2016” said Karen England, a Privacy For All spokesperson. “We hope to wrap up the court battle over the AB 1266 referendum and place that on the ballot, but we also expect to have this new initiative before the voters at the same time.”
If the voters vote to overturn AB 1266, the new initiative would still be needed to assure privacy in California bathrooms. AB 1266 applied only to facilities at public schools, where the new initiative applies to all government buildings including schools.
This issue has begun to play out across the United States as hate groups turn their attention from their lost position on marriage equality and look for new areas with which to attack LGBT Americans.
The constant shriek of a threat is that without this law, straight men will “dress up” in women’s clothes in order to gain access to women’s bathrooms to peek at young girls peeing or some such thing. There’s no record of this happening anywhere.
Plus, take a look at some transgender folks who will unwillingly cause confusion when they are forced to use “biological sex” bathrooms.
 |
| Aydian Ethan Dowling was assigned the sex of female at birth. Aydian would be forced to use the ladies room. |
|
| Jazz Jennings was assigned the sex of male at birth. She would be forced to use the men’s room. |
 |
| Michael C. Hughes was assigned “female” at birth. He would be forced to use the ladies’ room. |