I'm starting to run into people who say that they support trans bathroom access, but that they are still behind the American Family Association's boycott of Target, because Target's policy does nothing to prevent a male predator from falsely claiming to be trans and entering the women's bathroom. This is maddening on a whole host of levels, but has become pervasive enough that I feel the need to address it.Let me start by asking this: How would we go about allowing trans people to use the res … [Read more...]
Why Breitbart’s Anti-Trans Top Twenty-Five Bathroom Predator Stories Are Bunk
April 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The recent spate of laws barring trans bathroom access has hit home hard. I know the numbers, the percentages of trans people who attempt suicide or are harassed in the bathrooms, but I also have several trans and nonbinary friends I consider myself close to, and watching them walk through these past few months has been gut-wrenching. As the anti-trans panic has ratcheted up, I've become increasingly worried for my friends, and for other trans people like them. What few people seem to realize is … [Read more...]
The Historical Context of Cruz’s Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill Ad
April 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
This week Donald Trump came out against the recent spate of anti-trans bathroom bills. Ted Cruz sensed an opportunity, and ran an incredibly offensive ad repeating the lie that allowing trans women to use the women's bathroom is a threat to women and children. It's interesting to note, though, who the ad is directed toward.https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/723294053056450560Here is the text displayed in the video: Should a grown man pretending to be a woman be allowed to use the … [Read more...]
Making Bigotry Sound Beneficial: A Longstanding Tradition
April 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Have you noticed how much the rhetoric has shifted vis a vis gay people over the past several decades? Yes, there are some conservative evangelicals (and others) who still use language reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s, but for many more, opposition to gay marriage or other gay rights initiatives has been rephrased in different ways. It's all, "we love gay people, we just think children need a mother and a father." Or, "we have gay friends, we just don't think it's right to force a baker to … [Read more...]
Whatever Happened to Small Government Conservatives?
March 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
I recently came upon this on the AP: RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina General Assembly is returning Wednesday to take up legislation that would attempt to override Charlotte’s nondiscrimination ordinance that allows transgender people to use restrooms that align with their gender identity.Legislative leaders announced Monday night the decision to reconvene a little over a week before the ordinance gets implemented April 1. They say three-fifths of the House and Senate members made the nece … [Read more...]
Kevin Swanson: Media Pushback is Christian Persecution
March 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
If you spend much time at all listening to conservative evangelical pastors, Christian radio, or Republican politicians, you know that these groups promote a persecution narrative in which they position themselves as the victims of religious persecution. (And then accuse the Left of promoting a culture of victimization.) Given that we live in a country that is a majority Christian and invokes the Christian God on its currency and in its national pledge, among other things, this claim is … [Read more...]
Conservative Rhetoric and Transgender Bathroom Battles
March 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Interesting, the debate over allowing trans people to use bathrooms that match their gender identity seems to have moved beyond the argument that trans people are perverts to settle on a new objection---that perverted cisgender men will take advantage of transgender bathroom bills to gain access to women's bathrooms. Oh, I'm not saying there aren't still people who believe transgender people are perverts---there are---but if you look at most conservative news articles denouncing trans bathroom … [Read more...]
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