Pardon me, but please drop your pants before using the Restroom.

*exasperated sigh* I know I said that the post about me voting for Senator Sanders in the Georgia Primaries was my last overtly political post. But I'm sorry, given recent events, this is something I have to throw my hat into. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I support LGBT (which, for those who don't know, is an acronym for 'Lesbien, Gay, Bisuxual and Transgender') Civil Rights. It's a topic I feel very strongly about--despite not being gay myself-- because to me it doesn't make any sense not to. This is a group of people who are constantly being marginalized and discriminated against in both modern times and in the past, all because the person they love happens to be of the same gender as them, or because they are the victim of one of God's cruelest jokes. And yet, some politicians (some of whom are old enough to know EXACTLY what discrimination looks like) are trying to, or have already, passed laws that infringe on the rights of these people. And that, Dear Reader, is UNACCEPTABLE. And it also leads nicely into the topic today.

Perfect illustration as to why Bathroom Laws are bullshit.

Now, unless you have been living under a rock, you've probably heard that North Carolina has recently passed a law that states that people in NC must use the bathroom of the gender that is on their birth certificate, and present some sort of card that explains that they are transgender  Well, not only is that a violation of a Transgender Person's right to privacy--and can lead to many an awkward situation besides-- it's also a violation of their Civil Rights, by trying to monitor and control what they do. And it would also put their lives in danger, because who knows what a less tolerant man would do to a Trans Woman (or vise/versa) while she's trying to do her business or even after that. Several big businesses, including Google and Apple, have called this law what it is, a law born from bigotry, and are actively fighting against it. Paypal for example, even canceled a planned expansion into the state, because of the bill.  The latest and most controversial corporation to join the fight is Target, who has publicly stated that it will not force Transgender customers to use the restroom of the gender they don't identify with.  This has lead many an angry religious and conservative nut grabbing their torches and pitch forks and boycott and protest against Target over this decision.

Christopher  Hambrook
is a known Serial Rapist. and now the posterboy for bigots who don't get it.

Why are these Bathroom laws even being passed? Some might ask. Well according to the people who are for them, including GOP Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz,  The idea behind the NC bill, and others like it in other states, is to stop Sexual Predators from claiming to be Transgender so that they can gain access to the woman's bathroom unopposed, and do their vile business. And, to be perfectly fair, I would be hard pressed to dismiss this as an irrational fear. In doing the research for this post, I did stumble upon on one blog post that cited a news story from Canada that states that this actually happened. It's important to note though, dear readers, that the articles cited in the blog post was done by the now defunct Sun News Network , a Canadian news network known for its shoddy reporting and pro-conservative bias. And while I have no way to check the article's accuracy; what is agreed upon is that the perpetrator of the incident in question (A man named Christopher Hambrook) is that he was NOT transgender, but a convicted serial rapist who had been in and out of prison numerous times before the incident in question. And after said incident, he was declared a danger to society and thrown into jail permanently.

Also a good point, there's no real way for NC,
or any state really, to enforce this BS.

Ok, these fears are not totally irrational. Here's the thing though. If the proposed laws are supposed to stop predators like Hambrook, why are they framed in such away that specifically targets Transgender people?  When there really ISN'T any evidence of a Transgender person sexually assaulting someone in the Bathroom (remember, Hambrook was NOT a Transgender)?  I'm not kidding, I scoured every reputable source I could think of, and, other than the aforementioned incident in Canada, there isn't a shred of credible evidence that suggests a correlation between Transgenders using the bathroom of the gender they identify with, and a rise in sexual assault.  There just isn't, the evidence doesn't exist. Hell, as I hinted at before, there's way more evidence to suggest the opposite. This is fear mongering. Pure slimy fear mongering that has been picked up by idiots who don't do their research, or just don't care. Or (even worse) they oppose it for "Religious reasons" (don't even get me started). Here's an idea, lawmakers, if you so worried about sexual predators, REAL sexual predators. Then why don't you make laws that make it virtually impossible for them to get out of prison in the first place? You hypocrites.
  

                

Sadly, this ignorance and fear, has wormed into members of my own family. Without naming names, I'm going to tell you a story that happened to me recently related to this. A few weeks ago, a cousin of mine  posted a video on Facebook of a Pastor standing outside a Target store and ranting and raving against Target's decision. This in of itself wasn't unusual, as he is always posting political stuff on Facebook, but this particular video really set my blood boiling. Now, me and this cousin, we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things. He is very conservative and a staunch republican, while I am more liberal and don't affiliate with either Party. And while I don't really care where he parks his butt on the bench of politics, He has this nasty habit of taking Republican propaganda and treating it like the golden word of God, and will largely not listen to views that run counter to his own. Throughout his young life (he's in his 20's), to my knowledge, no one has ever truly challenged him on his beliefs. Hell, as I recall, when I had tried to in the past, I was told quite sternly to leave him alone.
This time, however, I had no intention of leaving it alone. I and another friend of his called him out on the video, and he asked us if we supported "gender neutral bathrooms?" I told him, no, I supported what Target was doing, because it's not the government's (or ignorant assholes) goddamned business when a Transgender person has to take a number 2. His counter argument was something along the lines of how awkward it would be for a "Man who thinks he is a woman" to use the woman's bathroom and vice/versa. Analysing what he said, however, it becomes pretty obvious to me what he truly meant; namely, that Transgenderism doesn't exist, and those who claim to be transgender are sexual predators.

Well, I took some issue with that, as you might imagine. And I called his argument exactly what it was, "Ignorant and Bigoted" and explained to him that Transgenderism/Transexualism is a very real condition, and that it's backed up by strong scientific evidence. I even added two links to two science journals on that matter (this one  and this one  to be precise). and I ended my little spiel by asking him "When has this ever been a problem for anybody?"  Well to make a long story short, he tried to paint me as a hypocrite rather than properly debate with me, and after trying to dox me a second time, I finally called him out and told him he wasn't providing any evidence to support his argument, which was making him look more and more in the wrong. He promptly deleted the post and removed me from his friends list. Classy.

Now why am I telling you this? because it shows just how much ignorance there is when it comes to this issue. Transgender people are not predators, their people. And they deserve to be treated as such. Regardless of what your personal beliefs are, that's the cold hard truth. And it quite frankly sickens the hell out of me that so many people don't see that.

Those are my two cents. Thank you all for reading. I'll see you next week.