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Save Us from the Latrine Loonies and the Potty Po Po
By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor
We seem to have a
recurring problem these days. The problem exists because so
many among us see a bogeyman around each and every corner
every time their long-time traditions are challenged.
Recently there has
surfaced an enthusiasm in our southern states for laws to
keep transgenders at bay and in their proper place. Their
proper place, according to North Carolina HB2, for example,
would be in public restrooms with the rest of their
“biological sex.”
The law, otherwise known
as the “we are so mad that the U.S. Supreme Court allows
those people to marry each other that we are going to do all
we can to make their lives as miserable as possible” act,
appeals to the most idiotic instincts of the uninformed and
identifies a problem that simply doesn’t exist.
Picture, if you will, your
teenaged son entering a school shower where three girls, who
have identified as transgender, have occupied the
facilities. Can’t envision such a scenario? No wonder. Given
the number of transgenders in the population, that isn’t so
much a plausible scenario as it is a teenaged boy’s
adolescent fantasy.
It is estimated that
perhaps .03 percent of the population identify as
transgender. That identification is a far cry from those who
proceed with the necessary operations to change their sex –
transsexuals. And, try as one might, it is impossible to
find any indication that those who identify as transgender
or transsexual have perpetrated any sort of bathroom crime
wave.
Picture, if you will, your
seven-year-old son or daughter placed in danger in a public
facility due to a herd of predatory transgenders having
access to the restroom. Scary thought? What’s scary is our
propensity sometimes to have a misplaced sense of danger
particularly where our children are concerned.
The fact is that 90
percent of sexual offenses against children are committed by
people the children know. Half of those offenses are
committed by relatives of the children. Forget the public
restrooms. Your child would be better served if you more
closely monitored those using the bathroom in your own home.
If you think the danger of
being in a public restroom stems from the fact that a
transgender might be in there with you, think again. The
chances of encountering a straight person with a violent
felony conviction in a public restroom are 30 times greater
than the chances that you will encounter a transgender or
transsexual. If you are going to keep looking over your
shoulder, make sure your eyes are focused on the right
target.
The fact is, the Tar Heel
lavatory law is a ridiculously inane attempt to correct a
problem that doesn’t exist by enacting a law that cannot be
enforced. Indeed the Republican reactionaries did not bother
to place any enforcement provisions in the law. How would
one enforce it? Place the Potty Po Po at the entrance of
each public facility and demand birth certificates of each
person seeking entrance?
Impossible, of course, but
this speaks to pointlessness of this provision of the law.
The only reason to pass such a statute is to fire up the
socially conservative base and keep them in the Republican
camp. ‘Let’s throw a few meaningless goodies their way,’ say
Republican leaders, ‘so we can keep their heads in the
toilet and keep their votes coming our way.’
If the only provision of
North Carolina HB2 were the bathroom language, we could
remain unfazed by the over-the-top reaction of the latrine
loonies who are constantly wondering whether the guy, or
gal, in the next urinal is holding on to what was God-given
or store bought.
Unfortunately we don’t
having the luxury of simply laughing off such sky-is-falling
fear mongers this time.
HB2 is dangerous for
several reasons. First, it forbids local governments from
enacting bans on discrimination beyond what is provided for
in state law.
Second, it forbids local
governments from raising the minimum wage beyond what the
state requires. That’s right, the minimum wage. That part of
the ordinance prevents booming metro areas, such as
Charlotte, from ensuring that more of its residents enter
the middle class while simultaneously driving up corporate
profits. Clearly such corporations who benefit from such low
wages will express their undying gratitude to the
appropriate lawmakers – and can do so more generously than
ever thanks to Citizens United.
Third it establishes a
formula for pressing discrimination claims, including racial
discrimination claims, that bypasses the court system –
keeping such claims with an agency whose members will be
approved by the very legislative body that passed the
statute.
Fortunately, as we have
seen over the past few decades, hatred fades away in spite
of those few who would cling to it like a protective cloak.
Unfortunately, even the few fear mongers among us attract an
outsized amount of attention keeping the bulk of the
population from moving on as quickly as it otherwise might.
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