As we all know, North Carolina and Mississippi have passed anti-transgender “bathroom bills.” These laws force people to use the bathroom that matches the gender they were born with, so transgender people have to go into a bathroom that doesn’t match the gender they are living as. Republicans are losing their minds over this, and in order to justify their bigotry, imply that transgender women are trying to harass women in the bathroom.
Many big companies and musicians are boycotting the state as a result. PayPal halted plans to build a facility there. Governor Pat McCrory is complaining about the “Hollywood elitists” that are boycotting his state. Mississippi has their own law, and Tracy Morgan is boycotting the state.
Now, a town in Alabama has jumped on the bigoted anti-trans train. Oxford, Alabama has passed an ordinance to make transgender people use the bathroom of the gender they were born with. It carries a $500 fine or six months in jail. Yes, you can now go to jail for peeing in the wrong place. This is absolutely ridiculous.
This ordinance was brought to the local government after Target announced its pro-equality stance. I guess boycotting the store is not enough for the conservatives. Now, we have to get the government involved.
Council president Steven Waits had this to say about the bill:
“It’s being put in to protect women, children, and families from voyeurs, child molesters, exhibitionists, sexual predators and others who might use these policies to their advantage.”
When asked if the bill paints transgendered people as sexual predators, he said, “that’s not the spirit of this law.”
I call B.S. on this one! They are really just uncomfortable with people who are different. Discrimination should NEVER be written into ANY of our laws, people! You may have even used a bathroom with a transgendered before. You may not have even known.
Here is “Orange is the New Black”s Laverne Cox (from Mobile, Alabama) sharing some of her experiences as a child. This discrimination and hate is not anything new.
Featured image by torbakhopper via flickr, available under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
