State Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, is upset that retailing giant Target has announced that transgender customers and employees may use whichever public restroom is appropriate to their gender identity. Here’s his tweet this afternoon:
Target isn’t practicing #WednesdayWisdom as they force women to use bathrooms w/ men. No respect for women’s privacy https://t.co/qwhxTHW8gs
— Matt Shaheen (@MattShaheen) April 20, 2016
Never mind that it remains illegal to harass someone in a public restroom. Never mind that the suggestion that transgender people are bathroom predators is a myth. And never mind that many of us have shared public restrooms with transgender people without knowing about it (or caring).
Shaheen, who recently likened late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to Jesus Christ, is simply perpetuating the vicious slander that transgender people are trying to do something nefarious rather than, well, pee in peace when they go to the restroom.
Expect more of the same from Texas lawmakers as the beginning of the state’s 2017 legislative session nears. One religious-righter in the Legislature has already predicted that we’ll see up to 100 anti-LGBT bills in the session.
As you contemplate that, we’ll also tell you that the United Kingdom has issued a travel advisory for British tourists coming to the United States:
“The US is an extremely diverse society and attitudes towards LGBT people differ hugely across the country. LGBT travelers may be affected by legislation passed recently in the states of North Carolina and Mississippi. Before traveling please read our general travel advice for the LGBT community.”
That’s right — the British government is now advising its LGBT citizens about the personal and legal risks they take when traveling to some parts of the United States. Some Texas lawmakers could end up putting the Lone Star State on the list of risky states next year. Wouldn’t that make you proud?
UPDATE: Now we see that the sex-obsessed extremists at far-right group Texas Values — the Focus on the Family affiliate in Texas — have started a petition condemning Target’s new policy. The group shamefully promotes the myth that letting transgender people use restrooms appropriate for their gender identity somehow endangers women and children.
