Politics And The Potty

As Iran continues to pursue nuclear weaponry, as Russia marches on in Eastern Europe, as ISIS crucifies children and threatens to attack the United States, as our economy stagnates at .5% growth,  and as our debt soars to $14 trillion, once again, our leaders choose to pursue what really matters. The potty.

And incumbent leaders scratch their heads in disbelief at the rise of Trump and Sanders...

Transgendered Americans make up less than .05% of the population. For some reason, however, the government has decided that this is the issue we need to debate right now. Who cares who started it. Whether it was states passing anti-transgendered bathroom legislation, or whether it was progressive cities who did it, it doesn't matter. Like two toddlers arguing in the Kindercare, they need to be separated and put in time out by the grownups. 

This was not a problem until someone decided to make it a problem but, thanks to the federal government's intervention, it has now become a real problem. The Obama justice department and the President have now proclaimed that all schools, employers, and government buildings allow transgendered individuals to use the bathroom of their choice. This, of course, is a huge problem. Liberals paint anyone opposed to the administration on this issue as a bigot, but that simply isn't the case. Americans, for the most part, could care less about the extremely rare occurrence of a transgendered person using any bathroom. Transgendered individuals just don't make up such a large portion of the population to have their bathroom habits be noticeable. Americans do, however, care about sexual predators, who far outnumber transgendered people. 

The liberal narrative that nothing evil ever happens in the bathroom is just plainly false. If you doubt that, just google it. Children are abducted from bathrooms. Children and teens are attacked in bathrooms. Voyeurs do attempt to exploit locker rooms. At best, if the liberals have their way, this law will create confusion in the minds of potential victims. "Should I say something? Am I a bigot if I speak up about this man in my locker room? Will I be mocked on campus if I don't accept this man exposing himself to me in the bathroom?" 

Also overlooked is the cost. Liberals argue that employers and schools should create unisex bathrooms and locker rooms like the family changing stations that exist now. No they won't. I promise you they won't. Schools have community locker rooms and showers. So do employers. They are currently divided by gender. There is no way the parents of teenage boys and girls are going to allow unisex locker rooms and showers. For their part, employers are not going to risk the sexual harassment exposure of unisex showers and changing rooms. To retrofit schools and business to provide privacy in communal changing rooms and showers would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Building new facilities would cost even more, and for what? To fix a non-problem for a very small portion of the population. 

Finally, there is no definition of "gender identity" that could serve to set uniform rules for bathroom use. The term is entirely subjective and, no matter where you stand on the issue, it is universally true that no rule can be formed or enforced if it's based on complete subjectivity. So, either the other 99.95% of Americans are going to be forced to accept this, or it will be totally blocked except in rare circumstances. 

Minorities seeking acceptance and protection as a class need to be very selective about the cases they use to achieve those rights. Test cases are filed and rejected all the time. The LGBT community unquestionably wants to be recognized as a protected class and provided remedial rights against their communities, schools and employers for a history of discrimination. This is not the case to use to do that. There is an old adage in legal profession: "bad cases make bad law." Imagine, as a member of the LGBT community, that you were finally granted protected status under federal law based on one of these test cases. You may celebrate, but forever and always those rights would be tied to the bathroom. This just isn't the best case to use to achieve equal protection.