Posted on 04/21/2016 7:13:56 PM PDT by Kaslin
On Thursday, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump took the liberal stance on transgender restroom access. Media outlets can call it "moderate" all they want, but it is inescapable that Trump defended biological men using women's restrooms. The Donald is not exactly hesitant to offend people, and transgressing political correctness has been one of the centerpieces of his campaign. He even declared in the past that he would protect Christians and social conservatives, but this acceptance of "transgender rights" may be a sign that he has started pandering to the "center" for the general election.
Conservatives have long warned that Trump is unpredictable, that he would make a horrible Republican standard bearer because he does not represent the classical issues of that party. Now it seems The Donald might be proving them right -- after most of the socially conservative voters in the South already backed the real estate tycoon.
Trump attacked the North Carolina law which reserved multiple-person restrooms in schools and government facilities to only those people of the appropriate biological sex. This law was intended to protect the privacy of girls and boys, men and women, but many companies attacked it as discriminatory. Rather than defending the law -- as those who find The Donald a champion of conservative or politically incorrect values might expect -- Trump trashed it.
"North Carolina did something that was very strong and they're paying a big price and there's a lot of problems," said Trump, who would have left things as they were. "There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate, there has been so little trouble."
This stance sounds moderate -- Trump is arguing that there should be no restrictions -- but in reality, it is a complete surrender to a small, vocal minority. If public restrooms must be one way or the other, why side with the infinitesimal minority of people who identify with the sex opposite the one they were born with, rather than the millions of men and women who are comfortable with their birth sex?
Why can we not have more single-serve, unisex restrooms, to avoid the issue entirely? Trump attacked the idea of separate transgender restrooms as a waste of money -- he's right -- but he did not address this solution, which many restaurants have already adopted.
In matter of fact, Trump is incorrect that there has been "so little trouble." Women who claim to have been abused as children are now vehemently opposing the opening of girls' and women's restrooms to biological men. When the New York Times attacked Americans concerned about this issue as effectively insane, controlled by "transgender bathroom hysteria," these disenfranchised people took to Twitter to express their outrage. Regardless of what Trump or the New York Times says, many Americans are concerned about this, and it's not just because of "transphobia."
Nevertheless, The Donald was quite explicit in his support for transgender access. He said that if Caitlyn Jenner (born Bruce Jenner) walked into Trump Tower, The Donald would let her use the restroom of her choice.
If @Caitlyn_Jenner walked into Trump Tower, what bathroom would @RealDonaldTrump suggest she use? #TrumpTODAY https://t.co/E6jLyif6ls
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 21, 2016
The Federalist's Ben Domenech once explained why social conservatives in the South might back Donald Trump. Domenech said these voters "have no illusions about [Trump's] unbelief. The difference is that while they believe Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio would be one more round of good soldiers for their cause, they think Donald Trump would be a tank."
But when it comes to actually fighting for conservative values, Trump ends up on the other side. Indeed, in a classic battle involving political correctness, he falls neatly in line. The Donald might not be a tank, but rather a Trojan horse.
Matt Lauer could hire 3-4 pinheads like you for a year on what he makes in a day.
They don't pay Lauer that kind of cake for selling soap.
It's because he can gut a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz on the air in a microsecond.
And what would St. Cruz do about the bathroom issue as President?
Jedi, you seem to not be a parent or someone who has taken care of little kids. When you have a little kid and they have to go to the bathroom you take them in with you. We had two girls and a boy, the youngest is now in her mid-thirties. I had the girls with me I took them into the men’s room. No one ever complained.
My wife said she has seen lots of fathers take little girls into the ladies restroom and she has never seen anyone object to that either. It is irresponsible to let little kids go into public restrooms alone. It is dangerous, they make a mess if no one assists them and they can be nuisances to other people. Obviously at some point they get old enough that they no longer want your assistance and if you decide that they can handle it, then you wait outside.
I have spent a great deal of time working as a volunteer bus driver at retirement centers and nursing homes. I have assisted little old ladies into women’s restrooms and have also had to retrieve them when they have had difficulties. No one ever complained about that either.
I don’t understand what your point is about schools. Do you think that we need to start legislating new bathroom etiquette laws at schools also. You Cruz guys must have had a lot of bad experiences in bathrooms. What type of places do you hang out at?
I am waiting for a supporter of Cruz to tell me what President Cruz would do about it?
It is a local issue.
What do you think Cruz is going to do about it?
You have no idea what you ae talking about! Although i have, in my extensive travels, used UNIsex bathrooms, I have NEVER encountered “a man walking outside peeking through the cracks in the doors.”
I have no intention of going through the rest of my life bent out of shape over whether or not there is someone with “ulterior motives” somewhere in my vicinity. You Chicken Littles always screaming that the sky is falling I find extremely disgusting. There are far too many “LAWS” in the country already, most pushed by people who see harm where there is little if any! Thomas Jefferson warned about too many laws. Too bad idiots somehow think everyone should live in perpetual fear. I don’t !
 |
Well, except when Trump visited Ground Zero. Click on the pic to see why altura is wrong.
They know their guy is finished.
I can't wait to see you guys disappear when Trump becomes the nominee!
All of the hot air will be gone from FR!
Change your screen name to JoffreyJones. "Clutch the pearls, JoffreyJones!"
Thank you for your reasonable and realistic real life post. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
I also wonder just how these Cruz people expect to ENFORCE their so called PERVERT LAW. Are they going to have a policeman standing by outside every bathroom door in the country to check someone’s credentials before they enter behind those hallowed doors?
It must be terrible to go through life terrorized by what MIGHT happen all the time.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciated your comments tonight. Nothing has indicated to me more than this latest “restroom controversy” how little substance is left in the Cruz campaign. Cruz started with lots of good positions and points, now he has reduced himself to making comments that about restrooms that prove only that he never took care of his own children.
Early on I was labeled a “transgender activist” for pointing out this is a NON-ISSUE that the federal government has no business in. It is just a sign of how desperate and frantic Cruz followers have become.
Did you miss the below linked story when it came out? People who want to not be forced to undress in front of and look at naked men just to use a facility are being discriminated against. It’s easy for you to say it hasn’t affected you, so you don’t care. You could say that about a lot of things. But you should support laws defending the rights of people even if they’re not you.
-—>
Planet Fitness cancels woman’s membership after her complaints of transgender woman in locker room
Michigan Live ^ | March 06, 2015 | Jessica Shepherd
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3265164/posts
What’s happening now is good citizens are being told they have to accept the naked opposite sex roaming around their facilities or they have to leave. We NEED the law to protect good people from losing their privacy rights to the loonies.
It is just a sign of how desperate and frantic Cruz followers have become.
...........................................................
Agreed. I tend to think about this whole issue as being somewhat like the Victorian English who demanded the marble genitals of Michelangelo’s DAVID be covered with a fig leaf at the Great Exposition in London.
Talk about a tempest in a teapot....................
It is NOT a non-issue for a President! This case will probably hit the Supreme Court this year or as soon as the leftists think they have a court packed enough to win. Then it will be ILLEGAL to STOP someone from the opposite sex from going in whatever bathroom they want.
Social issues are at least as important as all the other issues. The left has transformed this country more on social issues than on any others. That is where we have been losing over and over and where we must fight back the hardest.
Cruz has convinced many that we have to agree 100% with the morals and opinions of our President. He’s also made the case that Trump was bad therefore can never really change.
Cruz needs to read the Bible. God often uses imperfect men, i.e. Paul, to accomplish his ends. I’m not looking for a morally perfect President, just one that God will use to put America back on track.
I’ve known women who refused to use unisex bathrooms. We’re now on the clear path to the courts mandating that EVERY bathroom be effectively unisex. The logic of the same-sex marriage ruling means that separate bathrooms must be viewed as the same as segregated water fountains in the Jim Crow era. When you say we can afford to ignore social issues, you hand the victory on those issues to the left wrapped up in a bow.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.