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.
Planet Fitness has bathrooms with doors in which women can change. Showers have curtains behind which women can change. I’ve done it many times. If you look at the hard facts, transgender people are a very tiny minority in the U.S. The more PLATFORM you give them, the more power they gain. I do not approve of them, but I am not going to lose any sleep over the FEAR I MIGHT encounter one sometime or other. I have much more apprehension of some of the nuts who drive a car carelessly and could kill me. Just how much good have laws against texting while driving done? It still happens!
Trump cares about Americans. He talks tough, which is good, but then he has a heart, which is good, too. Personally, I am too busy fighting for, over, and about the issues that I notice mpst Americans care about - jobs-economy, immigration, terrorism, to spend all my time hating Jenner (who is a good Republican, by the way), I mean I may get pissed off but then in the end I come around to liking Jenner. I mean, if he changed his sex organs by a medical procedure because he strongly knew that is what he was, fine - let him use the ladies bathroom. I mean, I can tell the difference between an actual transgender and just some man who wants to snesk into a lady’s bathroom. Maybe trans should have their own bathroom, I don’t know, but I got to focus on the immediate issues.
That’s a silly argument. Then we should repeal all laws because no law is 100% effective? Murder still happens too.
If the law is ineffective, why are liberals against it? They know it’s effective.
The law should be easy to enforce if there are so few transgenders.
Don’t neglect that this liberalization will let a regular old male pervert “say” he’s a woman and go in. And there are a lot more of those than transgenders. As well as people who “identify” as a woman and look like any other man.
No I don’t! If a woman needs to use a facility and refuses to do so because there might be a man in some part of the rest room, she is absolutely STUPID!
I am a modest person by nature, but I’m not going to fly into a panic over this issue. I DON’T overreact to such “social’ issues. There are far too many REAL problems that need attention if we are going to save the country.
I don’t know what the rule is at Planet Fitness, but my understanding is if you want to walk around naked in a locker room in full view of everybody else, you’re allowed to. That’s what the girls in our country have to look forward to. They can hide behind the curtain all they want but that doesn’t stop Dame Edna or Madea from walking in and going full frontal.
What is the GOP Senate and House doing about this?
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Such matters are 10th Amendment issues. Not the Feds’ business!
Social issues are dealt with by changing people's minds and souls, not political power.
AND what about the hoards of lesbians I’m sure have frequented the same bathrooms as me ? What’s the difference?
I don’t care who is in the next stall or out front washing their hands. I don’t live my life in fear. I feel sorry for those who do.
The left deals with social issues by changing them at the Supreme Court level and forcing the results on the country. Our Presidents have to appoint ones who won’t do that.
That’s great for you but you know as well as I do most women want to be able to use locker rooms and restrooms free of naked men.
Since the little petunias who see someone exposing himself will probably break out in shrill screams, I find them as ridiculous as the exposer. Maybe the best thing will be to have Art Classes from early grades where children learn from great paintings and sculpture all about the human anatomy, male and female. THE THINKER is a nude male on full view in the streets of New York as well as in the sculptors garden in Paris. DAVID is a nude male we can find from Copenhagen to Florence. VENUS DE MILO is a nude female, so is Botticelli’s Venus Rising From the Sea, or the Birth of Venus. I’d rather have my grandchildren learn about the beauty of the human figure in art, than learn how to use a condom in grade school.
If you want to expand this discussion into the ridiculous realm, be my guest. I’ll have no part of your St. Cruz garbage.
It seems it is lawful to teacch grade schoolers about sex, but learning about history, culture, anatomy, in the greatest museums of the world
It seems it is lawful to teach grade schoolers about sex, but learning about history, culture, anatomy, in the greatest museums of the world IS VERBOTEN.
You are really in overdrive about the whole thing. What a pity! There are far more important things to worry about in this country right NOW.
There’s a time and place to appreciate the nudity of the opposite sex but that’s never before been allowed in a locker room or restroom facility.
We can worry about all the issues. The government has enough departments so that the President can assign people to proceed with improvements on all the issues.
BULL! They won’t do anything about the corruption until Trump gets in and cleans house. They won’t do anything about the IRS intimidating people, the State Department selling favors, the president leaving our people to die at Benghazi. etc. etc.,
I’m not worried about some nude man running around in a locker room or restroom facility and I’m a woman. Why should you worry, or are you being paid by the Cruz org. to create a tempest in a teapot? Sure sounds like it.
Trump was doing an interview on one of the morning shows. He was aske the question. Trump responded that he had a feeling this question would come up. He was ready for it.
Look, Trump is not a politician, he is a reality show star, who happens to be a business man. He has no ideology at all, so he just wings it. I know a lot of people like him and think it is fun to watch him insult people, but a lot of people like Don Rickles, too.
It is precisely because Trump is non-ideological that he has been adopted by the Libertarians.
Stop applying perspective, people are trying to be hysterical here!
> It is precisely because Trump is non-ideological that he has been adopted by the Libertarians.
wait, when did that happen?
I thought I saw your vanity earlier. I can't find it now. Is it still there? I would like to read it.
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