Jim2 wrote:whorton wrote:Consider the recent bathroom debacle. People that opposed the issue were NOT against transgender persons. They were concerned that sexual predators would use the ruling to gain access to bathroom spaces to foment sexual attacks, especially on their children.
Sorry, but I don't agree. I think the bathroom issue was mainly about intolerance of difference by social conservatives who can not accept change from the traditions that they were brought up with. Maybe there were others who were really concerned as you say, but I think the thought of sexual predators was mainly an excuse to force their own ideas about how to live on others, as well as a way to make people fearful and thus willing to go along with circumscribing the freedom of transgender individuals.
Jim, Although numbers are difficult to quantify in that regard, there is some polling data that I believe support my contention. First the Pew Research group a survey which shows that overall, feelings about the issue were 51% felt "...allowed to use the public restroom of gender which they currently identify, while 46% ". . .required to use the public restrooms of the gender they were born into. (1) But the results were a bit more skewed with religious affinity:
FT_16.09.29_transgender_2.png
Which does lean towards your observation. However an article in the Washington Times (2) reports: (Statement from Family Research Council President Tony Perkins):
“President Obama has ignored the repeatedly expressed concerns of parents and school officials over the privacy and safety of students,” Mr. Perkins said in a statement. “In the pursuit of his radical agenda, the President has trampled upon the boundaries of his constitutional power.”
It continues:
"Democrats were evenly split on the issue, with 46 percent responding they disapprove and 45 percent saying they approve of the government’s involvement. Republicans overwhelmingly oppose such measures, while self-identified independents are against the idea by a 64 to 29 percent margin."
Which indicates that Democrats FAVOR government involvement to force the issue on those that disagree with the policy regardless of reason. The first statement regarding student safety has never been rebutted.
A Rasmussen poll conducted in Feb of 2017 found this(3)
"Support for allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms of the gender they identify with is up from 33% last May, but opposition is down only slightly from 51%. Among Americans with elementary and secondary school age children, 55% were opposed at that time." and went on to note:
"However, just 28% of all Americans believe the federal government should be responsible for setting bathroom policies in elementary and secondary schools, compared to 24% last year. The same number (28%) say states should be responsible for such policies, while 36% say it should be up to local government. The Trump administration says state and local governments should be deciding transgender school bathroom policies."
So, the issue seems two fold, the number of people who believe the power of the federal government is required to solve a problem that most of us would agree was a NON issue before the the previous administration felt the need to insert federal edicts to enforce it. The resulting pushback was expected. I would add that the findings regarding the percentage of Americans with elementary and secondary school age children (at 55%) is a substantial uptick from the 33% figure of the preceding May.
Even the liberal New Yorker weighed in on the matter(4)
"The debate around which bathrooms transgender people should use has given rise to deeper questioning of why we even have a norm of gender segregation for bathrooms in the first place. But a push to make those spaces open to all genders comes up uneasily against feelings of female sexual vulnerability and their effect on an equal education or workplace. To make things more complicated, the risk of sexual assault and harassment of transgender females in male bathrooms is a salient reason for providing access to bathrooms according to gender identity, while many worry about transgender males being sexually bullied in male bathrooms." and continued. .
"The common denominator in all of these scenarios is fear of attacks and harassment carried out by males—not fear of transgender people. The discomfort that some people, some sexual-assault survivors, in particular, feel at the idea of being in rest rooms with people with male sex organs, whatever their gender, is not easy to brush aside as bigotry."
1.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/20 ... hould-use/
2.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... oom-order/
3.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... eral_issue
4.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk ... -ix-crisis