Opinion

The Texas Two-Step Into The Transgender Bathroom Non-Issue

REUTERS/Jonathan Drake/File Photo

Ron Hart Contributor
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Hey Texas, here’s a Prince of an idea: No matter the new bathroom laws, let’s potty like it’s 1999.

The manufactured debate on same-sex restroom use rights now has Texas grappling with the same tar baby that North Carolina fumbled. Usually,  through a series of procedural machinations, stupid bills in Texas are sent to committee to die. But rival Republicans, the  socially right-wing lieutenant governor dragged the more sensible and moderate GOP governor into a vote on this stupid issue.

First, transgendered men who identify as such are only about .2 percent of the population. They have always been about two-tenths of one percent, and there have been almost no issues of them molesting girls by using the wrong bathroom. This is a solution in search of a problem.

Second, low-information folks conflate transgender people with pedophiles. Pedophiles are a different union. They lurk in your schools, churches and neighborhoods. Nothing stops them from going into a bathroom. But say what you will about pedophiles, they always slow down while driving through school zones—but they are not wearing dresses.

Third, the GOP supposedly espouses limited government and fewer laws. Another law on the books, one that has police checking birth certificates at bathroom doors? Really?

As in most bad laws (like the one in North Carolina), the federal government immediately wants a piece. Obama ordered North Carolina and Texas to mandate which bathroom the transgendered can use.  So if you dig irony, our first black president told Southerners which bathrooms they can use.

So the feds got involved. I suggest they name the transgender bathrooms at the FBI Building after J. Edgar Hoover but, given our education system, that irony would be lost too.

Allowing the transgendered in Southern public bathrooms is dangerous. There is a one-in-three chance someone is cooking meth in there.

With a $20 trillion national debt, are we are really going to focus on bathrooms? If you want a new law, take ten existing laws off the books.

I am a big states’ rights person. If your state is viewed as anti-gay or discriminatory, it will probably lose business and jobs. If you do not want gays in your state, you will have to suffer the consequences — which, as I see them, are a lack of quality hairdressers and few good places to have brunch. And good luck getting your poodle shampooed.

It is funny how, for Democrats, LGBTQ civil rights issues are suddenly the most pressing of our time — behind proving that Donald Trump is a Russian spy. Keep in mind President Obama and Bill Clinton ran both times opposing gay marriage. LGBTQ activists have finally convinced Bill Clinton to see things their way, probably after sending two of their hottest L’s to convince him.

Coming late to issues is the Democrats’ legacy. Republicans freed the slaves, founded the NAACP, and overcame Democrat opposition to pass the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s. Nixon started the EPA. Showing up late to good ideas and making them worse are Democrat traditions. Hollow gestures define Democrats. Thomas Jefferson freed his slaves in his will.

Members of the left flail around creating “tolerance” issues and making themselves the heroes in their own narrative. We have the most tolerant country in the world, yet during his Secretary of State confirmation hearing, senators tried to ask Rex Tillerson his views on transgender bathroom access. Tillerson said that, while heading Exxon, he would allow transgenders the same key, with a two-by-four tied to it, that got them into the same nasty Exxon gas station bathrooms as straight folk.

I am seasoned with the Scripture of the South. I understand that this is a Biblical issue for some and just plain creepy for others. Religion and Jesus were about tolerance and love. Realize that God made transvestites; it’s not their choice. Who would choose to complicate his life that way? You can hate the sin, but love the way the handbag and shoes match.

Remember the “turn the other cheek” manner in which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. handled issues. By his religious beliefs, he set an example which made others reexamine theirs. His “I Have a Dream” speech spoke to the transgender issue. He would say today, “Judge a man by the quality of his character, not the contents of his walk-in closet.”

A syndicated op-ed humorist, award winning author and TV/radio commentator, you can reach him at Ron@RonaldHart.com or Twitter @RonaldHart.