Paranoia

The conservative’s obsession over trans-people using the bathroom and has resulted in adding a huge burden to business owners. In Houston they proposed a non-discrimination ordinance, the Houston Chronicle reported that,

The proposed amendment would remove that paragraph of the expansive ordinance. Transgender people barred access to a restroom still would be able to file a discrimination complaint to the city's Office of Inspector General under the process outlined for all protected characteristics, such as race and veteran status.

"The base ordinance is still the same," Parker said. "It says you can't discriminate."

The wording that they removed from the proposed ordinance was, “that no business open to the public could deny a transgender person entry to the restroom consistent with his or her gender identity had outraged conservatives” now will create a nightmare for business owner in that it creates an impression that they can stop a trans-person from using the bathroom but at the same time saying that if you prevent a trans-person from using the bathroom you can get sued.

When the Hartford ordinance was passed in 2011 there was no opposition to the ordinance, but down in Houston the conservative churches and Republicans mounted a full court press against the bill and they bused in over 300 people to protest the ordinance. From their pulpits they warned of sexual predators in the bathrooms and the rape of our young girls, firing up fear and hatred against trans-people. They know that it is a lie, but that doesn’t stop them.

We see that behavior when and wherever non-discrimination are proposed; in Maryland the fear mongers are out in force trying to block the new gender inclusive non-discrimination law from going into effect. The media is becoming aware of the conservative tactics and are call them out on it, Media Matters reported that,

The fact that a major cable news outlet took the time to cover the fight over a state's transgender protections is remarkable. Aside from the transphobic panic attacks that occasionally flare up on Fox News, stories about the transgender community's fight for equal treatment don't typically get much national media coverage.

The simple truth is that a predator is not going to go to the effort to go out and buy women’s clothes so he can rape a woman in the bathroom, he will just walk right in. And the fact is that we are more likely be the ones attacked because of the hate these conservatives create.