Framing

Framing means how a particular issue is presented in a campaign or debate. We see it in how the media constructs a gender identity/expression bills and how it can help or hinder passages of the bill.

Transgender teens and families call for equal protections
Foster.com Seacoastonline
By Holly Ramer, Associated Press
Posted Jan 31, 2018

CONCORD — Transgender teenagers and their parents urged New Hampshire lawmakers to expand the state’s anti-discrimination law Wednesday, while opponents again focused on the fear of predatory men molesting women and children in public restrooms.

The bill before the House Judiciary Committee would ban discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on someone’s gender identity in addition to the protections that already exist based on sex, religion and sexual orientation. Lawmakers tabled a virtually identical bill last year, leaving New Hampshire the only New England state without such protections.

At a rally ahead of Wednesday’s public hearing, Emily Fishbaugh, of North Hampton, said was miserable as a young child before she transitioned in fourth grade. Her school has been supportive, she said, including allowing her to use the girl’s bathroom.
[…]
“It’s an anti-discrimination bill. It’s not an ‘I’m going to let you go into bathrooms and molest someone bill,’” said Dover Police Chief Anthony Colarusso, speaking on behalf of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.

Now compare this article with the article on a bill before the Iowa legislature…

Transgender ‘bathroom bill’ introduced in Iowa House, though support lags
The Des Moines Register
By Brianne Pfannenstiel and Courtney Crowder
January 31, 2018

Iowa House Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday that would protect schools and businesses that choose to limit transgender people's access to restrooms.

House File 2164 seeks to rewrite portions of the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which grants transgender Iowans legal protections against discrimination in education, employment, housing and other public accommodations based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.
[…]
“What the bill just says is that schools and businesses are allowed to take action to protect women and girls by preserving access (to toilet facilities and locker rooms) based on biological sex,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville.
[…]
House File 2164 seeks to rewrite portions of the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which was amended in 2007 to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Note the headlines, one headline focuses on compassion and a loving family while the other headline focuses on fear.

In New Hampshire the last time the non-discrimination bill was introduced the media famed it as the “Bathroom Bill” now they are changing their headlines. Last time the Union Leader used the loo to describe the bill now there sound like they are actually support the bill.

It appears in New Hampshire that this time the trans and LGB organizations have laid the groundwork for the bill. Let’s hope that in Iowa that the Republican bill gets soundly defeated because it is nothing more than fear mongering.