Just to give you a little background information, here is the reason a rant is about to ensue:
I'm just curious as to why this is still a freaking issue. I mean -- come on, people -- I seriously thought we were better than this. America is supposed to be the "land of the free," not the "land of the free only if you are straight." And I'm sorry, but the notion that private businesses should be allowed to deny services to a member of the LBGT community in order to preserve the business owner's freedom of religion is absolutely absurd. What? You can't sell flowers to a gay person because it goes against your faith? That's crap.
I went to church growing up, and I never remember them saying that it is your Christian duty to be a douche to gay or transgender people. And to people who say that businesses should be allowed to deny gay or transgender people service if they are "private," you sound absolutely ridiculous. Fifty plus years ago, private business owners across the country denied black people service under their Christian beliefs. People today who continue to argue that businesses should be allowed to deny gay and transgender people service are no better than the people who denied black people service in the 1960s. Discrimination is discrimination. People keep asking, "But what about the rights of Christians?" Nobody is taking anything away from Christians by saying that gay and transgender citizens should, under no circumstances, be discriminated against. Nobody is forcing Christians to be gay or transgender. Nobody is even forcing Christians to like gay or transgender people. But they are people, too, and they should absolutely be protected under the law, just like everybody else.
Not only did this law allow for businesses to discriminate against the LGBT community, it also stated that transgender people are to use the public restroom that correlates with what sex they were assigned at birth and not what gender they identify as now. This passed because of the argument that men will pretend to be transgender in order to use the women's restroom, thus putting women and children at risk. You have got to be kidding me. Seriously?!
First off, there is no bouncer at the entrance of public restroom to make sure that people are using the "appropriate" bathroom. If a guy really wants to sexually assault a woman or girl, he can just walk into the bathroom. No one is stopping him! I would also like to point out that of the "84,000 rapes reported to the FBI in 2014 alone, 0 of them are cases in which gender identity was exploited." People are making an issue out of a non-issue.
Furthermore, I seriously doubt that someone would go through years of hormone treatment and surgery, coming out to their friends and families, and facing ridicule from their community, just for the thrill of using the bathroom of the opposite sex. Being transgender is not a choice.
I would also like to point out this picture below.
This, everybody, is a transgender man in a women's restroom. He seems out of place, right? That's because he is. He is a man in women's restroom, and it looks absolutely ridiculous, because it is. He, at the very least, deserves the right to use the restroom of his gender.
I think that the real issue here is a lack of understanding. Some people don't understand what it's like to be transgender or gay, and it freaks them out, so they feel the need to condemn it in the name of christianity. Well, guess what? I'm neither gay nor transgender, but just because I don't understand something, that doesn't automatically make it wrong. This law is absolutely absurd, and I am ashamed of my country for treating its own citizens like this. Something needs to change, and people need to realize that discrimination is just outright wrong. I honestly thought the days of this kind of blatant discrimination in this country were over. I guess I was wrong.
