“Bathroom Bills?” – 4 Things You’ll Want to Know to Dialogue Wisely on This Issue
The so-called “Bathroom Bills” passed by a number of cities and states have been big news recently. The state of North Carolina is the latest. Each state’s approach has been different, so I’ll comment most on North Carolina, efforts. In brief, here’s the issue;
It’s helpful to remember that the North Carolina legislature did not start this fight! The city of Charlotte, NC passed an ordinance, pushed by LGBT activists permitting the use of bathroom and locker rooms based on a person’s gender choice, not on their biological gender. This law applied to public facilities, schools, corporations and non-profits. The idea was to accommodate transgender men and women who may be physically male for example, but do not think of themselves mentally or emotionally as being male, but female. (The reverse is true for women).
As Christians, we ought to have great sympathy for transgender people. I can’t imagine what it is like to be a woman mentally, living in a male body, or vise versa. This gender confusion is not a choice they consciously make. It’s just the way they are, people, like all of us who’ve been damaged by sin because of the fall. And it’s also important to understand that transgender people are not, in the strictest sense of the word, homosexuals! Does that surprise you? It’s true that transgender people are attracted to their same sex, based on their own physical characteristics, but mentally and emotionally they are attracted to their opposite sex. Yes, it’s complicated!
Transgender people got attached to the gay and lesbian movement when homosexuals saw transgender people as another minority who face sexual ridicule and discriminations, so they got added to the LGBT descriptor.
In any case, apparently transgender people feel uncomfortable using restrooms and lockers that don’t correspond with their gender identity. Let’s give transgender people the benefit of the doubt that it’s difficult for them.
HB2
So in response to Charlotte’s ordinance, the North Carolina legislation almost immediately passed “The Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act” (HB2). This is a law against “local” bathroom laws, believing Charlotte’s ordinance went too far and fearing every municipality would enact different laws and there would be chaos. Within weeks almost 160 national corporations and organizations threatened to boycott doing business in North Carolina, including Apple and Starbucks.
But here’s the crux of the issue; this “Human Rights Campaign” has the audacity to claim that transgender men, who appear physically to be men, have the human right to have access to women and girls public bathrooms and locker rooms and vice versa. Furthermore, it’s discriminatory to deny them this access.
Moderates in this campaign offered this solution; remodeling every public facility in the state to offer single use (one person at a time) bathrooms, and locker rooms with showers. And yes, that is a solution. But forcing every school and corporation to spend tens of thousands of dollars to accommodate a person who simply feels uncomfortable in a normal bathroom is outrageous. Yes, we have “handicapped bathrooms” but those are needed because some handicapped people, literally cannot go to the bathroom without them! And some public places offer, family restrooms, but those are not required by law.
If there is a bathroom law in your state, and you deny access by transgender people to locker rooms or bathrooms, you may be committing a “hate crime.” The Christian Legal Society reports lawsuits across the country, even when reasonable accommodations have been made, because transgender people want to feel normal, and using a separate bathroom facility makes them feel separate and is degrading.
This is a problem that won’t go away, so the following are four very practical talking points for you as you think about this issue. You may want to forward them to your Bible Study group or friends and then talk about this with them and your family.
It’s helpful to remember that the North Carolina legislature did not start this fight! The city of Charlotte, NC passed an ordinance, pushed by LGBT activists permitting the use of bathroom and locker rooms based on a person’s gender choice, not on their biological gender. This law applied to public facilities, schools, corporations and non-profits. The idea was to accommodate transgender men and women who may be physically male for example, but do not think of themselves mentally or emotionally as being male, but female. (The reverse is true for women).
As Christians, we ought to have great sympathy for transgender people. I can’t imagine what it is like to be a woman mentally, living in a male body, or vise versa. This gender confusion is not a choice they consciously make. It’s just the way they are, people, like all of us who’ve been damaged by sin because of the fall. And it’s also important to understand that transgender people are not, in the strictest sense of the word, homosexuals! Does that surprise you? It’s true that transgender people are attracted to their same sex, based on their own physical characteristics, but mentally and emotionally they are attracted to their opposite sex. Yes, it’s complicated!
Transgender people got attached to the gay and lesbian movement when homosexuals saw transgender people as another minority who face sexual ridicule and discriminations, so they got added to the LGBT descriptor.
In any case, apparently transgender people feel uncomfortable using restrooms and lockers that don’t correspond with their gender identity. Let’s give transgender people the benefit of the doubt that it’s difficult for them.
HB2
So in response to Charlotte’s ordinance, the North Carolina legislation almost immediately passed “The Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act” (HB2). This is a law against “local” bathroom laws, believing Charlotte’s ordinance went too far and fearing every municipality would enact different laws and there would be chaos. Within weeks almost 160 national corporations and organizations threatened to boycott doing business in North Carolina, including Apple and Starbucks.
But here’s the crux of the issue; this “Human Rights Campaign” has the audacity to claim that transgender men, who appear physically to be men, have the human right to have access to women and girls public bathrooms and locker rooms and vice versa. Furthermore, it’s discriminatory to deny them this access.
Moderates in this campaign offered this solution; remodeling every public facility in the state to offer single use (one person at a time) bathrooms, and locker rooms with showers. And yes, that is a solution. But forcing every school and corporation to spend tens of thousands of dollars to accommodate a person who simply feels uncomfortable in a normal bathroom is outrageous. Yes, we have “handicapped bathrooms” but those are needed because some handicapped people, literally cannot go to the bathroom without them! And some public places offer, family restrooms, but those are not required by law.
If there is a bathroom law in your state, and you deny access by transgender people to locker rooms or bathrooms, you may be committing a “hate crime.” The Christian Legal Society reports lawsuits across the country, even when reasonable accommodations have been made, because transgender people want to feel normal, and using a separate bathroom facility makes them feel separate and is degrading.
This is a problem that won’t go away, so the following are four very practical talking points for you as you think about this issue. You may want to forward them to your Bible Study group or friends and then talk about this with them and your family.
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