Fundamentally this is just a continuation of the all-but-lost cultural war on gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. Twenty-five years ago, social conservatives were making the same accusations that LGB people are psychologically damaged sexual predators who recruit children. These same conservatives oppose societal acceptance of LGB people as much as they did 25 years ago but it has become a political and legal liability to express it openly. Targeting transgender people does not (yet) carry the same political penalties.
