Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about the most recent departure from common sense, the transgender bathroom issue. However, just in case you do call a rock your home, let me catch you up. In many places, men can now use the ladies’ restroom and ladies, if they’re so inclined, can find out what those urinals in the men’s room are all about. The issue really picked up steam when Target announced that their bathrooms were transgender friendly which prompted boycotts of the retailer across the nation. And then Obama stepped in, of course. In May, his administration issued a directive implying that states would lose federal funding if they didn’t make all public school facilities gender neutral.
What I’m left wondering is, how could we possibly have gotten this far away from common sense? Let’s take a moment and break this down. According to a survey conducted by the Williams Institute, one of the best estimates of the transgender population in the United States is 0.3 percent of the total. Essentially, less than a third of 1 percent of all Americans identify as transgender. However, for some reason, it’s been decided that because that 0.3 percent isn’t sure where to go, the rest of us should accommodate them, possibly to the peril of our children.
I’m a father and a husband, imagine how I feel seeing one of my daughters or my wife go into a restroom and then see a man follow in after her. Just the thought of it makes me nervous as a man that seeks to protect his family. Furthermore, schools are full of teenagers going through puberty who haven’t yet learned to control their hormones. It’s absolutely naive of us to think that someone isn’t going to abuse these new rules in order to prey on women and children.
Before you play the sexist card and contend that young boys have been subject to those same predators for years, let me bring you back to common sense. Of course any kind of sexual predator is a concern. However, it’s a fact that nine out of every 10 rape victims are female and one out of every six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. The question that I have, with the numbers already so high, how is it possible that we would condone an action that would only make sexual assault easier?
The answer to that question, according to Obama and many on the liberal left, is so that less than a third of 1 percent of the population can feel better about where they go to the bathroom. Safety and privacy versus where to pee, there’s a clear winner. And, if you’d like to say it’s a mental health issue for transgenders, I’d like to know when one person’s mental health become more valuable than another’s. I guarantee that if a woman gets assaulted because a rapist was allowed access to a private stall she was in, that woman is going to have some mental health issues.
There are better ways to handle the transgender bathroom issue if its something that 0.3 percent is really concerned about. One common sense option is the single-use restrooms that are so readily available in public. They’re also often referred to as family restrooms or, get this, unisex restrooms. With those restrooms as an option, why did endangering the public and killing privacy became the first choice? It’s simple, we’ve abandoned common sense.
As far as Obama’s tyrannical demand that school bathrooms be open to anyone despite privacy or security issues, there’s hope yet. Eleven states have filed suit against the Obama administration regarding the directive admonishing an overreach of executive power. The suit says, “Absent action in Congress, the states or local communities, defendants [Obama Administration] cannot foist these radical changes on the nation.”
Call to Action: Reach out to our Attorney General, Adam Laxalt, and ask for Nevada to be a part of the 11 state lawsuit against Obama. Contact your elected officials and let them know how you feel about gender neutral restrooms and the safety and privacy of Nevadans. I’m hoping it’s not too late to get back to common sense measures.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV) “If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
By Whose Authority?
For more information on my Commentary and to see some of the backup research, or if you wonder why I take the position I take, go to www.LyleBrennan.com.
Adam Englander says
I am struggling to find how this very personal opinion is appropriate for a business publication. There is no mention of how this may or may not affect my business or any other business in Nevada. This is not the proper platform for such a personal and political commentary. As such, it has reduced the credibility of your publication to zero in my eyes. I will no longer subscribe to the magazine or display them in my place of business. Poorly done Nevada Business. Poorly done.
Rochelle D says
I concur with your assessment of this commentary Adam. This is not relevant to the publication and alienates anyone who disagrees with the author. He uses the term liberal left, as if we should cringe at the very use of this phrase, to identify his targets. I proudly wear that label, and as such I will gladly share Mr. Brennan’s commentary with my friends and colleagues in the business community so that they too can decide whether or not to support a publication that clearly does not welcome our viewpoints.
Nevada Business Magazine says
Thanks for weighing in Rochelle. We do, in fact, welcome everyone’s viewpoints, especially those that are different from ours. And, thanks for sharing the commentary with your friends and associates.
Regards,
Lyle Brennan
Nevada Business Magazine says
Adam, I assumed the connection to businesses would be evident as this issue is far reaching and will likely result in the government imposing bathroom policies on companies. I, for one, would like less, not more, mandates from the government. While our readership is the business community, all of our 82,000 readers will, in some way, be impacted by this topic. The commentary page is utilized for issues that will affect our readers … and, as such, I offer no apologies.
Regards,
Lyle Brennan
Uptown Girl says
I thought that eliminating discrimination, including for trans people, was now established as good, solid, profitable business practice. But apparently to some people, “Shared Bathrooms are Simply Dangerous”. And now to others, bigotry like this as promoted in a business journal is simply dangerous to readership, sales, subscriptions, and reputations.