Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Separating school bathrooms by biological sex is like racism? Really?

Sen. Reginald Thomas
You know things are getting desperate at the Lexington Herald-Leader when it begins claiming God is on its side. But this is what it was driven to when a legislative committee recently approved a bill (SB 76) that would ensure that only males could use boys' facilities and females girls' facilities in schools.

Speculating that the bad weather that prevented several supporters of the bill from casting votes needed to pass the bill in an earlier meeting might have been an indication of divine disapproval of the bill, the Herald-Leader went on to call the bill "nasty" and among our "worst moments" as a society.

Prohibiting boys from showering with girls in school. What is this world coming to?

And to underscore its divinely inspired commitment to the anti-nastiness crusade, the editorial went on to praise a state senator who badgered a young girl in a committee meeting, likening her views to racist policies of the past when she expressed discomfort at having to share the school bathroom with biological males.

Those who think that the forces now on a moralistic crusade to stamp out traditional morality are the nice guys need to view video of the two recent meetings of the Senate Education Committee, the first on Feb. 19, and second on Feb. 23. When they do, they will see something quite different.

During the first meeting conservative Republican senators went out of their way to treat the transgender student testifying against SB 76 with politeness and courtesy. But when a young girl, Christina Kelty, came before the committee in the second meeting to say that she was uncomfortable  using the same restroom facilities as biological males, Sen. Reginald Thomas (D-Lexington), an opponent of the bill, compared her feelings of discomfort with the feeling of discomfort Whites had in sharing facilities with Blacks.

Seriously?

Having separate but equal boys' and girls' bathrooms (used by biological males and biological females, respectively) is no different than having separate but equal White and Black bathrooms?

That there are people influencing public policy who find such arguments convincing is scarier than anything opponents could mischaracterize SB 76 as doing.

Not only that, but if a conservative senator had treated the transgender student who testified before the committee in a manner even remotely similar to the way the young girl was treated, the Herald-Leader would have called it scandalous.

Even nasty.

In fact, Sen. Thomas owes Miss Kelty an apology.

Why is it okay for a transgender student to argue against a proposed law because it would cause him discomfort (that was his whole argument) while it's not okay for a young girl to argue in favor of it on the same basis?

The irony is that every argument used by the Herald-Leader and Sen. Thomas against the policy proposed by SB 76 could be used against having separate boys and girls bathrooms at all, never mind the transgender issue. And the fact that they haven't even noticed this yet makes you wonder what business they think they have commenting on an important matter of public policy that affects the privacy and safety of students.

If the Herald-Leader is looking for candidates for "worst moments," it might look at its own editorial.

3 comments:

Old Rebel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Old Rebel said...

The left's war on reality is gaining steam. Of course, once it's completely illegal to make choices (aka "discriminate"), then we'll need an all-powerful central government to do our choosing for us.

Anonymous said...

Thomas got his law degree at Costco. One of the dimmest of many dim bulbs in Frankfort.