Mass(achussetts) Hysteria

I guess it's traditional, what with the Salem Witch Hunts and all. But it's a tradition that needs ending. Now.

From the Patriot-Ledger:

YOUR OPINION: Transgender bill is ‘insanity’

The Transgender Rights Bill, HB-1728, would allow men to enter women’s restrooms and locker rooms across Massachusetts, while giving special protections in the workplace and more to cross-dressers and transvestites.

If approved, this bill would put vulnerable women and children at risk and infringe upon everyone’s right to privacy.

The thought of my 5-year-old daughter going into a bathroom with a pervert! Come on, Massachusetts!

Let’s have a little respect. Who really thinks that some perverted hairy ape can toss on a wig, declare “itself” a woman and then go hang out in the locker room at the local health club?

Have you gone out of your minds?

This is insanity!

Yes it is. Not it the way she means though, it's Mass. hysteria.

Here's my reply. Feel free to CC to all Mass. journalists, and let them check out the factual accuracy.

There's no easy way of saying this, and insulting people is not the way to convince them they're wrong. People may just plain not have time to verify the facts, and have to rely on groups not blatantly and obviously lying in a hysterical scare campaign. But you're being played for suckers.

You see, the legislation doesn't mention bathrooms at all. It mentions 'public accommodations'. And the EXISTING legislation says that you can't discriminate in providing those on the basis of sex. That's right, if HB-1752 allows men in the ladies room, SO DOES EXISTING LAW. Yet this doesn't happen, and no-one is claiming it does. The whole thing is a hysterical, deliberate lie, designed to stampede the gullible, the ignorant, and most of all, those folks just plain too busy to do their own investigation of the issues.

I've seen stark terror over HB-1752 being expressed by Massachusetts residents commenting on this bill. People genuinely afraid for their children. Some of them from Cambridge, or Northampton, or Boston. All places that legislation like this has been in place for YEARS without them being aware of it. That's right, many people in MA are covered already by it. This just makes it statewide. The whole 'Bathroom Issue' is a Big Lie, endlessly repeated, just to allow the prejudiced and the bigots to continue in their prejudice and bigotry. It's not about Bathrooms, it's about employment, and that in the NE states, only 25% of transgendered people are in fulltime work. That over 50% have been fired at least once, not for what they've done, but for what they are. It's about transgendered people freezing to death on church steps, as they can be evicted at whim, and homeless shelters are legally entitled to exclude them. That happened to a Veteran recently, in Austin Texas, because she was transgendered. It's about making it illegal for paramedics to refuse treatment to people at an accident scene, as happened in Washington DC. Because she was transgendered. It's about doctors and hospitals not being allowed to refuse treatment for cancer, so the victim dies slowly in agony, as happened in Georgia. Because he was transgendered.

Please, look at the facts. 13 states and about a hundred cities and counties, many in MA, already have this legislation, and some have had it for 33 years with zero problems from it. None. Zilch. Zip.

So please, talk to friends in Boston, or Cambridge, or Northampton, and ask them if they've lived in fear. Northampton has had this legislation since 2005, Boston since 2002, and Cambridge since 1997! I think someone who have noticed any problems by now.

Even Jefferson County in Kentucky, not exactly a hotbed of progressive thought and liberalism has had similar legislation since 1999. Those who wish to terrorise you didn't mention any of those facts, did they? And you fell for it. Well, now you know better, and can go ask them some searching questions. If I were you, I'd be mad as hell about their lies.