Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe speaks on the floor of the Montana House of Representatives in support of a ‘bathroom bill’ that would mandate public restroom usage based on the gender assigned at birth (Photo by Micah Drew of the Daily Montanan).
If there’s one thing that strikes terror into the heart of every Treasure State pervert, it’s the Montana Legislature.
That’s according to the Republicans in the Montana Legislature, which have fast-tracked a “bathroom bill” that passed a key vote in the House on Wednesday, symbolizing its urgency and underscoring how carefully attuned lawmakers are to Montana’s real problems — affordable housing, property tax relief and public education be damned, or, at least delayed.
The current iteration of a bathroom bill and an effort to redefine “sex” that would exclude any intersex and transgender Montana residents, are re-runs from the last Legislature, and the first of this one that illustrates solutions in search of problems.
You’ll recall that attempts to redefine sex have already been halted by the courts because they treat residents differently, something that should offend the GOP’s self-described relentless pursuit of freedom and liberty. And beyond likely heading for millions of dollars of litigation with the same predictable result, the debate on the bathroom bills should be just as offensive as the waste of money these bills will become if they’re signed into law.
As Democrats and those testifying against the bill rightly pointed out, it’s already illegal to assault someone anywhere, making the so-called bathroom bill redundant. In other words: This isn’t about safety, nor is about bathrooms.
Instead, the bathroom bill perpetuates some other dangerous notions about those who may look, act or indeed be different than what the Republicans perceive to be the norm — and let’s be clear: This is a problem manufactured by the GOP, pushed by the GOP and only supported by the GOP; no Democrat is asking for this legislation.
Rep. Jed Hinkle, R-Belgrade, said it’s about dissuading perverts from stalking women and girls in bathroom. Using that same logic, laws against theft should stop shoplifting and speed limit signs should eliminate speeding.
But Hinkle’s own words betray him: He would believe that anyone who doesn’t fit his very strict definition of sex, gender and sexuality should be seen a pervert or a threat. His own characterization, and those of lawmakers who support the bill, seem to believe that transgender residents or Montanans who don’t fit a gender-binary would go to an unbelievable amount of work just to use a different bathroom to fulfill some kind of sexual kink. This would also seem to disregard many documented cases of heterosexual men stalking women in bathrooms.
But, it’s insulting to think that, as some Democratic legislators suggest in mockery, you would need a blood test or birth certificate just to use a public bathroom. Also undergirding this unbelievably daft law is the notion that public bathrooms are hotbeds of lust and dens of sexual activity, which makes me wonder: What public restrooms are lawmakers visiting? Most of the time, I am just happy if the are paper towels and it looks as if they’ve been cleaned since the Clinton administration.
The real danger is that it perpetuates and singles out these already-targeted citizens for more humiliation, mockery and maybe even violence. By using words like “groomers” or “perverts” there’s an idea that somehow these individuals are masquerading as a different gender to do harm or violence to someone just looking to use the bathroom.
The notion that women somehow need the men-folk to protect them; that they’re any more defenseless than young boys or men in bathrooms is antiquated and insulting. While it is true that women can be physically smaller on average, it perpetuates the notion that women deserve special protection, and if a man can’t fend off an attack in the bathroom, it must be his fault.
If public bathroom safety is truly an issue in Montana — or anywhere — then lawmakers’ case should be self-evident by the rash of media reports and public outcry. But things appear quiet. And if someone is assaulted, that’s a case for law enforcement, not the Legislature’s morality police.
I’d point out that every bathroom in my house, and I’d suspect most of your houses is unisex, and most of the privacy problems could be solved by doors and locks. So, how come this problem becomes almost unmanageable when the bathrooms are moved to a public space?
Unless, of course, bathrooms really aren’t the problem.