# I pit the people behind anti-transgender "bathroom bills" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 22, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831 "2016-02-22T20:24:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/41 "2016-02-24T01:22:46Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Amazing, isn’t it? And gay people don’t choose to be gay! And atheists don’t hate God, they just don’t believe God exists. And most Democrats and liberals work hard and don’t want handouts to get by in life! And Obama doesn’t hate America! > > Isn’t the Dope great? Fighting ignorance every day. Easy for liberals to claim the moral high ground when they arbitrarily label all the misfits and moochers as Victims. I didn’t hate liberals before I started reading SDMB… ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/42 "2016-02-24T01:26:14Z")
Hating a whole group of people seems to me to be the opposite of “fighting ignorance”, **inscrutable**. Maybe SDMB is not your kind of place. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/43 "2016-02-24T01:42:28Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > Easy for liberals to claim the moral high ground when they arbitrarily label all the misfits and moochers as Victims. > > I didn’t hate liberals before I started reading SDMB… I know this is really funny, but I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/44 "2016-02-24T01:42:40Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > Easy for liberals to claim the moral high ground when they arbitrarily label all the misfits and moochers as Victims. > > I didn’t hate liberals before I started reading SDMB… Awww, and now a straw man, how sad. I thought we were learning. ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/45 "2016-02-24T01:52:32Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Awww, and now a straw man, how sad. I thought we were learning. You don’t consider them all to be Victims? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/46 "2016-02-24T02:04:15Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > You don’t consider them all to be Victims? What are you even talking about? Seriously, I’m not getting the joke. I get that you’re inscrutable and all, but dayum. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/47 "2016-02-24T02:50:19Z")
I presume **inscrutable** ’s point is that trans people are just “misfits”, whatever that means. I’m not sure what that’s got to do with the bathroom issue, though. Presumably, whatever “misfits” are, they need to pee just like anybody else. I personally don’t think there’s anything about transgender people that automatically makes them “victims” (excuse me, “Victims”) of anything. If transgender people are entitled to present as the gender they identify with and everybody else just minds their own goddamn business, then transgender people are not being victimized. When transgender people are getting discriminated against and beaten up and killed just for presenting as the gender they identify with, though, then yeah, I’d consider them victims. Specifically, victims of discrimination and assault and murder. Apparently that eminently reasonable view is the sort of thing that makes **inscrutable** hate liberals. Which probably tells you all you need to know about **inscrutable**. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/48 "2016-02-24T03:51:53Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > Easy for liberals to claim the moral high ground when they arbitrarily label all the misfits and moochers as Victims. In what way are trans people moochers? I suppose “misfit” is arguably correct terminology, but so what? Why does “not fitting in” justify treating people poorly? > [@](#): > > I didn’t hate liberals before I started reading SDMB… I find that highly unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/49 "2016-02-24T04:06:55Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > I didn’t hate liberals before I started reading SDMB… Fair enough; Dopers didn’t hate you before you started posting here. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/50 "2016-02-24T12:41:31Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > I presume **inscrutable** ’s point is that trans people are just “misfits”, whatever that means. The Island of Misfit Toys. Now there were some real misfits. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/51 "2016-02-24T14:08:42Z")
> [@andros](#): > > I know this is really funny, but I don’t get it. He thinks “people who are different” are genetic misfits undeserving of an accommodating world. He hated the dope because, well, diversity fits well here. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/52 "2016-02-24T14:21:51Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > You don’t consider them all to be Victims? Who is “them all”? If you’re talking about transgender folks, then no. I try to avoid blanket categorizations of diverse groups of people. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/53 "2016-02-24T14:50:47Z")
> [@inscrutable](#): > > Easy for liberals to claim the moral high ground when they arbitrarily label all the misfits and moochers as Victims. > > I didn’t hate liberals before I started reading SDMB… 1. News flash: the “misfit” is YOU. And 1. I second the post that regarding your last sentence, you were looking for excuses long before. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/54 "2016-02-24T17:38:08Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I can’t exactly say that I’ve come around to a different point of view. I am a man, I was born male, and I’ve never had any doubt as to what I was. I don’t believe that I can possibly _understand_, on a fundamental level, what it would be like to be a male who identifies as female, or vice versa. What I’ve come to understand, however, is that whether I understand or empathize with this worldview or not, that these people _exist_, that they’re not going to go away, and that they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be allowed to live their lives in a way that makes them feel comfortable and harms no one. I wish more people came to the understanding in this paragraph. This is what fighting ignorance should look like. “I don’t grok it like somebody who lives it, but I understand that there are people who live it.” The lens I come to this from is being left handed. The trials and tribulations of being left handed are trivial compared to something like being transgendered, but it illustrates to me how I can see things as an “other” that are invisible to the majority, who think that everything is _right_ with the way things are. Everybody probably knows that scissors are the bane of lefties, but there are dozens of additional annoyances in life that only lefties see. Literally everything where a handedness comes into play is designed for righties: musical instruments, computer mouses, smart phone UIs… Have you righties ever gone through a self-serve buffet line after a lefty? Isn’t it annoying how they put the serving spoon on the wrong side? Now imagine that every single time. And then sit at the table with the lefty on your right. Every single time. Every day at school, I’d come home with the side of my hand caked in pencil lead or ink from writing and having to drag my hand through it. This also left my notes sloppy and (if my pen’s ink dried too slowly) illegible. Righties generally aren’t aware of any of these biases against lefties built into society. I think it’s quite _gauche_ of them to not even understand that those biases are built into the English language. Like I said, these issues are trivial compared to something as intrinsic or as important as identity. I only see these issues because I am left handed. Recognizing this helps me to understand that people who are unlike me will see the biases integrated into society from their perspective while they will be invisible to me. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/55 "2016-02-24T20:40:17Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > He hated the dope because, well, diversity fits well here. “Diversity” is just a dog whistle for “misfit”. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/56 "2016-03-23T22:41:27Z")
Kansas has decided to take this idea up a notch. They’re introducing a bill that is going to make going to the restroom a literal witch hunt: [Kansas Bill Would Pay Students A $2,500 Bounty To Hunt For Trans People In Bathrooms](http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/03/22/3762490/kansas-transgender-ransom-bathrooms/) Yup, a $2,500 reward offered for catching a trans person in the “wrong” bathroom. I wonder how that’s going to play out? Fucking brilliant. I’m far from being a SJW and rarely get riled by such things, but this is so wrong on so many levels. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/57 "2016-03-23T23:43:41Z")
Are there documented instances of transgendered people being denied access to their preferred restroom? Is this the case of a solution to a non-existent problem being exploited by politicians to curry favor among their constituents? Not that I’m cynical or anything… ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/58 "2016-03-23T23:49:18Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Are there documented instances of transgendered people being denied access to their preferred restroom? There certainly will be if they start offering cash bounties for catching them, as Kansas is proposing. I can just see all the good citizens appointing themselves Genital Inspection Officers now. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/59 "2016-03-24T00:10:19Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Are there documented instances of transgendered people being denied access to their preferred restroom? [Here’s one](http://www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/09/06/federal-judge-denies-trans-student-right-use-male-restroom). [Here’s a survey saying 59% of trans people have been denied access to their preferred restroom](http://www.transequality.org/issues/youth-students). What more do you need? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831/60 "2016-03-24T00:22:03Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Kansas has decided to take this idea up a notch. They’re introducing a bill that is going to make going to the restroom a literal witch hunt: > > [Kansas Bill Would Pay Students A $2,500 Bounty To Hunt For Trans People In Bathrooms](http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/03/22/3762490/kansas-transgender-ransom-bathrooms/) > > Yup, a $2,500 reward offered for catching a trans person in the “wrong” bathroom. I wonder how that’s going to play out? Fucking brilliant. > > I’m far from being a SJW and rarely get riled by such things, but this is so wrong on so many levels. I concur, and I assure you that I cannot be mistaken for an SJW. The mean-spiritedness behind this thinking is horrid. Of course… maybe not, now that I consider it. Maybe this is $1250 payday per person for a trans/cis team with a willingness to act a bit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-people-behind-anti-transgender-bathroom-bills/746831.md?page=4)