# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1373
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27442 "2016-02-17T23:01:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Employees report that the man made no verbal or physical attempt to identify as a woman, yet he still cited a new rule that allows bathroom choice based on gender identification. So all he had to do was say “I identify as a woman.” That’s it. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27443 "2016-02-17T23:10:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [And the trolling begins.](http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2016/02/16/man-womens-locker-room-cites-gender-rule/80478058/) > [@Grsz11](#): > > Seriously, fuck that guy. > [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Why? More to the point, who should have to do 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 17, 2016, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27444 "2016-02-17T23:33:19Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Why? If he identifies as a man (and he gave no indication that he identified as a woman), then he was being extremely harassing and threatening to the women in the locker room. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27445 "2016-02-17T23:43:48Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Why? > [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > So all he had to do was say “I identify as a woman.” That’s it. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that this guy isn’t transgender, doesn’t identify as a woman, and would be lying if he said he did. This isn’t a good faith application of the law, it’s a 5-year-old chasing around his little sister while poking her with a stick and yelling “I’M NOT TOUCHING YOU! I’M NOT TOUCHING YOU!” It’s a deliberate attempt to make life harder for transgender people by producing “evidence” of a phantom menace. “Men claiming to be transwomen in order to creep in the ladies’ room” is _not a thing that happens_. If a man enters a ladies’ room with the intent to commit deviant acts, then claiming to be transgender would not protect him anyway - sex crimes are not predicated on the gender identity of the assailant. What _is_ at stake here is the safety and well-being of transgender people using public facilities. This is a (safe for work) picture of transgender adult actress [Bailey Jay](http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Bailey+Jay+Approval+Matrix+Premieres+NYC+HEx2IKl1-LQl.jpg). She outwardly looks female. If you ran into her on the street not knowing anything else about her, you’d likely assume she was female. She is, however, biologically male. Should she be using the men’s room if she has to make a pit stop in public? Do you think she would feel safe using the men’s room? How do you think other men in the men’s room might react to her presence, relative to how women in the women’s room might react to her presence? This is a (safe for work) picture of transgender amateur model [Adrian Dowling](http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/84d499cf435c3e6fdd9ac549636ea461a8f98694/r=880&c=880x495/http/videos.usatoday.net/Brightcove2/29906170001/2015/04/29906170001_4189030818001_video-still-for-video-4188938791001.jpg). Much like the previous example, he is biologically female. Should he be using the ladies’ room? Do you think ladies in the ladies’ room would feel comfortable sharing the restroom with him? These are the people that this law exists to protect, and idiots like our subject here (who I’m frankly surprised didn’t try and bring a camera crew into the bathroom with him to document his “grand expose”) are trying to whip up fear and moral panic in order to deny them the right to use a public bathroom safely and comfortably. ---
**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 18, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27446 "2016-02-18T00:21:52Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > So all he had to do was say “I identify as a woman.” That’s it. > > Cool. Yep – he harassed women to make some dumb point. That seems pretty shitty to me. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27447 "2016-02-18T00:22:11Z")
> [@Grsz11](#): > > Seriously, fuck that guy. But first, make sure he has _the operation_. Since, you know, he needs it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27448 "2016-02-18T00:43:24Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > . . . She outwardly looks female. . . . I know you aren’t making this the vital discriminant, but I wanted to tell about a chap I know, who has officially transitioned, and is living as a woman, with all the legal formality behind — her. She’s now a she, “Jane Doe” instead of “John Doe” – and goddamn if she still insists on wearing an immense beard! In most other ways, she is trying to present a feminine appearance. 'Cept for the beard… The only point I can bring to this is that there will always be “outliers.” There will be some man who performs the absolutely minimum necessary requirements of changing his legal sex to female, solely for purposes of visiting women’s restrooms. It’s shitten behavior, totally exploitive, and it needs to be scolded by society. We can’t let outlyer patterns destroy our attempt to recognize “core” patterns. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27449 "2016-02-18T00:50:41Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > The only point I can bring to this is that there will always be “outliers.” There will be some man who performs the absolutely minimum necessary requirements of changing his legal sex to female, solely for purposes of visiting women’s restrooms. > > It’s shitten behavior, totally exploitive, and it needs to be scolded by society. We can’t let outlyer patterns destroy our attempt to recognize “core” patterns. And of course, if they’re doing it for the purposes of creeping on girls in the bathroom, then that’s _still_ illegal, just as if an ordinary woman who was born female were creeping on other women in the bathroom. I was using those two people as examples of the kind of person who would have every reason to feel unsafe or ill-at-ease in a bathroom that matched their assigned gender, who laws like the one we have here are intended to protect. Women with beards, of course, aren’t a completely unheard of phenomenon, so if that’s how your friend feels most comfortable, more power to 'em. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27450 "2016-02-18T01:02:44Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > So all he had to do was say “I identify as a woman.” That’s it. > > Cool. Trolling is unbecoming on you, sparky. And you’re not very good at it. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27451 "2016-02-18T01:35:45Z")
All it will take is for somebody to take a picture of this shitheel going into the Men’s Room at his local bar and then the authorities can bust him for all sorts of things that will land him on the sex offenders list for the rest of his life. Some Doper in Seattle want a quest? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27452 "2016-02-18T03:26:08Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Why? Because no one will unless we do. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27453 "2016-02-18T03:43:41Z")
I think that’d be a bit extreme for a reaction. The quest, I mean. Not that I want to fuck that guy either. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27454 "2016-02-18T03:59:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [And the trolling begins.](http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2016/02/16/man-womens-locker-room-cites-gender-rule/80478058/) Well, that didn’t take long. > [@](#): > > Employees report that the man made no verbal or physical attempt to identify as a woman, yet he still cited a new rule that allows bathroom choice based on gender identification. So, he didn’t even have the balls to claim he identifies as a woman. What a pussy. Worse than Cartman. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27455 "2016-02-18T06:44:36Z")
[Glenn Beck: God killed Antonin Scalia so America would elect Ted Cruz.](http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/politics/glenn-beck-god-killed-scalia-so-cruz-could-win/index.html) Glenn Beck’s God is an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27456 "2016-02-18T08:37:29Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > It’s not that Bush _couldn’t_ do it; he chose not to. The Great Decider had trouble making up his mind. On September 12, 2001 [he said “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.”](https://books.google.co.th/books?id=ZPA_iRdmJa0C&pg=PA446&lpg=PA446) Six months later [he said “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.”](https://books.google.co.th/books?id=ExHp3NbxB4IC&pg=PA5849&lpg=PA5849) (It’s enlightening to read the Sayings of Fratboy George. You’ll be astounded that such a man could have become POTUS.) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27457 "2016-02-18T14:31:19Z")
Yeah, I know, Paul LePage is like a big fat barrel stuffed with fish… > [@](#): > > [Gov. Paul LePage says asylum seekers are bringing AIDS and ‘ziki fly’ to Maine](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/paul-lepage-asylum-maine-aids-219407) > > Asylum seekers are the biggest problem for his state, Maine Gov. Paul LePage said on Tuesday… > > “And what happens is you get hepatitis C, tuberculosis, AIDS, HIV, the ‘ziki fly’ [sic] all these other foreign type of diseases that find a way to our land,” he said. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27458 "2016-02-18T14:32:35Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Glenn Beck’s God is an asshole. Glenn Beck created God in his own image. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27459 "2016-02-18T16:07:15Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Yep – he harassed women to make some dumb point. That seems pretty shitty to me. Why is the point dumb? Who are you to say he isn’t a woman or doesn’t identify as one? If this is about the freedom to identify as a gender and use the locker rooms without the burden of which genitals you have or how you look or dress, how can we tell him he’s wrong? Or is gender strictly defined by how one dresses or appears? Isn’t it strange to assert the freedom to have a gender regardless of genitals or chromosomes and then turn around and demand that it be defined by social norms related to clothing and hairstyle? Would a female who identifies as a woman, but looks and dresses just like a man, be a problem in a women’s locker room? ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27460 "2016-02-18T16:09:05Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I know you aren’t making this the vital discriminant, but I wanted to tell about a chap I know, who has officially transitioned, and is living as a woman, with all the legal formality behind — her. She’s now a she, “Jane Doe” instead of “John Doe” – and goddamn if she still insists on wearing an immense beard! > > In most other ways, she is trying to present a feminine appearance. 'Cept for the beard… > > The only point I can bring to this is that there will always be “outliers.” There will be some man who performs the absolutely minimum necessary requirements of changing his legal sex to female, solely for purposes of visiting women’s restrooms. > > It’s shitten behavior, totally exploitive, and it needs to be scolded by society. We can’t let outlyer patterns destroy our attempt to recognize “core” patterns. Who are you to decide what is “necessary” for a change of gender? If you can’t require a woman to have female genitals, how can you turn around and say a woman can’t have a beard, or wear “men’s” clothes? Should we forbid women from wearing pants again? I understand your point about men doing it just to sneak in the girl’s room. But it does touch on the larger point - who decides if the “transformation” is enough? Who decides what a man or woman is, if we can’t even require it to involve actual sex? ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/27461 "2016-02-18T16:12:20Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And of course, if they’re doing it for the purposes of creeping on girls in the bathroom, then that’s _still_ illegal, just as if an ordinary woman who was born female were creeping on other women in the bathroom. I was using those two people as examples of the kind of person who would have every reason to feel unsafe or ill-at-ease in a bathroom that matched their assigned gender, who laws like the one we have here are intended to protect. > > Women with beards, of course, aren’t a completely unheard of phenomenon, so if that’s how your friend feels most comfortable, more power to 'em. So should we have an ID card for people to prove they’ve satisfied the requirements of really really really believing their are a man, or woman? And what would the requirements be? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1372) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1374)