And the lunacy continues.
According to a recent survey
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/health/transgender-population.html, there are 1.4 million transgender adults in America, a 100% increase from 5 years ago from 700,000. That's a 0.06% representation of the adult population in the US. Certainly, that number is low because not all transgenders will report and the survey doesn't include children under 18. Also, many people that act and dress as the opposite sex don't consider themselves transgender so the survey may not include the great number of Americans that identify as one of an opposite sex but not transgender (men that like to behave as a woman but don't identify as a woman).
Yet the net result is that the numbers suggest a gross overreaction by the City of Charlotte to accommodate an extremely small percentage of the population with a wide-reaching bathroom
ordinance that the state of NC felt necessary to grossly overreact by passing a
law to forbid cities from issuing such ordinances.
All this great heaving of political and economic will because 4,000 or so people in the
entire state of North Carolina might not be able to use a bathroom that is not stipulated on their birth certificate.
It's absolute, over-the-top lunacy. And it only hurts people. This little bitty, minor, stupid issue is causing big institutions to act in selfish, self-serving ways that do NOTHING for the trans community and inflicts incredible emotional and economic damage on the citizens of the state, particularly the larger cities.
Now, some will say that the State should publicly acknowledge that it over-reached and change the law so that it has no teeth. And also that the State deserves to suffer public ridicule and economic pain until it changes its law. Pundits will grind in the press and at the breakfast diner that they can't wait until the Democrats take over the Governor's mansion so the law can be taken from these hate-filled, backward Republicans who supported this egregious discriminatory law. And they'll say let the people suffer until it affects change.
Then we'll have a group on the other side of the issue that says the law was enacted to prevent a single community, even one as large as Charlotte, from creating a precedence that could effect the whole state, particularly government facilities such as public schools and universities. And they'll step all over the LBGT community to get the job done. They'll say they're taking this stance for the safety of women and children, but the truth is the law is virtually unenforceable. They'll claim that there's no morals anymore and that the state going to economic hell in a hand basket is worth the price to stick to one's guns.
So here we are in a contest to see which side can inflict the most pain to make its point. Tell me that's not insane. A pox on both our houses.
