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2 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Wolf issue shows cultural divide among Oregonians ... Ashland man pleads guilty to taking 'upskirting' photos ... Ashlanders visit Cuba as relations thaw ... Wolf issue shows cultural divide among Oregonians ... Ashland man pleads guilty to taking 'upskirting' photos ... Ashlanders visit Cuba as relations thaw ... COMMENTARY Jeffrey Gillespie: After the tavern, the bathrooms Comment DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Nov. 6, 2015 at 12:01 AM Posted Nov. 6, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News This week, voters in Houston, Texas went to the polls and voted against the rights of transgender people, specifically targeting what some on the conservative side called “troubled men” making use of women’s bathrooms. Former Houston Astros star Lance Berkman was recruited into advertisements for a group calling itself “The Campaign For Houston”; their position was that such “troubled men who claim to be women” had no place using women’s bathrooms; the implication was that Berkman’s daughters would somehow be under threat from transgender and gender non-conforming people. What makes the advertisements even more nefarious is that they imply that anyone who happens to be born a man but identifies as a woman will, by default, have some natural disposition towards violence or sexual criminality. As is often the case, the conservative crowd couched their discrimination behind the fig-leaf of religion. The wedding cake defense — the idea that gay or transgender couples who ordered their nuptial accoutrements from a religious company would somehow be creating a problem for religious owners opposed to non-traditional unions — was on display once again. But what was more striking is that a broad-based bill that allowed passage on a wide range of equal rights issues for LGBT people was quashed as a result of unambiguous sloganeering; in this case, the line: “No men in women’s bathrooms.” That particular aspect of discrimination in contemporary America is perversely bigoted, in that the bias is so contradictory. The men in question are not men at all; they are women who were born as men. In the use of this particular slogan, the conservative lobby is saying that men (even those who identify as women) are inherently predatory. The right wing has succeeded in creating a double-edged prejudice against men in general, as well as against women who inhabit male bodies. In one fell swoop, Texas bigots have set the cornerstone for a new kind of discrimination; a toxic brew that, in their minds, puts gender in its “rightful" place — that all men are potential rapists, and that all women need to be reminded of what they can and can’t do (or where they can and can’t go) with their bodies, even when their bodies happen to be male. That level of cynicism, while breathtaking, gives members of the LGBT body politic some idea of how confused conservative America is when it comes to understanding and accepting the civil rights struggle of the genderqueer community. Liberal America, too, has a responsibility in this fight. Far too many liberals lack the education and understanding needed to be able to speak and act intelligently on the most pressing civil rights issue in contemporary culture. Unisex bathrooms are still seen as a trend — a sort of hipster bulwark in the cafes and restaurants of the bicoastal jet-set — while transgender people are often treated as some sort of fetish object by many Americans — a 2015 version of the politically correct "one black friend”. The simple fact of transgender right has nothing to do with condescending acceptance or boneheaded, earnest “questions.” If you’re trying to figure out why questions about elective gender are so offensive to the LGBT community, imagine a 2015 America where black or Native American citizens were asked about their “choice” of skin color. The only long-term solution to right-wing prejudice (the kind of prejudice that might get transgender people killed below the Mason-Dixon Line) is a fundamental appreciation for the fact that LGBT people don’t need your “acceptance.” What’s needed are the same rights and freedoms that heteronormative people take for granted, every day. That’s why the bathrooms of Houston are every bit as important as the Stonewall Tavern riots continue to be — and that’s why we have to keep fighting for a right that, while terrifying to those who argue against it, is absolutely fundamental to our democracy. Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Tidings columnist and freelance writer. Email him at [email protected] . DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Nov. 6, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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