Discrediting the Transphobic "Bathroom Predator" Myth

SOURCE:  Persagen.com, 2020-07-22

A constant threat to all transpersons is the disproven yet ever-recurring transphobic "bathroom predator" myth / attack.

• Society - Politics - Political ideologies - Conservatism - Social conservatism - Religious conservatism - Christian right

Contents

• Anti-Transgender "Wedge" Tactics

• Facts, Data Support Gender Identity-Appropriate Use of Bathrooms

• Notable Use of the Transphobic "Bathroom Predators" Meme

• Consequences of Hate: Violence Directed Against Transpersons Over Gender-Appropriate Use of Bathrooms

Anti-Transgender Strategies and Tactics

Anti-Transgender "Wedge" Tactics

Background

The "wedge" tactic involves an anti-LGBTQ+ attack that attempts to pit members of a group or coalition against one another; for example, in transphobic attacks that attempt to separate and vilify the "T" from the remaining groups in the "LGBTQ+" community.

• [Wikipedia] Wedge_issue: a political or social issue, often of a controversial or divisive nature, which splits apart a demographic or population group. Wedge issues can be advertised or publicly aired in an attempt to strengthen the unity of a population, with the goal of enticing polarized individuals to give support to an opponent or to withdraw their support entirely out of disillusionment. The use of wedge issues gives rise to wedge politics. Wedge issues are also known as hot button or third rail issues.

• [Wikipedia] Wedge strategy: a creationist political and social action plan authored by the Discovery Institute, the hub of the pseudoscientific intelligent design movement. The strategy was put forth in 1998 in a Discovery Institute manifesto known as the "Wedge Document"  [local copy]. The goal of the wedge strategy is to change American culture by shaping public policy to reflect politically conservative fundamentalist evangelical Protestant values.

In internal memos dating to 2009, the homophobic and transphobic organization National Organization for Marriage employed a wedge tactic, advocating strategies of pitting the African-American and homosexual communities against each other.

The internal NOM documents stated that NOM would seek "to drive a wedge between gays and blacks" by promoting "African American spokespeople for marriage," thus provoking same-sex marriage supporters into "denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots," and to interrupt the assimilation of Latinos into "dominant Anglo culture" by making the stance against same-sex marriage "a key badge of Latino identity." The documents also showed a goal to "sideswipe" U.S. President Barack Obama by depicting him as a "social radical," via issues including child protection and pornography.

The revealed NOM tactics were described as "one of the most cynical things I've ever heard" and "scary" by Julian Bond, Chairman Emeritus of the NAACP. The National Black Justice Coalition said that the "documents expose N.O.M. for what it really is - a hate group determined to use African American faith leaders as pawns to push their damaging agenda."

The Christian right   intelligent design espousing disinformation group Center for Science and Culture (formerly known as the Center for the Renewal of Science and Culture) - part of the so-called "Discovery Institute" - has also employed the "wedge strategy" in an attempt to push their agenda.

The Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization that seeks to reduce and ultimately end abortion in the United States by supporting anti-abortion politicians - primarily women - through its SBA List Candidate Fund political action committee. The SBA List employs many strategies in order to attract the public to its mission. Lawyer and scholar Tali R. Leinwand  [local copy  |  curriculum vitae] explains that the SBA List encourages Republicans not to endorse personhood amendments, and attempts to link the anti-abortion movement to less controversial causes like opposition to the Affordable Care Act. These strategies, Tali Leinwand argues, attempt to de-stigmatize the anti-abortion movement.

(2022-07-09 | The Discovery Institute (DI) is a politically conservative non-profit think tank based in Seattle, Washington, that advocates the pseudoscientific concept of intelligent design (ID). It was founded in 1990 as a non-profit offshoot of the Hudson Institute. Its "Teach the Controversy" campaign aims to permit the teaching of anti-evolution, intelligent-design beliefs in United States public high school science courses in place of accepted scientific theories, positing that a scientific controversy exists over these subjects when in fact there is none. ... WEDGE STRATEGY. The "Wedge Strategy" is a political and social action plan authored by the Institute. The strategy was put forth in a Discovery Institute manifesto known as the "Wedge Document". Its goal is to change American culture by shaping public policy to reflect politically conservative fundamentalist evangelical Protestant values. The wedge metaphor is attributed to Phillip E. Johnson and depicts a metal wedge splitting a log. In Why Evolution Works (and Creationism Fails) the authors wrote " Although its religious orientation is explicit, the long-term plan outlined in the Wedge Document also displays the Discovery Institute's political agenda very clearly. In ten years, the Wedge strategy was to be extended to ethics, politics, theology; the humanities, and the arts. The ultimate goal of the Discovery Institute is to "overthrow" materialism and "renew" American culture to reflect right-wing Christian values." ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Institute | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Discovery_Institute | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Conservative_organizations_in_the_United_States | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Faith_and_theology_think_tanks_in_the_United_States | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Intelligent_design_movement | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Intelligent_design_organizations | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Political_and_economic_think_tanks_in_the_United_States | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Right-wing_politics_in_the_United_States | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Pseudoscience | see also: (2022-07-07, https://mindmatters.ai/2022/07/marks-forget-the-hype-thinking-machines-cant-replace-humans/) "Marks: Forget the Hype, "Thinking Machines" Can't Replace Humans. It's easy to picture, especially if we don't know much about computers. And fears are easily exploited. But what are the facts?" ; 2022-07-09, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32026898 : "Notable that this is published by the Discovery Institute Press, the imprint of the Discovery Institute, the people behind "Intelligent design" and "Teach the controversy".")

Anti-transgender Rhetoric; Use of Language

The political right's current strategy for fighting against LGBTQ+ equality is to frame discussions about sexuality and gender in school as an infringement on parents' rights.

In 2020, far-right Australian MP Mark Latham introduced a "Parental Rights" bill. The bill would have prohibited teachers from addressing any topic that veered close to "core values" without parental consent - including LGBTQ+ gender and sexuality.

While psychology experts concerned with well-being and the New South Wales Government have now rejected the bill, the focus on parental rights isn't limited to Australia.

Parents, as a group, represent diverse concerns. The group includes LGBTQ+ parents, parents of queer and trans children and young people, pregnant and parenting teens and politically progressive activist parents - and all of the above have diverse educational, religious, economic, racialized and political experiences. However, the conservative description of parents often neglects this reality.

Rise of 'parental rights' campaigns

In the United States, the now infamous parental rights law in Florida, widely known as "Don't say Gay," restricts conversations about sexuality and gender in primary school.

And in 2015, conservatives framed a controversy about a new, progressive sex education curriculum in Ontario, Canada as an attack on parents' rights.

In this conflict over gender, sexuality and schooling, conservatives invoke parental rights, and implicitly position these as superseding young people's right to access information about their health and well-being.

As American journalist Judith Levine argues, the elevation of parents' rights can be tied to U.S. Reagan-era policies. These policies sought to salvage the nuclear family, in part by attacking public education and the expansion of rights for sexual and gender minorities.

The 2021 foreword to Lantham's proposed bill, when it was sent to committee for review and inquiry, articulated the view that a "positive view of family life is under challenge," due to school-based discussions of gender and sexuality.

[ ... snip ... ]

On a Saturday afternoon in 2019-10 South Dakota Republican state Representative Fred Deutsch sent an email to 18 anti-trans activists, doctors, and lawyers with the text of a bill he planned to introduce that would make it a felony for doctors to give transgender children under 16 gender-affirming medical care. "I have no doubt this will be an uphill battle when we get to session," Fred Deutsch warned the group. "As always, please do not share this with the media. The longer we can fly under the radar the better."

The message was one in a trove of emails obtained by Mother Jones between Fred Deutsch and representatives of a network of activists and organizations at the forefront of the anti-trans movement. They show the degree to which these activists shaped Fred Deutsch's repressive legislation - a version of which was signed into law in 2023-02 - and the tactics, alliances, and goals of a movement that has sought to foist their agenda on a national scale.

In messages back and forth, some members of the group pushed Fred Deutsch to make the bill even more restrictive. Vernadette Broyles - the president and general counsel of a Georgia-based law firm called the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, Inc. - urged Fred Deutsch to raise the age threshold to 18. Vernadette Broyles - who is also affiliated with the conservative Christian legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) - warned that other religious-right groups might not support the bill if "you start by giving away 16 and 17-year olds right from the outset." Others, including Andre Van Mol - a member of a fringe, conservative doctors group that calls itself the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds; a SPLC-designated hate group) - raised concerns that the bill as written might backfire by accidentally blocking healthcare providers from "attempting to change ... a child's perception of their sex" when kids identify as transgender. Fred Deutsch agreed to rewrite the section.

[ ... snip ... ]

The draft bill Fred Deutsch sent the group in 2019-10 sparked a lengthy debate over language. In one email chain, participants struggled to narrow the wording of Fred Deutsch's bill to avoid blocking treatments for trauma victims, or legitimizing the concept of gender as one separate from biological sex. Katherine Cave - a founder of the anti-trans parent organization Kelsey Coalition - suggested specifying that treatments were only banned for patients who had an "incorrect perception of their sex." A Child & Parental Rights Campaign lawyer proposed replacing the word "incorrect" with "dissonant."

Richard Mast of Liberty Counsel separately advised the group to avoid saying the words transgender, cisgender, or non-binary. "Using them surrenders the language," Richard Mast wrote. "If the other side's language frames the debate, we lose."

[ ... snip ... ]

ONTOLOGIES

The use of language can be used to shape narratives, ideas, beliefs, and actions. Propaganda and misinformation can be used to subvert or co-opt otherwise innocuous concepts, such as the weaponization of critical race theory (essentially, an intellectual movement to understand systemic racism) as attacks against white people.

• Glenn Greenwald's transition to ally of bigotry.  Greenwald's brand of anti-trans activist journalism could well lead to violence, even if that's not his intent.

In 2022, Pride month - June - gave way to an explosion of invective against LGBTQ rights, helped along by allies in right-wing media, particularly Fox News. But there's also rising anti-trans sentiment in the liberal-left sphere, and it's being driven by some elements of what might be called the "post-left," onetime champions of progressive outlooks who have now tilted to the right. Former Intercept writer) Glenn Greenwald is one of those leading the charge, turning his audience on to fringe elements of a growing hate movement.

[ ... snip ... ]

... A week later on an edition of his video streaming show on 2022-06-30, Glenn Greenwald interviewed Christopher Rufo - the hard-right intellectual force behind the panic over "critical race theory" - who has now set his sights on LGBTQ rights. Christopher Rufo has made little secret of his intentions to propagandize against the LGBT community, laying out part of the strategy in a 2022-06-17 tweet in which he suggested that "Conservatives should start using the phrase 'trans stripper' in lieu of 'drag queen' because 'it has a more lurid set of connotations and shifts the debate to sexualization.'" During his congenial, unchallenging discussion with Christopher Rufo, Glenn Greenwald questioned 'this new agenda of trans issues like, you know, demanding everybody say trans women are women.' Greenwald then pegged the beginning of the trans rights movement to the end of the same-sex marriage fight, saying that the push for trans civil rights was a byproduct of winning that battle. Faced with either going home victorious but unemployed or pivoting to a new fight, according to Greenwald's version of events, equality activists chose to keep the spigot of cash flowing. 'Instead, they immediately switched to the trans movement, which they barely had talked about before, because there was nothing else for them to do,' Greenwald said - connecting to the zero-sum civil rights argument Greenwald made with anti-trans media figure Katie Herzog over a year earlier [2021-03-18]. ...")

[ ... snip ... ]

GOPAC memo of 1990

Drawing rhetorical inspiration from Newt Gingrich,  GOPAC wrote and distributed a memo to Republican Party legislative candidates in 1990. The memo - which came from a list drawn up by Frank Luntz, called "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control" - contained a list of "contrasting words" and "optimistic positive governing words" that Newt Gingrich recommended for use in describing Democrats and Republicans, respectively.

For example, words to use against opponents include the following.

Words to use in defining a candidate's own campaign and vision included the following ("compassion" is not enough).

Al Franken, a comedian and later a U.S. senator from Minnesota, wrote that GOP candidates were drilled to adopt three basic techniques in debating.

Minor details were relevant only to "demolish the opposition."

The cover page of the memo said: "The words in that paper are tested language from a recent series of focus groups where we actually tested ideas and language." The comic strip Doonesbury mentions the memo in a strip, calling it the "Magna Carta of attack politics."

... In 1990, after consulting focus groups with the help of pollster Frank Luntz,   GOPAC distributed a memo with a cover letter signed by Newt Gingrich titled "Language, a Key Mechanism of Control", that encouraged Republicans to "speak like Newt". It contained lists of "contrasting words" - words with negative connotations such as "radical", "sick," and "traitors" - and "optimistic positive governing words" such as "opportunity", "courage", and "principled", that Newt Gingrich recommended for use in describing Democrats and Republicans, respectively. Source (2023-01-24): Newt Gingrich § Congress.

Alliance Defending Freedom's Style Guide

[ ... snip ... ]

"I think they've just really effectively reframed their argument in a way that allows people to have these kinds of transphobic perspectives because they've removed the word transgender from all of this, so they're like, oh, no, but it's really about boys playing girls."

In 2014, the Alliance Defending Freedom released an internal style guide  [local copy] advising against the use of the word "transgender" - according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which republished the document in 2018, and labels Alliance Defending Freedom an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group. Alliance Defending Freedom spokesperson Ellie Wittman  [local copy] said Alliance Defending Freedom no longer uses that style, but did not comment further.

Still, current actions by Alliance Defending Freedom suggests it has not changed policy with regards to use of "transgender." A website sponsored by Alliance Defending Freedom and other groups to generate anti-trans legislation offers "model policy " that avoids the word "transgender."

[ ... snip ... ]

Republican Party: Neofascism

In recent months, Republican lawmakers in Texas and Florida have rallied behind a suite of efforts related to schools, children, issues of race, issues of sexuality, and issues of gender identity. At a glance, each represents an isolated case study in conservatism's wider cultural offensive. Taken together, however, all tell a much larger story about the Right's professed commitment to personal freedom and freedom of expression - and the inconsistency with which its partisans apply their own chosen idioms.

[ ... snip ... ]

Recent developments in two states are especially instructive in this respect. Last month [2022-01], Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick (R-TX) signaled he'll push to end tenure for new hires at the state's public universities and colleges in a move to combat "indoctrination" and the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) - also opening the door to reforming local laws so that those who currently have tenure can have it revoked if authorities decide they've engaged in wrongthink. In Florida, which has also become a CRT battleground, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives just approved a measure to prohibit discussions concerned with gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms. ...

... Given the Right's espoused commitment to freedom of speech and opposition to state overreach, you might think this would be a difficult circle to square. In relation to both CRT and discussions of sexual identity, however, the favored frame has become the idea of "parental choice": a rhetorically useful way of packaging the agenda of social conservatism in the language of individual freedom and moral neutrality. One only needs to return to Texas to see just how hollow and selective the Right's application of this very concept actually is.

[ ... snip ... ]

Republican lawmakers, in short, will embrace the concept of parental autonomy in one instance and abandon it in the next. Freedom of speech is said to be under attack, but teachers and college faculty must face professional discipline if they transgress against the standards handed down by politicians. The state and its organs, it is said, should remain neutral on particular questions, but are also morally obligated to criminalize and punish certain lifestyles and viewpoints.

In one obvious sense, there's no internal consistency here - the operating principle being "free expression for me but not for thee". Then again, this apparent lack of consistency may offer us a deeper clue about what's really animating the Right's wider cultural offensive. Parse the language and aims of these various efforts, and it's clear that their inspiration is nothing more nor less than a socially conservative idea of society in which individuals have prescribed roles and identities and the function of public institutions is to help bolster this natural order. Look at various   polls on a range of issues, and it's very difficult to make a convincing case that anything resembling such a worldview is shared by a majority of Americans - which is probably one reason conservatives have tended to package their objectives in the bogus rhetoric of neutrality and choice.

[ ... snip ... ]

Anti-Transgender Wedge Strategy

A key architect of the anti-transgender wedge strategy is Meg Kilgannon, Executive Director of Concerned Parents and Educators of Fairfax County. Kilgannon espouses a three-pronged anti-trans attack strategy.

• The first is to "never ever attack LGBT people or trans people or parents of trans children."

• She goes on: "don't play into their victim narrative because in this culture war they are the bullies, not the victims."

• The last non-negotiable, for Kilgannon, is to not approach the topic of gender identity with religious arguments, which are "simply not effective." Instead, she recommends using arguments "based on biology and reason."

Simplified, that approach is:

At the 2017 Values Voter Summit,  Meg Kilgannon issued three directives to implement a wedge strategy.

1. Focus on gender identity to divide and conquer;

2. no personal attacks (i.e., don't prove that anti-trans discrimination is real); and,

3. no religious arguments (use feminism, instead).

Additional Reading: Anti-trans Wedge Strategy

• [NewRepublic.com, 2022-02-17] Groups Pushing Anti-Trans Laws Want to Divide the LGBTQ Movement.  The same people keep pushing bill after bill, developing their strategy as they go.

• [NBCNews.com, 2019-01-29] Conservative Group Hosts Anti-Transgender Panel of Feminists "From the Left".  Divide and conquer? The conservative The Heritage Foundation hosted a panel of "radical feminists" fighting trans rights.

• [SPLCenter.org, 2017-10-23] Christian Right Tips to Fight Transgender Rights: Separate the T from the LGB.  Last week, from Thursday, October 13 through Saturday, October 15 the anti-LGBT hate group Family Research Council put on its annual Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., A prime networking event for the Christian right where anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim rhetoric is rife, this year's summit welcomed its first sitting president as a speaker, Donald Trump.  |  Comment: This SPLC article was published 2017-10-23; however, the dates in the byline correspond to the preceding year, Thursday 2016-10-13 and Saturday 2016-10-15.

• [RightWingWatch.org, 2017-10-19] Values Voter Summit Panelist: "Divide & Conquer" To Defeat "Totalitarian" Trans Inclusion Policies.

Last weekend [2017-10]'s Values Voter Summit, the annual political gathering sponsored by the intensely anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council, featured a breakout session on "transgender ideology in public schools." One panelist encouraged a "divide and conquer" strategy to defeat "totalitarian" school policies on transgender inclusion.

Family Research Council's  Cathy Ruse and Peter Sprigg were joined on the panel by three people connected to a battle over the adoption of transgender-inclusive nondiscrimination policy in 2015 by the school board of Fairfax County, Virginia, which is located outside Washington, D.C., and is one of the nation's largest public school systems.

Elizabeth Schultz, a member of the Fairfax County school board, said that while Fairfax's size means that it is often a trend-setter in education policy, it is also too often "a laboratory for experimentation." Schultz criticized "the race to embrace" what she called an ideologically-driven trans-inclusive policy in a manner of weeks, contrasting it to the decade she said the school board spent considering a change to school starting times.

Comment:  Cathy Ruse is the author of the transphobic Family Research Council document Sex Education in Public Schools: Sexualization of Children and LGBT Indoctrination  [local copy], which includes her biography.

Meg Kilgannon - a parent and director of Concerned Parents and Educators of Fairfax County  [see also this Wikipedia entry] - called the Fairfax County school board's actions a "massive violation of public trust." Meg Kilgannon offered three strategic "non-negotiables" and five tactics that activists in other school districts could use to fight policies on gender identity.

Kilgannon's first non-negotiable: "Focus on gender identity to divide and conquer."

Kilgannon said Americans are not ready to give teenagers ender reassignment surgeryg nor put children on puberty-blocking hormones that may have serious long-term health risks, comparing the practice to "the 1950s lobotomy fad in psychiatry."

Kilgannon's second non-negotiable: "No personal attacks on LGBT people or parents of trans children."

Personal attacks, Kilgannon warned, can be counter-productive. "If you attack trans people, you become the proof they rely on for demanding protection," Meg Kilgannon said. "So don't play into their victim narrative because in this culture war, they are the bullies, not the victims." But, Kilgannon said to laughter from the audience, "Elected officials who vote for this nonsense are fair game."

Kilgannon's third rule: "Don't use religious arguments, because they aren't effective."

Meg Kilgannon said secular arguments can reach a more diverse audience. Feminism is generally a dirty word among Religious Right activists; at the Values Voter Summit,  Dana Loesch   declared feminism "dead". But Kilgannon said that the Hands Across the Aisle Coalition  [see also this Wikipedia entry] - which describes itself as a group of conservative and progressive women that rise above their differences "to oppose the transgender agenda" - includes feminists who argue that gender identity is the "ultimate misogyny" and "erasure of women"  [see also: TERFs: Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists]. Kilgannon said lesbians in the group are concerned that "transing masculine girls is a form of lesbian eugenics." Citing shared opposition to gender identity, pornography and prostitution, Kilgannon quipped, "I had no idea we agreed on so much."

Kilgannon's five-point tactical plan for community organizing: Engage, Educate, Explain, Empower, and Elect.

On the final point, Kilgannon urged activists to run for school boards or to encourage other people from outside the "education-industrial complex" to run. Kilgannon complained that school boards are full of ideological liberals - and in the case of Fairfax County, they control an annual budget of $2.8 billion. Kilgannon asked, "Why are we letting the Left spend all that money?"

[ ... snip ... ]

The Use of "Junk Science" to Advance Anti-LGBT Goals

Source [2017-10-23]:  Christian Right tips to fight transgender rights: Separate the T from the LGB.

Rather than obviously opposing transgender rights using moral or religious terms, the key strategy of the religious right's opposition to transgender rights has been to couch anti-LGBT rhetoric in scientific or medical terms - a strategy long used by anti-LGBT groups. Here, Peter Sprigg, refers to the "naturalness" argument that animates a lot of the Christian right's anti-LGBTQ agenda, but shifts to focus on science and health:

Some of us, a lot of us in this room, might just object to the transgender movement in principle, that it's a violation of the natural law in some sense but we would have a harder case to make in the public square if it could be shown that in fact people with gender dysphoria actually are healthier if they undergo gender transitions ... But this is not the case.

Most of the panelists focused on peddling debunked pseudo-scientific falsehoods about LGBT people. To target survivors of sexual assault, for instance, panelists upheld the idea that trans women's use of women's restrooms could facilitate assault.

In 2016, however, Media Matters published a reportciting law enforcement officials and other experts in 16 states showing no uptick in sexual assault in jurisdictions that had passed trans-inclusive rules or legislation. Still, anti-trans groups have been exploiting this fear-mongering tactic (one that implies that trans women are potential perpetrators of assaults, rather than potential victims of it) and using it as a way to appeal to sexual assault survivors.

• [MediaMatters.org, 2016-05-05, very comprehensive!]  A Comprehensive Guide To The Debunked "Bathroom Predator" Myth.  Here's The Evidence Refuting The Myth About Trans-Inclusive Bathrooms

Often, this focuses on sexual assault by strangers, as pointed out by program and policy director at the transgender advocacy group FORGE Loree Cook-Daniels, which obscures the fact that in eight out of 10 rape cases, victim knows the person who sexually assaulted them, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

Some have resisted the attempt to use sexual assault survivors' experience to advance goals oppressive to transgender individuals, many of whom already suffer from discrimination and violence. Kelly Herron, a Seattle-based sexual assault survivor vigorously opposed the attempts of Just Want Privacy, a campaign to repeal a Washington state law that allows transgender people to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity, to exploit her experience of assault. Just Want Privacy used Herron's story to do fundraising to advance their anti-trans agenda (Herron was assaulted by a man hiding in a restroom at a Seattle park.) Just Want Privacy's communication director, Kaeley Triller Haver, is the co-founder of the Hands Across the Aisle Coalition.

Many more claims made at the panel were scientifically unsound. Despite attempts to mobilize diverse voices, the religious right's use of misleading science leaves little doubt that their secular-facing attempts to oppose transgender rights will be motivated by the same hateful agenda they have long embraced, rather than out of real solidarity for oppressed groups.

Identity Politics

A key approach to the isolation and persecution of transgender persons (or any marginalized group or targeted population) is the co-option of identity politics - a political approach wherein people of a particular gender,  religion,  race,  social background,  social class, environmental, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these identities. The term is used in a variety of ways to describe phenomena as diverse as multiculturalism,  women's movements,  civil rights,  lesbian and gay movements, and regional separatist movements.

A 2018 article by the Southern Poverty Law Center describes the co-optation of identity politics - in this case - to foster alt-right / fascist / neo-Nazi ideology and community, hate, and harassment.

Gabriel Sohier-Chaput is a Montreal-based IT consultant in his early 30s but moonlights as a Daily Stormer contributor and one of the far-right's most credible and competent radio personalities. Sohier-Chaput's online fascist career also included serving as moderator of the now defunct neo-Nazi forum Iron March and the head editor of the fascist zine NOOSE. Sohier-Chaput's work is revered by several terrorist organizations linked to violence - including Atomwaffen Division (AWD)  [Wikipedia: Atomwaffen Division], a terroristic, national socialist organization that formed out of Iron March. Sohier-Chaput was AWD's primary publicist and helped the group rise to prominence by regularly promoting it on the Daily Stormer. New and longtime white supremacists continue to find value in his enormous catalog of work. Because of this, he is one of the most effective strategists active in the North American far-right.

In a podcast titled, "This is the Plan" - released on 2016-05-19, 9 days after his first byline at the Daily Stormer - Zeiger spoke at length about creating effective propaganda and the importance of developing an internal culture for young recruits. "If you create memes, stories, if you have discussions, you have speeches, you bond together at events, you create a culture of in-jokes and things like that, if you have all of this, this is propaganda," Gabriel Sohier-Chaput observed. "It's an emotional system that's going to make people fall in with a common worldview. It's going to create a strong group. That's going to create loyalty."

Gabriel Sohier-Chaput likely refined these tactics during his tenure as a member and eventually as a moderator of Iron March. The "global fascist fraternity" was respected on the far right for its strict internal culture, serious discussion of extremist politics, and distinct style. In a 2017-11-30 episode of his podcast Race Ghost: Roast to Roast, Andrew Auernheimer - most commonly known by his pseudonym "weev" - eulogized the forum [Iron March], crediting it for redefining what it is to "look like a fascist." Auernheimer also praised Iron March for creating, "cultural artifacts that are reproducible and can be redistributed" - a project that Sohier-Chaput was intimately involved in, as demonstrated by the persistent influence of both his recordings and back issues of NOOSE.

[ ... snip ... ]

Source[SPLCenter.org, 2018-05-04] Prolific neo-Nazi propagandist "Zeiger" outed as Montreal-based Gabriel Sohier-Chaput.  The Montreal Gazette unmasked prominent Canadian neo-Nazi Gabriel Sohier-Chaput as "Zeiger," a prolific propagandist and leader at the heart of a resurgence of fascist activity both on and offline in recent years.

Facts, Data Support Gender Identity-Appropriate Use of Bathrooms

Bathrooms have become a huge political battleground in America.

On Wednesday [2017-02-22], the Trump administration took its first major anti-LGBTQ policy action - by rescinding a guidance that protected transgender students from discrimination in federally funded schools and, most controversially, asked schools to let trans students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. It was the bathroom portion that made the guidance so controversial among conservative lawmakers, inspiring states to file lawsuits against the Obama administration and, eventually, leading the Trump administration to rescind the guidelines.

This wasn't the first time debates over bathrooms got in the way of trans rights. Last year, for example, a national firestorm erupted after North Carolina passed an anti-LGBTQ law in part prohibiting trans people from using the bathroom for their gender identity in schools and government buildings. Businesses and artists have protested and boycotted the state. Multiple lawsuits were filed, including by the Obama administration.

How did the US get to a point where bathrooms are at the center of the country's culture wars?

The current bathroom battle did not start in North Carolina or the Trump administration. While the bathroom issue has popped up in small fights over the years, the current debate really goes back to Houston, Texas, the first place where it was proven to be a serious issue for LGBTQ rights. And it's not solely about bathrooms; although the debate has largely gone to the toilet, it is actually about a much bigger struggle to expand rights for LGBTQ people.

[ ... snip: see main article ... ]

Origins and Notable Uses of the Transphobic "Bathroom Predators" Meme

... Later, as the Moral Majority gained more influence in the 1980s, their anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric became more explicit in their stance on gay rights as they characterized the movement as an attack on the American family.

Moral Majority co-Founder Jerry Falwell Sr. [the other co-founder being The Heritage Foundation co-founder Paul Michael Weyrich] expressed that because gay people were rejected by most of society, they had no choice but to prey on the young and were therefore a threat to children and families.

This homophobic "predator myth" has been coopted by the conservative Christian right movement in the guise of the transphobic "men in women's bathrooms" predator meme.

On her author profile on the conservative news website The Daily Signal, Bethany Kozma  [see also]  is described as a "stay-at-home mom and former White House staffer from Fairfax County, Virginia." According to a LinkedIn profile seen by Buzzfeed which has since been removed, she worked in the White House and Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush.

• Aside: note the mention of "Fairfax County, Virginia | Fairfax County Public Schools board," which is mentioned here:

[2017-10-23]  Christian Right tips to fight transgender rights: Separate the T from the LGB

Kozma has publicly campaigned against transgender students being given the right to use bathrooms which match their gender identity since 2016, when President Obama released guidance to public schools on the issue which was later withdrawn by the Trump administration.

"The silent majority must no longer be silent. With Trump, we now have a president who is focused on remedying the lawlessness of the prior administration," she wrote following the decision.

Last year, she told the Loudoun County Public Schools board that trans bathroom access "tells young girls who are students that you don't care how they feel and you will be discriminating against your own students, potentially opening them up to sexual harassment ... sexual assault or rape."

Similarly, in 2016 she testified to her local Fairfax County Public Schools board, telling the audience: "Imagine how predators will be emboldened and enabled, endangering other young girls if they are allowed to enter girls facilities and protected under your current policy."

Bethany Kozma has also written on the topic of transgender bathroom access, describing trans children as "gender confused" in a 2016 The Daily Signal piece.

Conservative, pro-life organizations including the Family Policy Alliance,  Family Research Council, and American Values  [American Values Network?] supported Bethany Kozma's anti-trans campaign, The Daily Signal has stated.

Responding to Kozma's attendance of CSW, Jessica Stern, executive director of OutRight Action International, called on the government to remove Kozma from its delegation "immediately."

She said in a statement: "Bethany Kozma's track record as an anti-trans activist should disqualify her from representing the United States at the largest women's rights and gender justice meeting. She is known for her hateful rhetoric against transgender people, specifically trans children, and has been at the forefront in undermining their rights.

"Having worked with known hate groups, such as the Family Research Council, it is clear that Bethany Kozma will push for restrictive and discriminatory language at the CSW negotiations. Kozma is misrepresenting the status of abortions in this country, and is pushing a false and dangerous narrative.

"It is an embarrassment that an anti-trans activist is on the delegation, not to mention someone who is misrepresenting US law in negotiations. The US must uphold its values of non-discrimination at all times, and prevent Kozma from co-opting this space to impose her hateful agenda in the negotiation room."

"... Throughout her career, Kayleigh McEnany has used her role as a commentator to attack LGBTQ people through the press," GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a prepared statement. "Whether it be her opposition to marriage equality or McEnany's attacks on transgender people, McEnany has shown that she knows how to, and even enjoys using the media to spread dangerous, anti-LGBTQ messages to wide audiences. Unfortunately, in her new role as press secretary, McEnany will have the power to continue doing so, but now with the White House name attached to hers." ...

... In February 2017, when the Trump administration revoked guidance from President Obama's tenure that advised schools to let transgender students use the restroom corresponding to their gender identity, Kayleigh McEnany again argued for the right of each state to make policy, and she said that trans access could enable predators.

"The reason conservatives want this left up to the states," McEnany said on CNN, "is that I do believe there is a viable argument, not that transgender individuals pose any harm, but that this could be utilized by some men, for instance, to go into female bathrooms, it's happened at Target, which does have the same policy in place. Voyeurism issues where cameras were put by men taking advantage of the policies, not transgender individuals, men, straight men coming in and really being a predator against women."

That ignores the fact that whether or not a business, school, or other entity has a trans-inclusive policy in place, such behavior does occur and it is a crime. Several studies have found no increase in predatory behavior as a result of trans-friendly restroom policies. ...

Transphobic "Bathroom Predator" Myth: Canadian Federal Politics

Conservative Party Transphobes [Stephen Harper, Peter MacKay] and Faux Allies [Erin O'Toole]

• Re: "faux ally" assertion (above), note: [Straight.com, 2021-09-13] Florence Ashley: The Conservatives want to abandon trans children.  The party's election platform includes a promise to criminalize conversion therapy - but only for sexual orientation.

Conservative Party of Canada member Peter MacKay - who in 2020-08-23 lost his bid for leadership of that party - is a long-known transphobe - who in support of then-Prime Minister / transphobe Stephen Harper, toed the party line in denying federal transgender protections. Conversely, Conservative Party of Canada member Erin O'Toole - who in 2020-08-23 won the leadership race for that party, at that time broke with the majority of his Conservative Party members to vote in favor of trans rights legislation. [Transgender-affirming and protecting legislation - vigorously attacked and defeated by the then-ruling Conservative Party under Stephen Harper - was ultimately reintroduced and passed by the Liberal Party under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which succeeded the Harper regime.]

Peter MacKay - lately, under increased scrutiny - now a self-professed (fair-weather) trans "ally" - at that time (Harper era) attacked O'Toole and his support of the transgender "bathroom" bill.

• [2020-08-25] O'Toole vows to ease tensions in Western Canada, build more diversity in Conservative Party. Political experts say new leader must broaden support base, deal with suspicions around social conservatism

"... In his acceptance speech early Monday [2020-08-24], O'Toole said he would work to unite any internal rifts in the party and broaden the party's base of supporters.

"I believe that whether you are Black, white, brown or from any race or creed, whether you are LGBT or straight, whether you are an Indigenous Canadian or have joined the Canadian family three weeks ago or three generations ago," he said. "Whether you're doing well or barely getting by. Whether you worship on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or not at all ... you are an important part of Canada, and you have a home in the Conservative Party of Canada." ..."

---

• COMMENTARY (Persagen).

Those inclusivity statements from Leader-elect Erin O'TooleErin O'Toole are more-or-less diametrically opposed to anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs held at the federal level within the Conservative Party of Canada by O'Toole's predecessors Stephen Harper (former Prime Minister of Canada), then Andrew Scheer (whom O'Toole is replacing).

It remains to see what effect this change in leadership will have at the provincial level. Anti-LGBTQ+ hatred and behavior still permeates political politics, exemplified in Alberta by Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party. To a lesser extent (c.f. Alberta). Ontario Premier Doug Ford - a well-known homophobe and transphobe - leads the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.  [2018-09-11: Doug Ford's attack on Charter rights should also worry LGBT people in Ontario  |  2019-06-23: Doug Ford doesn't deserve to march at Pride  |  ...]

The Liberal Party of Canada - which holds power at the federal level and in some provinces (Nova Scotia; Newfoundland and Labrador) - is not immune to rampant and pervasive anti-LGBTQ+ hatred. For example, Andrew Wilkinson's  British Columbia Liberal Party - which from 2008-present (2020-08-25) forms the Official Opposition in British Columbia - is permeated by homophobic and transphobic members, who continue to espouse anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice and disinformation.

It is disappointing that as of this date [2020-08-25] societal hatred (anti-LGBTQ+, systemic racism, xenophobia, ...) remains deeply entrenched within the fabric of Canadian society. Addressing these issues (noting that Liberal Party of Canada leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a long-term and loyal LGBTQ+ ally) requires strong leadership.

Thus, regarding Erin O'Toole and his promises of inclusivity in Canadian politics viz-a-viz the Conservative Party of Canada: we shall see ...

• Update [2020-09-09]:  Steveston-Richmond MP Kenny Chiu: Conservative Party's New Diversity And Inclusion Critic Linked To Past Anti-LGBTQ Statements, Organizations.  "Sadly, Canada has 'evolved' into an all-tolerant; all accepting; fully embracing liberal country."

---

• [2020-08-24] Erin O'Toole elected as Conservative Party leader [2020-08-23]

• [2020-05-06]  Why Peter MacKay is questioning trans rights. The Conservative leadership hopeful criticized an opponent's support for trans people in a recent email blast to supporters. It's a reminder of the stark division between gay rights and trans rights in Canada.

Peter MacKay entered the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race in January 2020 with a proclamation: He'd march in Toronto's Pride parade, which was then slated the same weekend as the party's convention to elect its next leader.

It might have been a dull statement from a prospective leader of any of Canada's other political parties, but it was a lightning rod for the Conservative Party of Canada. The outgoing leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Andrew Scheer, refused to participate in Pride events in the nearly 15 years since he renounced gay marriage in the House of Commons as a rookie MP, and he repeatedly faced questions about LGBTQ2 issues during the 2019 federal election. Some politicos say it was Scheer's reluctance to be queer-friendly that cost him the race. Marching in Pride would allow MacKay to flip the script. This, it seemed, was the road to expanding support for the Conservative party among voters who are fiscally conservative but socially liberal.

Then, on Apr. 30 2020, MacKay went off script. In an email blast to supporters, he lambasted leadership hopeful Erin O'Toole for supporting trans rights Bill C-279 in 2012. The bill, tabled by openly gay NDP MP Randall Garrison eight years ago, sought protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity. "While I haven't always agreed with O'Toole, like when he voted in favour of the Transgender Rights 'bathroom' Bill in 2012, I've always respected that his motivations were positive," MacKay wrote in the email. "But I'm not so sure anymore."

The jab seemed intended to incite anti-trans sentiment - from the out-of-context mention of an eight-year-old trans rights bill, to the implication that it was wrong for O'Toole to support the rights of trans Canadians and the scare quotes around the word "bathroom" - a pander to discriminatory and dangerous fearmongering about trans people using public restrooms.

[Randall Garrison] calls MacKay's email "disappointing." "It raises real concerns about whether he understands how the law in Canada has changed during his absence from Parliament." ...

• [2020-05-01] Peter MacKay says he supports transgender rights after attacking Erin O'Toole for supporting 'bathroom bill'.  This isn't the first time MacKay, vying for the Conservative leadership, has had to walk back his past statements.

"... Peter MacKay's Conservative leadership campaign has again had to walk back its own language and issue a clarification, this time on the topic of transgender rights legislation. In an email to supporters Thursday evening [2020-04-30], MacKay promoted the fact he'd voted against a 2012 bill that would have added gender identity as a protected category in the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act.

"O'Toole, who'd recently been elected in a byelection, voted in favour. "While I haven't always agreed with (O'Toole), like when he voted in favour of the Transgender Rights 'bathroom' Bill in 2012, I've always respected that his motivations were positive," MacKay said. "But I'm not so sure anymore."

"But on Friday [2020-05-01], MacKay's campaign issued a statement saying MacKay's views have evolved and he is now fully supportive of transgender rights legislation. The statement also said MacKay will not use the phrase "bathroom bill" again, after having consulted with the LGBTQ community and understanding it has a "negative connotation."

"The 2012 legislation was Bill C-279, a private member's bill proposed by the NDP's Randall Garrison. Social conservative groups slammed the bill, arguing it could allow "biological males" into women's washrooms - hence calling it the "bathroom bill."

"On a third-reading vote in March 2013, O'Toole and 16 other Conservative MPs supported C-279. Past leadership candidates Lisa Raitt, Michael Chong, Kellie Leitch, Chris Alexander and Deepak Obhrai all voted in favour, as did cabinet ministers John Baird, Jim Flaherty and James Moore. MacKay voted against it, and so did then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"C-279 died on the order paper after being stalled in the Senate, but a similar bill was introduced by the Liberals after they formed government in 2015, Bill C-16. O'Toole did not cast a recorded vote on this bill and MacKay had quit politics, but 38 other Conservative MPs voted in favour of it, including then-interim leader Rona Ambrose, Maxime Bernier, and many other prominent MPs. (Bernier later said he regretted his vote.) ..."

• [2020-02-07] Erin O'Toole stands by past support of gender ideology bill. Erin O'Toole voted in favour of a NDP private member's bill and abstained from Bill C-16.

"... Conservative leadership candidate Erin O'Toole stands by his past decision to break ranks with Stephen Harper and vote for a bill enshrining gender ideology into law. In 2013, O'Toole was one of only 18 Conservative MPs who supported Bill C-279, a private member's bill sponsored by NDP MP Randall Garrison.

"If passed, C-279 would have added self-declared "gender" as a protected identity in the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code. The bill described gender identity as "the individual's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex that the individual was assigned at birth."

"True North reached out to the O'Toole leadership campaign for comment. Spokeswoman Melanie Paradis for O'Toole confirmed that he supported C-279 as it pertains to transgender rights. "It would have been far easier for him to vote with the majority of caucus, but he holds individual rights and Charter protections in the highest regard," she said.

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper allowed this vote to be open, and 17 CPC caucus members, including Mr. O'Toole, voted in support of transgender rights. Mr. O'Toole is also an ardent supporter of open votes for matters of conscience."

"Bill C-279 did not pass, but the similar Bill C-16 became law in 2017 under the Trudeau government. Bill C-16 added both "gender identity" and "gender expression" to the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code. ..."

In October 2012, Canadian former Parliamentarian Rob Anders attracted some controversy by calling Bill C-279, a private member's bill that would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and hate crime section of the Criminal Code to include "gender identity" and "gender expression" as grounds for discrimination, a "bathroom bill." Those transphobic views are shared by Rob Anders' fellow Canadian Conservatives Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney.

• See also, re: Jason Kenney and Robert J. "Rob" Anders:

• [2012-10-04]  MP Rob Anders criticized over "bathroom bill" comments.  Transgender community not happy with Calgary politician.

• [1999-01-23]  No sex, please, we're Reformers: In this age of presidential promiscuity, an "eccentric minority" of politicos chooses chastity.  [Ottawa Citizen reporter] Glen McGregor dares to ask why.

Transphobic "Bathroom Predator" Myth: Canadian Provincial Politics

• [2020-09-06]  New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party transphobe, misogynist, homophobe Roland Michaud:  New Brunswick PC Candidate Circulated Image Mocking Physical Violence Against Trans Women.  Transphobic, homophobic and sexist posts raise fresh questions about Blaine Higgs' Tories' candidate vetting process

Consequences of Hate: Violence Directed Against Transpersons Over Gender-Appropriate Use of Bathrooms

Additional Reading

Pro-transgender demonstrators at a trans rights rally in Chicago, 2017-02.  [Source]

California education officials are examining how to increase the number of gender-neutral bathrooms  [unisex public toilets] in schools, potentially affecting millions of students in the biggest move to increase such facilities in the country.

Tony Thurmond, the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, announced in 2021-11 plans to form a committee of students, educators, policymakers and advocacy groups to explore ways to increase gender-neutral bathrooms in California schools. The state's education code already stipulates that students "shall be permitted to ... use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity." But last month the board of Chino Valley Unified School District, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, narrowly defeated a resolution that would have banned trans and nonbinary students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. California state officials had planned to pursue legal action against the district if the resolution passed.

The proposed resolution and stories Tony Thurmond previously heard from LGBTQ+ students about their experiences in schools prompted him to form this committee, which he said is expected to start meeting next year [2022]. Staffers in the California Department of Education's School Facilities and Transportation Division had already been discussing possible designs for inclusive bathrooms  [unisex public toilets] before the Chino Valley, California resolution led to public outcry.

"The combination of this discriminatory proposal, plus hearing firsthand testimony from students who said that they did not feel that there were bathrooms that they could use and feel safe - it nudged me that we needed to create a space for students and people who understand school facilities to come together to see how we can expand the number of gender-inclusive bathrooms that exists in California schools," Tony Thurmond told The 19th.

As a slew of school districts and states, including Tennessee,   Texas and Iowa, have set out this year to implement policies that would prevent trans and nonbinary students from playing on sports teams, using locker rooms or going to the bathrooms that match their gender identity, a smattering of others are taking steps to create a more inclusive school environment. By 2022-01-01, all one-stall bathrooms in the state of Rhode Island must be labeled as gender neutral. All schools in Philadelphia's system now must have at least one single-stall, gender-neutral bathroom, and newly renovated schools in Oregon's  Corvallis School District opened with gender-neutral bathrooms this fall [2021]. On 2021-11-30 Chicago Public Schools announced its new policy that staff and student bathrooms must have gender inclusive signage such as, "Anyone who feels most comfortable using this bathroom is welcome."

The rollout of these measures has not gone without criticism, both from opponents of gender-neutral bathrooms and from members of the LGBTQ+ community who say they don't go far enough to make schools inclusive. But gender-neutral facilities can contribute to the well-being of trans and nonbinary students, who cite feeling unsafe in schools as one of their top concerns, said a.t. furuya   [lowercased name; they/them pronouns], Senior Youth Programs Manager of GLSEN, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ+ youth.

"There's this fear that cisgender boys will pretend to be girls to use the girls bathroom to assault them, and that's not the case," a.t. furuya said. "The actual folks being harmed in restrooms are trans and nonbinary people, and we know from our National School Climate Survey that 84 percent of trans students felt unsafe at school because of their gender. That's a really high percentage of this demographic that are actually saying, "I don't feel safe when I'm at school." So, looking into more gender-neutral restrooms is actually working toward building a safer community for all students, not just trans students."

GLSEN's  2019 National School Climate Survey  [webpage local copy  |  full report  |  executive summary] found that 45 percent of LGBTQ+ students avoided using gender-segregated school bathrooms and 44 percent avoided locker rooms because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable. Gender-neutral bathrooms, a.t. furuya said, can also benefit cisgender youth with unconventional style.

Avoiding school bathrooms can lead students to become dehydrated or develop urinary tract infections or other health problems, a.t. furuya [pronouns: they/them] added. "So for me, it's not just a political issue. It's actually a public health issue," they said. "And I think that there are so many ways to create safe bathrooms - doors that go down to the floor, like you're in your own separate room."

Sometimes, schools with gender-neutral bathrooms simply don't have enough of them, said Tony Thurmond. Thurmond recounted how students told him that their campuses were so big that they didn't have enough time to walk all the way to such bathrooms between classes. Thurmond's new committee, which will be co-chaired by California State Senator Connie Leyva, can recommend ways to expand access to gender-neutral bathrooms on campuses. "If the group identifies that there is some gap, some need that has not yet been met, that would be an opportunity to pursue other ideas, new practices, maybe even policies, maybe even legislation," Tony Thurmond said.

Southern California's  Long Beach Unified School District has responded to calls from students for more gender-inclusive facilities by incorporating a gender-neutral locker room into an aquatic facility slated to open next year [2022] at Wilson High School. The center is under construction, but it has already garnered some criticism from community members opposed to gender-neutral facilities. Evelyn Somoza  [Assistant Director, Long Beach Unified School District], the district's assistant public information director, said in a statement that students, staff and coaches provided input on facilities. "Student safety and privacy, as well as staff supervision were diligently considered in Wilson High School's inclusive locker room design," Somoza said. "The locker room can be accessed by staff of any gender, providing Wilson High School an increased ability to monitor students."

The locker room will have individual restroom stalls, individual showers and individual changing stalls, and stall doors with a gap-free design. In focus groups - the Long Beach Unified School District said - students of various gender identities and physical abilities said they had previously felt uncomfortable taking communal showers and changing their clothes in open areas in conventional locker rooms. The new locker rooms will provide students more privacy, and no one will have to change in common areas.

Asked if federal legislation is needed to increase the availability of gender-neutral bathrooms on all school campuses, Tony Thurmond said the California law is clear that all students have the right to use the facilities that match their gender identity. Undoing Trump administration policy, the United States Department of Education in 2021-06 said that discrimination related to a student's gender identity will be deemed an infringement of Title IX, the federal law that bars sex discrimination in education. Issued as a "notice of interpretation," however, the new policy directive is not law.

"There need to be federally enumerated policies that protect trans and nonbinary people, because we get certain states that are conservative or anti-trans and anti-nonbinary, and then you have a whole population of folks in that state who then are oppressed," a.t. furuya said. "When we don't have any numerated policies, we are actually saying it's OK to target and discriminate against this specific demographic of identities, and that's not OK."

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