As noted before, with the delegate math against him, in a desperate and disgusting last ditch effort to rally evangelicals - many of whom have defected to Donald Trump - Ted Cruz has joined the Christofascists in attacking trans gendered individuals and fanning the lie that they are would be sexual predators lurking in bathrooms for victims. It's a sleazy and disgusting tactic, but then again, few people are more sleazy and utterly disgusting that Ted Cruz himself. A piece in the Washington Post looks at the lies behind Cruz's latest effort to prostitute himself to the less than "godly folk." Here are excerpts (Disclaimer: I count both Gavin Grimm and the head of the Virginia ACLU as friends):
The bathroom issue has pitted advocates of transgender rights against those who believe expanding transgender access to bathrooms threatens individual right to privacy. Cruz supports the latter.
What further complicates this issue is that when Cruz and others who oppose transgender rights refer to the person’s biological sex, not the one with which the person identifies. “Transgender” is the umbrella term for people who identify with a gender that does not match their biological sex. A transgender boy is born as a girl. A transgender girl is born as a boy.
It’s important to note that it is Cruz’s opinion that transgender teenagers should be referred to by the gender that matches their chromosomes — even though this is not the norm with transgender labels. So when Cruz says “teenage boys,” he is talking about high school students who look, dress, identify and live as girls and are treated as girls by their families, classmates and administrators.
The Facts
In 2014, the Obama administration declared that students can use sex-segregated spaces (i.e., bathrooms, changing rooms, locker rooms with shower facilities) based on their gender identity. Transgender students and their advocates cheered this decision, but it drew a fierce backlash from opponents who say it jeopardizes privacy.
At question is Title IX — a federal civil rights law designed to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender in schools that receive federal funding — which is enforced by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. Since 2014, there have been challenges to the Obama administration’s interpretation and most have been unsuccessful.
The case that advocates and opponents are watching right now is that of Gavin Grimm, a 16-year-old who was born a girl and identifies as a boy. . . . . Cruz’s spokesman Brian Phillips said the candidate was referring to this case. . . . . Phillips said that because Grimm’s suit was based on the agency’s interpretation of Title IX, the Education Department’s arguments in support of Grimm extends to similar legal cases involving sex-segregated facilities like bathrooms and locker rooms.
Cruz says schools are forced to allow teenage boys to shower with teenage girls. When referring to non-transgender students, this is a highly questionable assertion.
When Cruz says teenage boys are forced to shower with teenage girls, he uses slippery language. He is referring to transgender girls (born as boys) showering with non-transgender girls (born as girls). The Obama administration’s interpretation does support that: giving transgender boys and girls access to the bathrooms of the gender with which they identify. But this could also be interpreted by the public as if Cruz is referring to non-transgender boys showering with non-transgender girls.
This is a classic case of a politician using rhetoric to obfuscate and simplify a complex issue, earning him Two Pinocchios.
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