May 16, 2016 8:59 AM

Since when it is the responsibility of government to cater to the tender sensibilities of Conservatives?

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins told me Congress must intervene to stop what he called an imperial president…. “If the president chooses to go forward with this outrageous order - then congress should begin impeachment proceedings,” he said. Perkins said the decree should be “resisted with ever legal and moral instrument we have available to us in this country.”…. “Every parent, every school board in America should absolutely refuse to sacrifice the safety of their children for the threat of taking away nine federal pennies that make up every educational dollar,” he said.

As might be expected, reports that the Obama Administration is directing schools receiving public funds to allow students to use restrooms corresponding with the gender they identify as are NOT being universally well received. It seems that many brave Defenders of the Sanctity of Our Restrooms © are not at all amused that The Black Guy in the White House © is trampling all over their tender sensibilities.

It’s not surprising that Tony Perkins is breathlessly accusing The Black Guy in the White House © of “sacrificing children to advance an evil agenda” and “causing social chaos.” What I find so difficult to fathom is how and why Social Conservative culture warriors so fervently believe government (and society in general) has an implied responsibility to cater to their tender sensibilities. “Christians” like Perkins and so many others seem just arrogant enough to believe their narrow moral/ideological/theological framework to be the One, True, and ONLY correct worldview. Accordingly, said framework should and MUST be considered as primary and MUST NOT be violated under ANY conceivable circumstances…otherwise, the collective butthurt will be loud, long, and self-righteous in the extreme.

I suppose that’s about the best you can expect when so-called “Christians” decide to come down on the side of hatred, bigotry, intolerance, and exclusion instead of trying to live the teachings of the Lord and Savior they claim to revere.

Transgender rights aren’t “special rights.” They’re human rights…and proposing to deny transgendered individuals basic humans rights is hardly a “Christian” thing to do. Truth be told, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ. It’s about hatred, bigotry, intolerance, and exclusion wrapped in religiosity in order that it might be accepted as “what Jesus would do.”

Oh…and the fear of The Black Guy in the White House © and his efforts to foster equality isn’t a factor in the considerable righteous outrage and caterwauling AT ALL. No way, no how.

Even worse is that culture warriors have little idea of why it’s important to transgender individuals that they be allowed to use restrooms corresponding to their gender identity. The [ignorance, arrogance, and demagoguery] employed by the American Taliban (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2016/05/13/alan-grayson-transgender-bathroomsn9963460.html) can be truly stunning.

On Friday night’s Kelly Files, host Megyn Kelly let Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick get his say on his opposition President Obama’s order to public schools that they must respect trans students’ right to use the bathroom. Then she shut him down hard — including cutting him off at the end of the segment.

As the skeptical Fox host looked on, Patrick rambled that allowing the change in bathroom policies could lead to the end of public education, with more parents pulling their kids out of school.

If parents are going to pull their kids out of schools because the Obama Administration is advocating for equality of treatment, doesn’t that say more about the parents and their prejudice? Why…and how…does that make it incumbent upon government to cater to the bigotry and prejudice of parents? If someone is “uncomfortable” with the idea of sharing a restroom with a transgendered person, it’s not society’s role and responsibility to cater to and enable that discomfort. Society needs to educate those who react out of fear and ignorance…and if that education doesn’t take, it needs to move forward regardless.

I may be allergic to, or simply dislike, cherry pie- but that doesn’t mean I have the right to expect that cherry pie will not be served to anyone anywhere.

When Patrick reached the point of talking about men dressing up as women to assault little girls in the bathroom, Kelly had clearly had enough.

“A lot of sex offenders are men who molest men, little boys,” She pointed out.”Why do they need to sneak into the girls room?”

The truth is, as Kelly well understands, is that “men dressing up as women” is a “problem” invented to justify the creation of a legal “solution” which marginalizes transgender individuals. Patrick’s invented “solution” has nothing to do with solving a “problem” and protecting vulnerable women and children. If that was the priority, culture warriors like Patrick would be addressing the far more prevalent and significant problem of pedophile priests and recognizing that men in dresses aren’t a threat. They’d admit to the reality heterosexual men are far more likely to pose a threat to women and children than transgendered “men in dresses.”

Patrick immediately changed the subject, citing his 8-year-old granddaughter and how he doesn’t want a man sharing a bathroom with her, only to have Kelly cut him off again.

“But what if a man looks like a woman and she would never notice him?” she asked.

“Megyn, you’re missing the-,” Patrick parried only to have Kelly shut him down with, “No, I don’t think I’m missing anything.”

I’m no fan of Megyn Kelly (“Santa Claus is White!”), though she can be the best of a bad lot of Conservabots at Fox News Channel. In this case, she’s nailed it- and with it, Dan Patrick’s self-interested partisan homophobia and bigotry.

Patrick isn’t stupid; he has to at some level understand that his crusade- and what’s happening in North Carolina- has nothing to do with protecting women and children. It’s about institutionalizing and provide a legal patina of righteousness to hatred, intolerance, and exclusion. It’s about the collective expectation of Conservative culture warriors that their tender sensibilities be treated as the Prime Directive. It’s about their conviction that any and all efforts must accordingly be directed toward treating their agenda as legitimate and worthy of being elevated over all other considerations. THEIR rights and moral/ideological/theological framework are superior and must be used as the benchmark for setting social policy.

Yes, that’s every bit as arrogant, self-righteous, entitled as it sounds…and it has absolutely nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Culture warriors will decline to acknowledge this truth because it doesn’t mesh with their narrow agenda, but that in no way makes it any less real. When you believe your moral/ideological/theological framework to be the One, True, and ONLY acceptable worldview, you’ve demonstrated your Christian faith to be merely cover for your bigotry and hatred. When you arrogantly refuse to acknowledge the validity of any other way of looking at the world, you’ve established yourself as a pretty despicable excuse for an ambulatory meat sack…which certainly explains Dan Patrick and Tony Perkins.

And people wonder why I consider myself “good without God”….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on May 16, 2016 8:59 AM.

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