Meet The Press roundtable agrees that the North Carolina transgender "Bathroom Bill" is completely insane. Not only is it discriminatory, but it virtually impossible to enforce. Some notable comments from the panel:
KATHLEEN PARKER: "But on the bathroom bill, this to me seems to be such a bogus issue all together. I don't know what they're afraid of, you know? It's not as though you're going to have-- on the one hand, I'll hear from readers in North Carolina say, "So in other words, you, Kathleen Parker, think that perverts, men, ought to be able to come into bathrooms and assault ten-year-old girls," right? So they're being fed some kind of crazy false narrative about what this is."
Excellent observation and one rooted in truth. Thus far, there have been no reports of transgender individuals assaulting people in bathrooms. Now white GOP legislators having sexual contact in, say, Union Station men's bathrooms (ahem,Idaho GOP Senator Larry Craig) has happened many times. Oh, and he was straight (or said he was) and definitely not transgendered. Just saying.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: "The crazy thing is, this is nanny state at its worst, if you think about it. Where do they want the transsexuals to go? If someone identifies, dresses, looks like a woman, that person shows up in a men's room at National Reagan Airport. What happens then? I mean, if you follow the law the governor signed, what goes on then? You know, confusion and everything and probably a lot of disruption."
Matthews hit the nail on the head - where are they to go? If they look like a woman, but were born male, do we think it is safer for them to use a men's room? While in a dress and high heels? Come on.
PERRY BACON: "I just think the Governor of North Carolina, the legislature missed the boat here. He used the phrase "changing social norms." He's right. People who are transgender are more accepted today. Last year was a big year for gay rights...I just think he made a political mistake here without sort of thinking through the contours of the issue. Any time you have to send an executive order to a bill you signed three weeks before, you probably didn't think about it through the first time very carefully."
Exactly. When you have to correct your error not a month past signing the law due to such incredible media and corporate backlash, you have a problem.
Will McCrory completely repeal this discriminatory law before it continues to make his state's economy bleed or will he stand by his hateful rhetoric, even if it costs him the election? Will greed trump his beliefs?
