Page 68 - AVN October 2016

by MARKKERNES
FEATURE
‘Values Voters’ Have LGBT Rights in the Crosshairs
Summit, created by the ultra-
The tenth annual Values Voter
conservative Family Research
Council, was held Friday
through Sunday, September 9-11
(though the only activity on the 11th
was a prayer breakfast), and if one
thing was clear to the adult sex-positive
community, it’s that if The Faithful had
their way, our days would be numbered.
Surprisingly (at least to this author),
there was very little talk about sexually
explicit content, and none of the
Usual Suspects—National Center on
Sexual Exploitation, Parents Television
Council, Media Research Center,
Concerned Women for America, to
name a few—had booths in the exhibit
hall. But in terms of the sexual rights of
anyone who might wish to stray outside
of church-approved norms, there was
universal condemnation.
The tone was set by Friday morning’s
third speaker, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest of
North Carolina, the state that passed,
and has vehemently defended, House
Bill 2 (HB2), a law which redefined
the word “sex” in the state’s anti-
discrimination statutes to mean “the
physical condition of being male or
female, which is stated on a person’s
birth certificate.”
HB2 was enacted to invalidate an
ordinance passed by the state’s largest
city, Charlotte, which required that
all “places of public accommodation”
(schools, businesses, civic centers,
etc.) allow patrons to choose which
bathroom or locker room to use based
on their gender identity, and generally
to prohibit businesses to discriminate
based on their potential customers’
sexual orientation and/or gender
identity.
Under the Charlotte ordinance,
bakers would be forbidden to refuse a
wedding cake order from a gay couple,
florists would be prohibited from
denying flower arrangements for such
weddings, photographers would not
legally be able to refuse an assignment
to take photos of the happy couple, etc.
HB2 removed those prohibitions.
Thanks to HB2, however, PayPal,
Deutsche Bank and other businesses
that had been planning to open
branches in the state opted not to do
so, and the NBA decided not to hold its
All-Star game there as well. All in all,
it’s been estimated that North Carolina
lost 1,750 jobs and $77 million in
income thanks to its legislature’s bigotry. Also, Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that because of HB2, the federal
government would be withholding Title IX funds from North Carolina schools and universities.
But as far as Forest was concerned, the whole issue was a tempest in a teapot. After noting that North Korea had just held
its fifth nuclear bomb test, and that ISIS was said to be targeting arenas and other places of large public gatherings in the
U.S., he stated, “But somehow, the most important issue today is what bathroom you can use.”
“This is not purely an ideological battle, it’s political as well,” he understated, but implied that the North Carolina
legislature is prepared to stay the course: “Never fail to do the right thing, no matter what the cost” was his concluding battle
cry.
In fact, the Religious Right considers HB2 to be so important that an entire seminar at the summit was devoted to it.
Titled “Behind Closed Doors: Fighting For Safety And Privacy After Government Bathroom Directives,” and moderated by
Family Research Council senior staff member Peter Sprigg, the panel consisted of NC State Sen. E.S. “Buck” Newton, West
Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and sexual assault survivor Kaeley Triller Haver. All sought to justify the sexual
discrimination embodied in HB2.
Newton was the first speaker, and he echoed Forest’s charge that the Charlotte ordinance was enacted “for political
reasons” rather than for civil rights, and that it was for politics not fairness that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper
refused to declare the ordinance unconstitutional, leaving the “tough job” to the legislature.
But according to Newton, HB2 isn’t discriminatory at all; it simply leaves the decision whether to discriminate or not up
to the individual businesses themselves. As an example, he cited Target Stores’ policy of allowing customers to choose which
bathroom to use based on their gender identity, stating, “I believe in that freedom,” though he later added, “I don’t think a
biological female ... belongs in a boys’ locker room.” He also noted that a recent federal ruling exempts the state’s several
universities from implementing HB2, but that the law, which he described as “common sense legislation,” did apply to all
government buildings.
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The tone was set by Lt. Gov. Dan Forest of North Carolina,
the state that passed a law which redefined the word “sex”
in the state’s anti-discrimination statutes to mean “the
physical condition of being male or female, which is stated
on a person’s birth certificate.”
“I can’t believe we’re talking about it,” he concluded.
Morrisey held even more reactionary views on the issue, and had made his state the first plaintiff in a lawsuit filed along
with 23 other states to overturn the federal government’s stance, as evidenced by a May 15 letter the Obama administration
sent to the nation’s school districts, stating that gender identity discrimination was already outlawed under federal civil rights
legislation.
“The words ‘sex’ and ‘gender identity’ are two different things,” Morrisey declared, noting that federal law only outlaws “sex
discrimination,” and that the term “gender identity” appears nowhere in that body of law. “There’s no way you can include
‘gender identity’ in the word ‘sex.’”
Haver was the final speaker, and though the article she wrote for the conservative website TheFederalist.com was titled, “A
Rape Survivor Speaks Out About Transgender Bathrooms,” none of the four bathroom rapes Haver claims to have experienced
were committed by transgender men.
“Let me be clear: I am not saying that transgender people are predators. Not by a long shot,” Haver wrote. “What I am saying
is that there are countless deviant men in this world who will pretend to be transgender as a means of gaining access to the
people they want to exploit, namely women and children. It already happens.”
The problem is, according to the Religious Right, any male predator can use the “ladies room” simply by claiming to be
transgender, even if there are no indications that he is or ever has been. To The Faithful, a trans woman like Aubrey Kate or
Wendy Summers is no different than Arnold Schwarzenegger or Vin Diesel.
What the summit made clear is that while most religious conservatives still consider gays in general as “sinners against
God,” their favorite target for the foreseeable future is the transgender community.