Small Things Count

Today I read that 650,000 people have signed a pledge to boycott Target because of their policy to allow anyone to use whichever bathroom corresponding to the sex they identify with.  Their reason they give for the boycott is to protect children from child molesters.

That made me re-think my understanding that transsexuals are not normally pedophiles.  I did a little research.  Here’s what I found.

Univ. of Michigan’s Prevention and Awareness Center:  “There are no statistics that support the idea that…transgendered individuals are more  likely to commit sexual assault or be sex offenders than heterosexuals. In fact, sex offenders are disproportionately  likely to be heterosexual men.”

Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault: “Another common myth about LGBT people is that they are child molesters. This is also untrue; in fact a groundbreaking study of sexual-abuse offenders concluded that a heterosexual adult is more likely to be a threat to children than a homosexual adult is.”

Advocates for Youth: “Most perpetrators of child sexual abuse are relatives or close acquaintances of the youth they target. ‘Stranger Danger’ — the notion that youth are at highest risk of sexual abuse from strangers — is a widely-accepted myth that continues to drive public policy around this issue.”

(Note: I tried to cite neutral sources who have a reputation for being non-biased and statistically accurate in their studies. I found many others, who had agendas to promote, which I don’t cite here.)

What I’m trying to say is, each of us has the right to follow our moral or religious codes, some of which say that a transsexual is “unnatural” or “sinful,” or whatever. If that case, we should own those beliefs and fight our battle on those grounds rather than on false assertions that we’re simply trying to protect our children.

On a side note, as a person with a disability, I’ve used unisex/handicap bathrooms, all my life and am quite comfortable with them.