Opinion
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HB2 protesters in North Carolina display signs and hail passing cars J. Bicking / Shutterstock.com

April 18, 2016 (Liberty Counsel) – Liberty Counsel has offered or provided pro bono assistance in 20 states regarding bathroom bills and religious liberty/LGBT issues in order to protect women and children. Since Governor Pat McCrory recently signed the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act into law, North Carolina is now one of 29 states which do not recognize “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as protected classes at the state level for purposes of public accommodations. These legislative actions are not to discriminate against homosexual and transgender lifestyles, but rather to protect women and girls.

In September 2012, a police report stated that Clay Scott Francis, a 45-year-old cross-dressing man, undressed and exposed his genitals several times to minor girls in a Washington college women’s locker room. Students from a nearby high school and children at a local swimming club shared locker rooms with the college. When a parent complained, the local district attorney did not pursue charges because he said the “criminal law is very vague in this area.” Yet school officials stripped two high school girls’ swim teams of their Federal Title IX rights and they were forced to dress in a smaller room while Francis was given use of the women’s locker room.

Recently, a 51-year-old cross-dressing male in Georgia entered the women’s restroom and exposed himself. In Minneapolis, a 15-year-old boy entered the girls’ locker room, where five girls were in various stages of undress, as they prepared for a basketball game. The boy disrobed in front of the frightened girls. When the girls and the parents complained, school authorities said they could not prevent boys from using the girls’ locker room because of the so-called “transgender” policy.

“We have no interest in discriminating against anyone,” said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver. “These are all commonsense laws that protect the privacy and safety of women and girls. Allowing men to use the women’s restrooms and locker rooms is unconstitutional and very harmful,” said Staver.