Coming soon to a bathroom near you...

May 30, 2008 - Friday

Coming Soon to a Bathroom Near You...

Congress may be adjourned for the Memorial Day recess, but a series of misguided state bills aren't providing any relief for pro-family groups. Just ask the residents of Colorado, where locals are bracing themselves for an "anti-bias" law that is actually changing where people use the restroom. Yesterday, over the protests of thousands of families, Gov. Bill Ritter (D) signed SB 200 into law. The legislation blurs the sexual lines by making all public accommodations, including locker rooms and restrooms, "gender-free." In other words, anyone--regardless of their biological identity--will be welcome in the men's or ladies' room, including cross-dressers, men who self-identify as women, women who self-identify as men, and people who haven't made up their minds. To make matters worse, Colorado defines "public accommodations" as everything from malls, restaurants, and schools to small and even home businesses. The other side says this is about discrimination. But the chance of offending a few people hardly justifies putting everyone else at risk, which is exactly what SB 200 does. For every transvestite who takes advantage of this law, there are a dozen sexual predators who will see this as a chance to put women and children into a vulnerable situation. Focus on the Family launched a statewide awareness campaign, but in the end, even Colorado's largest Christian ministry couldn't compete with Ritter's desire to pay off liberal financier Tim Gill, who sank serious dollars into the governor's election campaign in 2006. From here all eyes will turn to Montgomery County, where a November ballot initiative will determine the fate of its bathroom bill. Meanwhile, leaders in the California Assembly dealt another blow to values voters on Wednesday by passing an assisted suicide bill by one vote. Under AB 2747, doctors and nurses could suggest "death by unconscious dehydration" for terminal patients as well as those who are "depressed and confused." Although some say the sedation-starvation method is more painful than lethal injection, California leaders insist on pursuing a bill that treats humans with less dignity and sensitivity than animals. Interestingly, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) position is that voters should decide. Under his system of selective democracy, Schwarzenegger is fighting to silence voters' opinion on marriage but welcoming their views on euthanasia. In 2006 he said that assisted suicide "probably should go to the people, like the death penalty... I don't think that we, 120 legislators and I, should make that decision."

http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WU08E15