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Editorial: Good riddance to harmful bathroom initiative

Sun., July 9, 2017

For the second time, a group seeking to reverse Washington state’s protections for transgender people has failed to gather enough signatures to get its measure on the ballot. The deadline was Friday.

Good riddance to proposed Initiative 1552 and the harmful effects of bathroom politics.

North Carolina found out the hard way what happens when anti-transgender rules are imposed. That state’s reputation took a huge hit and economic opportunities were lost. Businesses do not want to be associated with discrimination. Unfortunately, the Trump administration rescinded the Obama administration’s federal rule protecting transgender students, leaving it to the states. With I-1552 on the ballot, the national spotlight would’ve shone on Washington state.

So it’s a relief knowing the Just Want Privacy group was unable to scare enough people, with its dark stories of what could happen. It bears repeating that transgender people are far more likely to be the victims of violence rather than the perpetrators.

The uproar began in December 2015 when the Human Rights Commission created a rule to clarify the state’s 2006 anti-discrimination law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The rule allows transgender people to access bathrooms and locker rooms based on how they identify.

I-1552 sought to repeal that law and require schools to maintain bathrooms based on students’ sexual identity at birth, not the gender they identify with. Proponents said they wanted to prevent predators from taking advantage of the law by entering public facilities and attacking women and children.

That’s already illegal. It was illegal when it happened to Kelly Herron, a Seattle woman who was attacked in a public bathroom by a man who was hiding in wait. She fought him off and posted her experience on Instagram, complete with pictures of her injuries. Just Want Privacy used that material to promote its campaign. When Herron found out, she was mortified. The attack had nothing to with transgender issues, and she did not support I-1552. The group apologized and stopped using her story.

It’s telling that after 18 months under the new regulation, Just Want Privacy proponents have struggled to come up with concrete examples of what they feared, and had to retract one example they did use. They say their effort is about privacy and safety, but the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women, a coalition of 200 national, state and local organizations, says there is no correlation between violence and liberalized bathroom laws.

Predators existed before the transgender protections. They exist now. I-1552 wouldn’t have changed that. But it would’ve discriminated against transgender people and allowed families to sue their schools and collect $5,000 per violation. If supporters are so certain Washington’s situation is dangerous, they should do the hard work of showing, not telling. Find the evidence and skip the “what-ifs.”

Without evidence, it looks like an exercise in discrimination based on misunderstanding, preconceived notions and prejudice.