We recently looked at Houston’s sweeping anti-discrimination bill enacted by their city council which unfortunately included demands regarding “public accommodations” for transgender individuals. That code language has now become common and we all know what it means. The public responded very negatively to any mandate which would force businesses and public offices to allow men in women’s bathrooms or vice versa, sending the question to the courts. It was determined that the ordinance would be put up for repeal in a public vote and yesterday that took place with a predictable result. (NY Times)

A yearlong battle over gay and transgender rights that turned into a costly, ugly war of words between this city’s lesbian mayor and social conservatives ended Tuesday as voters repealed an anti-discrimination ordinance that had attracted attention from the White House, sports figures and Hollywood celebrities.

The City Council passed the measure in May, but it was in limbo after opponents succeeded, following a lengthy court fight, in putting the matter to a referendum…

The response from the city’s lesbian mayor, AnniseParker, and her supporters has been the predictable fear mongering. They’re threatening opponents with visions of the city being unable to host the Superbowl or losing other commerce if Houston is branded as being “intolerant.” Also the characterizations of this bill and the fight over it, such as seen in the New York Times piece above, have been dishonestly spun in an attempt to turn this into a larger battle than it actually is.

First of all there are the wearisome claims that his is a battle over gay and transgender rights. Why are gay rights being tossed into this conversation at all, except as part of a broad, deceptive effort to gin up anger over the issue? Some of the progressive community’s most staunch advocates regularly insist that it is, in fact, insulting to claim that transgender individuals are gay by definition and that the two phenomenon are completely unrelated.

Myth #4: Transgender people are gay.

Gender identity and sexual orientation are two completely separate characteristics. One is what gender we see ourselves as being. The other is what gender(s) and sex(es) we are physically and romantically attracted to.

Knowing one doesn’t tell you about the other.

Beyond this deceptive conflation, it’s rather sad that the SJW advocates had to insist on including the entire transgender public accommodations question into what was otherwise an uncontroversial bill. Having read the entire thing I can tell you that the rest of it is essentially just boilerplate anti-discrimination law which normally won’t raise an eyebrow in most circles. What is being seriously contended though, is the out of control wave of social pressure to ensure that we don’t offend anyone in the progressive movement, even when they are making an argument which flies in the face of reality. Because the SJW runs on the principle of You Will Be Made to Care, as soon as you recognize someone engaging in illogical behavior as a “protected” group they’re going to be trying to shove that down your throat.

And that was our first mistake in this now incendiary issue. I fully acknowledge that there are obviously some people out there who are very unhappy about the gender they were born to. Plenty of people are unhappy with one aspect of their lives or another. But that doesn’t mean that everyone else has to go along with changing our pronouns or what have you in defiance of reality. Your 23rd chromosomal pair defines your gender (except in very rare cases where it’s damaged) and that’s pretty much the end of the story. Unfortunately, we’re so used to living in a go along to get along society that we began treating this nonsense as if it were gospel. That’s when the demands started.

There is no need for or justification of any laws which require the rest of society to surrender any and all conventions of privacy and propriety to persons engaged in the abject denial of reality. The people of Houston have stood up for that principle and it’s well past time for the rest of the nation to do the same.