Kentucky Senator Wants To Put A $2500 Bounty On Transgender Kids In School Bathrooms
Just in case you were thinking that, as a society, we haven’t taken enough of a collective dump on transgender youth, I have some news for you. The news is that you are a used hamburger wrapper of a human being. The other news, via USA Today, is that there’s a proposed piece of legislation in Kentucky that would take those kids’ already-fraught attempts at using their preferred school bathrooms, and make them into fodder for juvenile bounty-hunters.
The ridiculously-titled Kentucky Student Privacy Act, which was probably written in crayon, would offer a reward to any student who found an ‘opposite sex’ (transgender) student in a school bathroom or locker room. That reward, to the tune of $2,500, plus emotional and psychological damages, would be forked over by the school in question, along with any legal fees that crop up in the settlement. (As for the emotional and psychological damage done to transgender students by handing out literal bounties to people who catch them in the act of going potty? Crickets.)
The bill, which was written by State Senator C.B. Embry, was written as a take-that to a high school in Louisville who recently came down on the correct side of history, decency, and common sense by allowing transgender students to use the correct bathroom facilities. It takes a special sort of human being to look at the struggles that transgender youth have faced and overcome, and think, “Gosh, what other obstacles can I throw at them?” The only good thing about the whole situation is that Senator Embry doesn’t have much support for this horrific piece of legislation, and it’s unlikely to pass – much to Embry’s disappointment.
He’s concerned, you see, that cisgender students like his daughter might feel a bit put out by the presence of transgender women (whom he grossly and extremely incorrectly refers to as ‘men’) in ‘their’ bathroom, saying, “[I]t’s important to keep transgender students from making members of the opposite biological sex uncomfortable”. Keeping transgender students from feeling uncomfortable – or from feeling harassed, put upon, or even suicidally depressed – does not appear to cross his antiquated radar. Let alone the fact that it’s far more likely for a transgender person to be harassed when using the correct bathroom than for them to harass a cisgender person – why let reality slow your transphobic roll?
But don’t worry, Embry told U.S. News & World Report: he’s not prejudiced or anything! In fact, he’s proud to inform them that he can’t possibly be biased against transgender youth, because – wait for it – he has a gay friend. And that gay friend, who definitely exists, is totally fine with banning transgender kids from using the right bathroom, which means this legislation is totally fine: because as we all know, gay people are the duly-elected spokespeople for every marginalized sexual orientation and gender identity. Also, no gay person has ever said anything transphobic, ever. Oh, except maybe for this quote Embry provides on his friend’s behalf:
”I have a friend, and we can all say these things, who is a homosexual and she agrees that she doesn’t want men in her bathroom,” Embry says.
Oh, yeah, there’s definitely no prejudice there.
My suggestion to the rest of the Kentucky state senate: please pass a piece of legislation requiring Senator Embry to pay $2,500 to any one of his colleagues who catches him being transphobic, homophobic, or otherwise gross. If all of you are attentive enough, hopefully he won’t have enough money left to fund a re-election campaign.
(Image: August_0802/Shutterstock)
