Possibly the most vile ad ever

[dsc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10vo0jaGjsc

If you live near or in Gainsville you might want to take a shower after watching TV.

[FreeState]

1. That's beyond vile - it's bigotry and fear mongering in terrorist form IMO n/t

[Sub Atomic]

2. What are you talking about? It's only 32 seconds!!

:sarcasm:

[xchrom]

3. indeed. nt

[DarkTirade]

4. When the truth is inconvenient.... hey, just lie.

[Christian30]

5. That's the most effective

strategy that the right has to block transgender protections. And polls and focus groups prove that it works. A similar one is the idea of kids in a classroom having a "trans" teacher who is basically a big, burly guy in a moo moo with facial hair and makeup.

IMHO, gender variance is far scarier to the average American than homosexuality or, even gay sex, is.

[Ms. Toad]

6. Absolutely a vile ad - no excuse for it - but

as to the underlying issue, I hope there is some room for discussion to meet the needs of all of the individuals involved.

I am a rape survivor. My refuge, in the immediate aftermath of the rape, was the women's restroom of a Greyhound bus station. It was the only place I knew I could avoid the male bodies that had just inflicted such harm on me. Even 20+ years later, it was very hard for me to not abandon my intended shower when I was followed into the bathroom in a college dorm by a friend of mine, also headed for a shower, who was (at that time) a MTF pre-op trans woman. (I did have a long conversation with my friend later that week. She had deliberately waited until the wee hours of the morning to shower to avoid making anyone uncomfortable - and struggled with herself as to whether to continue following me into the bathroom when she realized we were both heading there.)

On an intellectual level, I absolutely believe that individuals who self-identify as women should be able to use the bathroom facilities matching that identity. On a gut level, admittedly colored by my experience, there have been times in my life when I needed to be able to count on finding a space free of male bodies. Intellectually, I know this is not a physical safety issue, but it for me an emotional safety issue. The need is not constant, and has considerably diminished over time, but when the remnants of my own personal PTSD kick in, the need is not a small thing. When one on 4 women have had similar experiences I strongly suspect that I am not alone.

I don't know what the solution is - but I hope that our disgust at the fearmongering way that this is being used does not prevent exploring creative alternatives to meet everyone's needs.

[Jamastiene]

16. The same thing happened to me years ago.

I have that same need to have a place that is safe. It would be different for me if it was a male that I knew and knew I could trust, but I prefer privacy in the bathroom anyhow. I hate using public restrooms altogether, but I outright refuse to use the "co-ed" bathrooms at the Fayetteville VA when my aunt has an appointment there.

These bathrooms I am talking about, though, are not set up this way for any TG rights. They are set up as unisex bathrooms. The gaps where the door hinges are have to be AT LEAST 2 1/2" wide. You can clearly see into the stalls for women on the way to the urinal. Those bathrooms were not originally set up that way. I could go on a long rant about how the VA treats female veterans, but I will just say that I believe it is because if the VA had their way about it, they would not even treat female veterans.

Whatever their official reason is for changing the bathrooms there, is a bit different than the TG rights reason, I am sure. It is uncomfortable as hell to me. It is a long drive there and back. The only bathrooms I'll use there are the ones where I can lock the door behind me. Luckily, there are a few set up that way on each floor, if you are willing to wait in a small line for others to finish.

[Meeker Morgan]

7. What exactly was recently made legal in Gainsville? n/t

[donco6]

8. Colorado passed a law allowing transgendereds to use . . .

. . . the restroom that matched their identity. This same argument was used by Focus on the Family (though without the ad).

The law has been in effect for some time, and I've not heard of a single such incident. Not that I was at all concerned.

[Fearless]

9. Meh, I'm a bigger fan of the facebook ads...

See facebook uses keywords from your profile to determine what ads to show you. So I get ones about AIDS. Go figure.

[JI7]

10. that's fucked up, but people are fucking stupid

and fall for it.

[One_Life_To_Give]

11. Maybe not?

I think it depends upon assumptions made by the viewer.

If you presume the guy is representing a transgender person then it's disgusting.
But if you assume it's a predater exploiting a loophole in the law? I am not so sure it's not a real issue to some extent. We can't simply ignor peoples fears that the toilet seat sniffer and other potential sex offenders will exploit loopholes in the law.

Maybe we could add to this video. With a crossdressing weightlifter coming out of a stall and chasing the Perv out of the restroom before fixing her make-up?

[FreeState]

13. There is no loop hole that I know of

it seems to me the group is doing what many groups have done, that is to use fear to get people to treat people trans folk unfairly.

If there truly is a loop-hole any reasonable citizen would try and close the loop-hole while keeping the ordinance in tack so that all women or men can use public restrooms of their corresponding gender, but that is not what is happening here. They want to rescind it rather than modify it.

[One_Life_To_Give]

14. Think I was half asleep

when I wrote the above. Still I wish the press would be more clear that no cop should have trouble telling the differnce between the truly transgendered and a perv.

[Mean_Barbie]

12. Spend a day watching any religious channel.

They are truly the miasmic orifice.

[ThomCat]

15. That is just inciting all kinds of violence against transgendered people.

x(

Deliberately and maliciously they're lying and trying to cause anger and hatred.