Politico Says Trump's Decision to Withdraw Transgender Bathroom Protections Causes 'Uproar'

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

2.23.2017

News

Yesterday, President Donald Trump removed the Obama administration’s transgender bathroom policy which mandated that public schools allow students to use the facility corresponding to their gender identity instead of their biological gender. The Associated Press reports:

The administration came down on the side of states' rights, lifting federal guidelines that had been issued by the Obama administration. Without the Obama directive, it will be up to states and school districts to interpret federal anti-discrimination law and determine whether students should have access to restrooms in accordance with their expressed gender identity and not just their biological sex.

Politico's recent newsletter described the nation's response as extreme:

Trump caused an uproar over his decision to withdraw protections for transgender students. . . As Republicans across the country continue to face screaming constituents at town halls, Trump’s focus on transgender bathrooms doesn’t give them anything to say to people worried about losing their health care.

An uproar? Really? I don't live in DC, but I definitely didn't hear an uproar. Jim Geraghty writes:

From the media coverage, you could easily get the idea that there is a broad public support for allowing self-identified transgender students use the bathroom they prefer. The polling on this issue is a little contradictory, but it doesn’t support the Politico narrative at all. No doubt there are those who are in an “uproar” about the issue, but they’re likely to be concentrated in states and House districts that have already elected Democrats.

He continues:

Neither side should be convinced that they have an overwhelming majority of the public on their side. But if you drew a Venn Diagram, depicting people who support the Obama administration’s directive and people who voted for Trump, the two circles would barely overlap at all.

Also worth noting: Six-tenths of one percent of American adults identify as transgender.

Of course, misrepresenting the left's political passion is a favorite past time of Progressives, from overstating reactions, to hiding the fact that many of the "protesters" at Trump's inauguration were actually paid professionals, to obscuring the DNC's practice of hiring homeless people to agitate at Trump campaign rallies. They want Americans to believe that their side is full of passion, ideals, and zeal.

But I think they're full of something else: desperate hyperbole.

Photo credit: The renovated bathroom #1