This article originally appeared in Independent Journal Review.
Let me preface this entire article by saying that when it comes to the LGBT community, I’m wholly understanding of their plight. When it comes to various issues, I’ve called for compromise because I believe that every person should be free to practice their life as they wish, so long as it doesn’t bring harm to anybody else.
I’m even on record encouraging others to show the same understanding and compassion to those they disagree with when it comes to issues like these.
That said, the LGBT community has elements within it that don’t feel that compromise is a valid end game, and their definition of coming to an understanding is the old “my way or the highway” saying.
This latest stunt from that arm of the LGBT community has tossed on the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
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Let’s state the obvious here. I’m a young, black man. I couldn’t be white even if I wanted to be, and I don’t. Being black is who God made me to be, and I’m more than fine with that. Besides, it’s not a choice that I can change my mind on at any time. I am who I am. There is no breaking out of who I am.
And this isn’t just an acceptance of my identity, but a solid fact of my biology. A 5th grade kid with a 3rd grade textbook could tell you that. Nature is a thing that works in absolutes, and it doesn’t need to get any more complicated than that. For all of God’s intricate workings, and complicated concepts, nature is pretty simple in its straightforwardness.
But this doesn’t seem to be an opinion shared by some in the LGBT community, nor their allies in the White House. According to some, states like North Carolina passing laws that keep the transgendered out of bathrooms they shouldn’t be in is a form of discrimination they find to be inexcusable.
So inexcusable, in fact, that they compared it to the civil rights issues the black community faced back in the 60s, when segregation was a thing we did.
As a black man, I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Back then, they discriminated against an entire race of people based on their skin color, barring them from anything from colleges to water fountains. This was something the black community couldn’t help. They were black, and regardless of what they’ve done, or the decisions they made, they were looked down on simply for having a certain level of melanin.
It was a no-brainer to Republicans at the time to put an end to this kind of backward thinking, and grant equal rights and protections to every man regardless of race.
Now let’s take the transgender bathroom issue.
Here we have people who are not what they say they are by the simple rules of nature, and defying these natural facts to make up their own rules in order to gain access to a restroom they don’t belong in. Their claim that they do belong in said restrooms is based solely off of reasoning that amounts to “because I said so.”
People rightfully stand in their way saying no, not because they hate transgender people, but because they hate those that would take advantage of such rules in order to do harm to women.
In what world is the transgender bathroom issue like the civil rights era issue? Except for the fact that you have two groups of people being denied something based on identity, one was denied for no good reason, and the other is being denied for a perfectly good reason.
This is so disrespectful to the black community whose struggle was a real issue of rights, not just for a bathroom, but for a life of freedom for an entire race. The transgender issue is nothing like that.
Using the black community’s struggle to paint the transgender community’s bathroom issue as a legitimate societal concern is insulting, not just to me and my brothers and sisters, but to those who fought with us during the civil rights era.
Featured Image: A marcher holds a picture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Selma to Montgomery civil rights march on March 8, 2015 in Selma, Alabama. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)