The media must have gone to Nancy Pelosi’s school of politics: We have to criticize the decision before we know what’s in it! Together with Hollywood, the hysteria over President Trump’s announcement on school showers and bathrooms is so deafening that it’s drowning out the practical effect of the move. Of course, that’s by design. Even liberals understand that Donald Trump isn’t taking away anyone’s “rights” — he’s restoring those rights to states! Still, Arne Duncan, the former Secretary of Education who helped force Obama’s mandate on schools, fanned the flames of misinformation with a piece in Friday’s Washington Post, which he called “The White House’s Thoughtless, Cruel, and Sad Rollback of Transgender Rights.” Rolled back? No. Rolled over to local leaders? Yes.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is as frustrated as the rest of us with the media’s mischaracterization of the administration’s letter. “Eighty-two percent of transgender children report feeling unsafe at school,” NBC’s Kristen Welker prodded at Thursday’s briefing. “So isn’t the president leaving some of these children open … to being bullied at school?” Spicer reminded her that most schools have anti-bullying policies in place. Welker pushed more. “So respecting kids is a states’ rights issue?”

To Spicer’s credit, he turned the question around on the media. “You’re trying to make an issue out of something that doesn’t exist. It was the court who stopped this in August of last year. So where were the questions last year in August about this? … We’re not reversing [the Obama administration’s guidance]. That is a misinterpretation of the scenario. The court stopped it. It enjoined it in August of last year because it wasn’t properly drafted, and it didn’t follow the procedures, and there was no legal basis for it in a law that was instituted in 1972.” So the president doesn’t care about transgender kids, Welker tried to imply. “You’re trying to send a message,” she went on. “We’re not,” Spicer fired back.

“The message is [the president] is a guy with the heart and understands the troubles that many people go through — but he believes the proper legal recourse is with the states. He believes in the state’s ability to determine what is right for their state versus another state. I understand there’s a difference with what people may or may not feel and the legal process and the law. The law right now doesn’t allow for it under Title IX that was passed in 1972. The procedure wasn’t followed. The court saw this in August of last year for a reason [when it blocked Obama’s order]. All we’re doing is saying that the proper place for this is in the states. So for you to suggest what message it’s sending is different. The state should enact laws that reflect the values, principles and will of the people in their state. That’s it. Plain and simple.”

Well, the media may not get it, but the American people certainly do. In Friday’s Rasmussen poll, only 28 percent agree with the Katy Perrys of the world who think the federal government should be able to force schools to let boys shower with girls, bunk with them on school trips, or share a bathroom. Sixty-four percent agree with the president that it should be a state and local decision.

And considering the feelings of girls like teenager Sarah Harrington, it’s no wonder. “When my school district made the decision to allow boys in the girls’ locker room and shower area, it made me feel that my rights didn’t matter. I should have a choice when a boy is in the room when I undress. There are sensitive accommodations for those who are struggling with these issues that respect the privacy, dignity, and well-being of all students, because every student matters. It’s common sense: Boys don’t belong in locker rooms or shower areas with girls.”

The New York Times insists the president didn’t live up to his promise to LGBT activists. But his promise was this: “I am determined to protect the rights of all Americans.” That includes Sarah Harrington and her friends. Or Kaeley Haver Triller and the thousands of other victims of abuse. She was sexually assaulted repeatedly in a shower as a child, and when she brought up her concerns about opening up locker rooms and bathrooms to both genders, she was told to “educate herself.” “As though reading a book or attending a seminar would somehow miraculously make it less dangerous for grown men to have unrestricted access to naked children or any less harmful for women to be told their needs don’t matter. Where was their education about the effects of sexual trauma or the manipulation of predators? It seemed to me that if they had experienced the same sobering education I did, then maybe this conversation would not be happening.” I challenge anyone to listen to Kaeley’s story (below) and not be profoundly moved by the threat these policies pose.

The only thing that’s “thoughtless, cruel, and sad” is ignoring real-life suffering like Kaeley’s to pursue a flawed version of “tolerance.” Bullying is a serious issue. But so is safety. And there’s a way for states to address both that doesn’t put more children at risk.

Originally published here.

Libs Can’t Bank on Boycott in NC

The boycott North Carolina bandwagon has a new rider: the NAACP. Despite the fact that most people’s attention is on Texas, not Tarheels, some far-left groups are still trying to inflict pain on the states that listened to voters and protected privacy. But if inflicting pain was what the NAACP had in mind, it’ll have to try harder. Friday, it showed how selectively it views those civil rights by urging businesses to pack up and leave the state because it wouldn’t let men into the girls’ restrooms. Although the details of the boycott are unclear, the organization’s CEO, President Cornell William Brooks, issued an angry statement insisting that North Carolina is oppressing its people.

“The federal court has declared and North Carolina citizens have discovered that partisan legislators are discriminating in the voting booth, school bathrooms, the workplace and across the state. Seldom has such a poisonously partisan few violated the rights of a nonpartisan many: workers rights, LGBTQ rights, civil rights, and voting rights. Therefore, the NAACP must use the power of the purse to demonstrate the power of our democracy. We will use economic leverage, moral persuasion, civil disobedience and litigation in North Carolina and across the nation–as needed and now. Unrelenting resistance is the order of the day.”

Having an economic impact on the state is a tall order, especially after North Carolina has not only weathered the storm over HB 2 but thrived in it. For the second consecutive year, the state was ranked #2 on Forbes’s top states for doing business. The ranking was given late last year, so there would have been ample time to assess the impact of the privacy law on the economy. In fact, more businesses seem to be moving to North Carolina than away from it. Still not convinced? Despite the NCAA and ACC pulling their championship games from the state, tourism was also up. In North Carolina’s annual hospitality report, there wasn’t one mention of HB 2. That’s probably because the year-end hotel and motel occupancy was up 3.4 percent statewide from 2015 — a state record. And when you compare it to the rest of the U.S., the statistic is even more impressive. In the rest of the country, occupancy was up only 0.1 percent, and South Atlantic states’ occupancy was up 1.1 percent from 2015. Room demand was up 5.1 percent, the largest boost in six years!

So while we respect everyone’s right to vote with their dollars, the fact of the matter is that celebrities, sports leagues, and other liberals aren’t making much of a difference in the state they’re trying to punish. Of course, a boycott is only as successful as the people who participate. And, as we’ve seen from Target’s freefall, the American people have already picked sides in the bathroom debate. (Hint: it isn’t the Left’s!)

Originally published here.

Ill Will on Health Care

People looking for a pick-me-up on Obamacare got a big one at Thursday night’s CPAC. Like most Americans, conservatives have been anxiously looking for signs that the repeal of the Obama’s biggest mistake was closer to reality than reports suggest. And while the GOP is desperately trying to work out the kinks, Vice President Mike Pence did his best to set people’s minds at ease. “Let me assure you. America’s Obamacare nightmare is about to end.”

When is another question. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has said that his goal is to move a bill by the end of March — which will mean members have their work cut out for them when they fly back to town next week. According to House leaders, the Energy and Commerce Committee has its eyes on March 6 to start marking up the plan that’s currently circulating between offices. For now, Ryan and others are still waiting for a score from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on the blueprint they floated before Presidents’ Day. Members are at the mercy of CBO until the group analyzes how much the proposal will cost.

In the meantime, there’s a lot more riding on the repeal than money. Lives are also on the line. As I’ve told House leaders, any alternative to Obamacare must follow the fundamental pro-life principle that abortion isn’t health care — and as such, the government shouldn’t fund or offer tax breaks for health care that includes elective abortion. The history of government funding of health care shows that if abortion is not specifically excluded, abortion will be included. That much was clear in the fight over “Hillarycare” and later over Obamacare. Specific language to remove subsidies for abortion were necessary, even though drafts of Hillarycare and Obamacare did not mention the term “abortion.”

Obamacare allowed states to exclude abortion coverage, and fortunately, 25 states have done so. Any new government plan that includes abortion coverage in all 50 states would be disastrous — not just for the unborn, but for the GOP and pro-life movement as a whole. Help us send that message by contacting your House members. Let them know that Obamacare must go — but so must the government’s abortion subsidies!

Originally published here.

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This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.