By Stephanie Curry, Esq., policy manager for Family Policy Alliance®
A new and original study, authored by Woman Means Something, has been released showing that reported sexual offenses have risen significantly since Target changed their bathroom policy to be “gender inclusive”.
It’s no surprise that when men have access to women’s and girls’ bathrooms, sexual incidences will increase.
This is one of the reasons Family Policy Alliance fights “Bathroom Bills,” which legally allow men (who identify as transgender) into women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. We fight against these policies because we believe the safety and privacy of women and children are at risk. This new study concludes that this is indeed true.
Woman Means Something used Target’s new bathroom policy to analyze the incidences of sexual- predatory behavior reported in Target bathrooms. In April of 2016, Target changed its bathroom policy from having female-only bathrooms and male-only bathrooms to a “gender-inclusive” policy. This meant men, who said they were women, could enter women’s bathrooms (and vice versa). The study authors analyzed media-reported offenses before and after the policy change.
The top sexual offenses the study tracked were upskirt incidences, Peeping Tom incidences (voyeurism), and men exposing their bodies to women. The study tracked over 200 reported incidences between 2003 and 2017 from Target bathrooms. The study showed that “women and children comprised 99.1% of victims in the offenses,” 34% of those being children.
The graph below clearly shows the increase in reported incidences after Target changed and implemented new bathroom policies throughout its stores across the nation.
Source: Women Means Something “A Longitudinal Analysis of Media Reports at Target Stores,”
The most likely reason for this increase, study authors concluded, “is that Target’s policy signaled to sexual offenders that voyeuristic offenses would be easier to perpetrate in [Target] stores than elsewhere”. It is certainly not conclusive that people who identify as transgender are more likely to commit sexual offenses. But what is true, according to the study, is “gender-inclusive bathroom polices” attract sexual predators.
Study authors explained that sexual offenders actually do care about signs on bathroom doors. Offenders will assess the risks and benefits of committing a sexual offense and choose their environments carefully. When deciding whether to peep at women (for example), a sex-offender likely concludes that bathrooms that are gender-inclusive are more “friendly” to accommodate their crime.
“Gender- Inclusive” bathroom signs imply the presence of men is permissible and desirable in women’s spaces. These signs are seen as an “invitation,” by people who are already sexual predators, to offend. Without the sign, the predator may have chosen not to offend in that particular bathroom. Target’s policy also makes it more likely sexual offenders will choose Target stores as opposed to another store that does not have an open bathroom policy.
Perhaps most importantly, the study authors declare bathroom policies like Target’s “bring about increased harm to women and children”. And the harm is even greater when states are passing policies that require all public bathrooms to be gender inclusive.
This is why Family Policy Alliance and our state allies work tirelessly to protect the safety of women and children by fighting for their right to sex-specific vulnerable spaces, like bathrooms and locker rooms. Last year, you probably saw the battle North Carolina Family Policy Council successfully fought in keeping their public bathrooms from being open to both sexes. Other state allies like Center for Arizona Policy, Florida Family Policy Council, and The Family Foundation in Virginia have also successfully fought off their state legislatures from opening bathrooms to anyone.
With your help we can continue to partner with state allies to protect the privacy, safety, and dignity of women and children in bathrooms!
To read the full study click here.
What would you like to see President Trump do in his first 100 days?
Autumn Leva, director of policy for Family Policy Alliance, lays out some suggestions for making families great again.
Add your name to the “Wish List” to be sent to President Trump.
This past year proved to be a challenging one for North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. The Legislature sent him a bill (HB2) that protected the privacy and safety of women and children by requiring people to use the bathroom consistent with the sex on their birth certificate. He gladly signed it, calling it “common sense.”
That’s when gay activists went to work. They lobbied big business to boycott the state. Musicians canceled concerts. The NCAA pulled games. The ACC moved a tournament. Incredible pressure was put on the governor and other elected officials to “fix” the law. Still, Gov. McCrory put North Carolina families first.
McCrory was up for reelection in November and Family Policy Alliance worked in tandem with the North Carolina Family Policy Council to get people out to vote. This week, McCrory conceded the election to his Democrat opponent, Roy Cooper.
For me, it was one of the most difficult defeats of the election cycle.
During the toughest time for the governor, we asked you to send him a digital postcard to encourage him. Ten thousand of you took us up on our offer and Gov. McCrory noticed.
Now, we’d like to ask you to join us in thanking him for standing up to the bullies and being a voice for the privacy and safety of women and children. Thank him for his service to North Carolina and his commitment to common decency.
All you have to do is visit our Action Center and fill out your information. Gov. McCrory will receive an email from you expressing gratitude and wishing him the best as he moves on to other endeavors. Nothing will remove the sting of an election loss, but we hope your thank you will make it just a little easier.
Gov. McCrory has given a lot of elected officials courage. Courage they will need to withstand pressure to make compromises and set aside their deeply held beliefs in order to appease an agenda. We are grateful for his example and want to simply say, “Thank you.” Won’t you join us?
Paul Weber
President and CEO
Family Policy Alliance
More than 8,900 students, parents and community members have signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold student privacy and safety.
The document concerns the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia. A female student there is asking to use the boys restrooms, locker rooms and changing facilities.
“Schools have a duty to protect the privacy and safety of all students,” said Gary McCaleb, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed the brief. “Decades of court decisions have established that, in light of the right of bodily privacy, no law grants opposite-sex persons access to single-sex facilities, where the interest in privacy is obviously strongest and bodily exposure is so common.”
President Obama decreed that school districts across the nation must open the most private of facilities to anyone of either sex, by redefining the terms of Title IX in federal law. The Supreme Court has put a hold on that edict pending outcome of this case.
“Title IX’s regulations specifically authorize schools to have separate restrooms and locker rooms for boys and girls,” said Matt Sharp with ADF. “The policy accommodates students who aren’t comfortable using facilities designated for their biological sex without neglecting the established right of children to bodily privacy and safety.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn how you can speak up on the bathroom issue. Check out “Ask Me First!”
One school district in Minnesota is feeling the effects of President Obama’s bathroom edict. The school district in Virginia, Minnesota is now facing a lawsuit from 11 parents outraged over the school allowing boys access to girls restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities.
The Minnesota Family Council (MFC), one of Family Policy Alliance’s nearly 40 state-based policy groups, said it’s the responsibility of every parent and school administrator to protect the safety, dignity and privacy of students.
“This common sense responsibility was jeopardized when the Obama Administration issued a baseless transgender mandate in May,” said John Helmberger with MFC, “threatening schools with the loss of federal funding if they choose not to comply. Students in Virginia’s public school system are among those currently facing heartbreaking consequences of such policies due to the administration’s decision to adopt President Obama’s transgender mandate.”
An attorney from Minnesota will represent the families on behalf of Alliance Defending Freedom. Helmberger says the facts of the case will show that the policy is a burden on the majority of students in the school and presents a danger them.
“The recent lawsuit filed by Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of a parent-student group demonstrates many Minnesotans’ desire to ensure common sense privacy rights for every student,” he said. “This lawsuit gives parents an opportunity to hold Virginia, Minnesota public schools accountable for a serious responsibility that they’ve abandoned – the safety and privacy of all students.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Support Family Policy Alliance’s “Ask Me First” campaign on social media!
Even though a judge has halted the implementation of transgender bathroom policies for now, you still need to be armed with the right information should another court put their stamp of approval on the issue.
Our friends at The Family Leader of Iowa, one of Family Policy Alliance’s nearly 40 state-based policy groups have written a wonderful piece that will help no matter where you live.
This article first appeared on The Family Leader website.
Led by Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, 11 more states have joined a lawsuit against the Obama Administration’s bathroom edict.
Al Riskowski of Nebraska Family Alliance tells us he’s proud to work with elected officials who stand up for our values and the families they represent.