NYC Values Could Cost You $250K If Guilty of ‘Transphobia’

Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard a lot of back-and-forth by candidates arguing ‘New York values.’  What’s most interesting is the claim that New Yorkers are no different than anywhere else in America.  Really?  Think again.  Let me sight just one (of many) differences.

Largely below the radar, radical legislation was enacted in New York City to protect the rights of those who identify as transgender – at the cost of everyone else.  And when I say “cost,” I’m not exaggerating.  Violators of these new laws could cost them up to $250,000 for a single offense.

What exactly do these new laws do?  Rather than regurgitate the legal jargon, Dr. Michael Brown (President of FIRE School of Ministry) gives this practical example:

Let’s say you own a gym where men and women come in to work out and get in shape.  A man comes in – at least, to all appearances he’s a man – but he proceeds to enter the women’s locker room to change.  You approach him and say, “Sir, I’m sorry, but you’re going into the ladies’ room.  The men’s locker room is across the hallway.”  He replies, “First, I’m not ‘sir,’ I’m ‘ma’am.’  Second, I have the legal right to use the locker room that I identify with, and I identify as a woman.”  If you refuse to refer to him as she/her, you have broken the law and could be fined.  If you refuse to let him use the women’s locker room, where the ladies are not expecting a biological male to be changing, nor are they expecting him to shower naked in the stall next to them, you have also broken the law and could be fined.  What if you decide to ask for proof that this man really identifies as a woman?  Perhaps he can produce a letter from a doctor saying that he has been diagnosed as transgender and has been undergoing hormone therapy for the last two years?  Perhaps he has had sex-change surgery, at least in part?  Sorry, but it is illegal for you even to ask for such proof.

As reported by MassResistance, “On December 21, New York City’s Commission on Human Rights announced that it has re-interpreted the city’s trans-gender anti-discrimination law.  The result is more radical and oppressive than we’ve seen so far in the U.S.  It covers all people in the areas of employment, public accommodations (i.e., restaurants, theaters, stores, health clubs, etc.), and housing.  Included are fines of up to $250,000 for each violation.” 

This means that if you own a restaurant and the same scenario unfolds, this time with this gentleman (who perceives himself to be a woman) walking into the ladies’ bathroom immediately after a little girl walks in, if you try to stop him, you have broken the law.  So who cares about traumatizing the little girl?

Dr. Brown says, “I am not suggesting that the man in question is a sexual predator (although it is documented that non-transgender, heterosexual male predators have abused these laws to satisfy their voyeurism).  But I am suggesting that the rights of the little girl are at least as important as this man’s rights, and it is outrageous to think that the little girl could be traumatized in order to accommodate this man’s personal perceptions.

Yet the New York laws go even further.  As cited again by MassResitance, some of the new laws include: 

• Limiting a person’s options to only “male” and “female.”  How this works was not completely explained.
• Sex stereotyping.  If a company allows women to wear wigs, makeup, skirts, and jewelry – it must also allow men to do so.  Any conversation about a person’s non-conformity to gender norms is also prohibited.
• Imposing different dress codes based on sex.  For example, if a restaurant requires waitresses to wear skirts and high heels, it must also require male waiters do so.  Or, it may not require only male patrons to wear ties.

Is this anything less than madness?  Is this anything less than a war on gender?  It is one thing to do our best to understand the struggles of those who identify as transgender; but it is quite another thing to turn society upside down in the process.

These outrageous laws don’t reflect my Judeo-Christian values.  They are clearly New York City values!  While my Christian faith calls for compassion for those struggling with gender identity, it doesn’t require me to capitulate to man’s insanity.  America is governed by “nature’s law” (referenced in the Declaration of Independence) – meaning the unwritten body of universal moral principles that underlie the ethical and legal norms by which human conduct is evaluated and governed.  These self-evident truths are endowed by our Creator … who made us male and female.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

P.S. – I fully acknowledge that not all New Yorkers support these outrageous laws.  Many God-fearing people of New York are equally appalled.  My prayers go up for those who live by biblical principles in such a godless society.