Target CEO Admits Bathroom Policy Announcement Was a Mistake

Transgender, , ,

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Target’s CEO does not seem to regret the company’s decision to invite men into the women’s changing areas and restrooms at its stores–but he does regret the fact the policy was so widely publicized.

You may recall last year Target announced on its website that customers and employees at its stores would be able to use the changing areas and restrooms of their choice rather than their biological sex.

Many people expressed public safety concerns about this decision, and more than a million people signed agreements to boycott Target.

Target has suffered financially since. Today, the American Family Association writes, “Target’s stock has lost 35% of its value, and shuttered plans for major expansion projects.”

Now Target’s CEO Brian Cornell admits, “Target didn’t adequately assess the risk [about publicizing the policy], and the ensuing backlash was self-inflicted.”

Of course, Target has not changed its policy as of today, and nearly 1.5 million Americans are still boycotting the retail chain as a result.

You can sign the pledge to boycott Target here.

You can read the Wall Street Journal article here (subscription required).

You can read more about this story here.

 

READ MORE

New Report: “Born This Way” Argument Built on Shaky Science

Homosexuality, ,

A new report analyzing a vast body of studies and research casts doubt on the prevailing notion sexual orientation and gender identity are biologically determined.

After analyzing decades of scientific data, researchers concluded,

“Some of the most widely held views about sexual orientation, such as the ‘born that way’ hypothesis, simply are not supported by science. The literature in this area does describe a small ensemble of biological differences between non-heterosexuals and heterosexuals, but those biological differences are not sufficient to predict sexual orientation, the ultimate test of any scientific finding. The strongest statement that science offers to explain sexual orientation is that some biological factors appear, to an unknown extent, to predispose some individuals to a non-heterosexual orientation. . . . .

“In reviewing the scientific literature, we find that almost nothing is well understood when we seek biological explanations for what causes some individuals to state that their gender does not match their biological sex.”

Writing at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, John Stonestreet notes,

Their report also tackles the transgender question, comparing actual research to the lofty claims of activists. Once again, there’s a yawning chasm. Only a tiny minority of children who experience gender dysphoria continue to identify as transgender when they’re adults.

McHugh and Mayer [the researchers] insist that subjecting children to hormone therapy or to so-called “sex reassignment” surgery is an act of sheer ideology, not medicine or compassion.

And, they add, adults who undergo sex-change operations (which the Obama Administration is pressuring health insurers to cover) are still—get this—19 times more likely to commit suicide than the rest of the population.

You may recall in 2012 the former president of the American Psychological Association stated sexual orientation could change, and in 2014 the former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital explained in the Wall Street Journal why the hospital stopped doing sex-reassignment surgeries.

Homosexual and transgender activists often liken sexual orientation and gender identity to race, claiming they are biologically determined and unchangeable. The science behind that claim, however, seems to be far from settled.

You can listen to John Stonestreet’s full commentary on the issue below.

[audio:http://www.breakpoint.org/images/content/breakpoint/audio/2016/083116_BP.mp3|titles=’Born This Way’ is Shaky Science]

READ MORE

Victory at the U.S. Supreme Court

Transgender, ,

Late yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision blocking a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling concerning school restroom policies.

As you may know, last spring the Obama Administration issued “guidelines” to public schools and colleges instructing them to let biological males who claim to be female use the girls’ restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities, and so forth at school. Meanwhile, a lawsuit has been underway back east, where a biologically female student who claims to be male has sued the school for access to the boys’ restrooms and locker rooms.

The school has insisted restroom and locker room facilities should remain separated based on students’ biological sex–not based on gender-identity. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals had ordered the school to let students use the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice rather than of their biological sex. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court blocked that decision.

National Organization of Marriage (NOM) issued a statement, saying,

[T]he US Supreme Court has blocked a ruling of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals imposing a transgender bathroom policy by interpreting the term “sex” under Title IX of federal law to mean “gender identity.”

This is a big victory and protects students in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland and comes as students will be heading back to school soon. The ruling is a blow to the Obama administration which has been working overtime to impose the gender ideology of LGBT extremists.

The effect of the ruling is to leave intact a Virginia school district’s policy that intimate facilities such as restrooms, showers and locker rooms are segregated based on a student’s actual biologic sex, and not based on “gender identity” or other subjective feelings.

It is expected that the school district will file a motion with the Supreme Court to hear the underlying case this fall. NOM will urge the Supreme Court to rule that federal law enacted decades ago does not define “sex” to mean “gender identity” and that the Obama administration does not have the legal authority to impose their transgender bathroom policy on the nation’s schools.

While the decision does not directly impact Arkansas, it is a major victory that affects the tone of future court cases.

READ MORE